1. The Arctic
Name: Aakash Kudalkar; Student #: Aakash; Email:
aakashaada@aol.com
Topic: The Arctic Ocean
Title: The Arctic
The heart of the Arctic is the rectangular Arctic Ocean, bordered by low-lying
coasts. Only the central basin of the Arctic is deep.
You would not stay there for a long, for the strong surface currents would
push your floe firstly in the direction of Greenland, and then westward along
the Canadian islands towards Alaska. The whole ice-pack of the main ocean
circulates slowly clockwise. Between Iceland and Norway a strong persistent
current from warm water sweeps into the Arctic basin from the Atlantic.
Because the earth's axis is tilted in relation to the sun, winters in polar
regions are very different from summers. North of the Arctic circle in
summer, the sun stays above the horizon all day and all night too. People
who live in the Arctic are always glad to see the sun's return, usually in
February or March. At first it appears for just a few minutes at midday;then
each day sees it staying a little longer and climbing a little higher, and its
rays start to feel warmer. By the equinox (March 21st) day and night are of
equal length and, though the weather may still be very cold, spring is not far
away. Polar regions never see the sun high in the sky. Though the polar
regions have always been cool, they have not always been ice-bound as they
are today.
SEAS AND OCEANS
People cannot swim in the Arctic Ocean. Only sea animals can swim in the
Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean doesn't have sandy beach. It has icy shores.
Author: Ed. Pat Hargreaves; ISBN: 3 3748 00460 1238