words per minute
4
SandeepPatel1488645
00:00
Speed
The South Pole is the southernmost point on the Earth. It is the precise point of the southern intersection of the earths axis and the earths surface. From the South Pole, all directions are north. Its latitude is 90 degrees south, and all lines of longitude meet there,as well as at the North Pole, on the opposite end of the Earth. The South Pole is located on Antarctica, one of the Earths seven continents. Although land at the South Pole is only about a hundred meters above sea level, the ice sheet above it is roughly 2,700 meters thick. This elevation makes the South Pole much colder than the North Pole, which sits in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. In fact, the warmest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole was a freezing minus 12.3 degrees Celsius. The coldest
temperature recorded at the South Pole, minus 82.8 degrees Celsius, still warmer than the coldest temperature ever recorded, minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. That temperature was recorded at the Russian Vostok Research Station, about 1,300 kilometres away. Because the earth rotates on a tilted axis as it revolves around the sun, sunlight is experienced in extremes at the poles. In fact, the South Pole experiences only one sunrise, at the September equinox, and one sunset at the March equinox, every year. From the South Pole, the sun is always above the horizon in the summer and below the horizon in the winter. This means the region experiences up to 24 hours of sunlight in the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter. Due to plate tectonics, the exact location of the South Pole is constantly moving. Plate tectonics is the process of large slabs of Earths crust moving slowly around the planet, bumping into and pulling apart from one another. Over billions of years, earths continents have shifted together and rifted apart. Millions of years ago, land that today is the east coast of South America was at the South Pole. Today, the ice sheet above the South Pole drifts about 10 meters every year. Compared to the North Pole, the South Pole is relatively easy to travel to and study. The North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, while the South Pole is on a stable piece of land. The United States has had scientists working at Amundsen Scott South Pole Station since 1956. Between 50 and 200 scientists and support staffs live at the research station at any given time. The station itself does not sit on the ground or ice sheet. It is able to adjust its elevation, to prevent it from being buried in snow, which accumulates at a rate of about 20 centimetres every year.