Which is colder, the North Pole or the South Pole

The North and South Poles are traditionally considered to be the coldest places on Earth. It is well known that the polar regions are snowy, glaciated and cold. If you had to choose a colder place from the North and South poles, it would be Antarctica. According to statistics, the average annual temperature in the Antarctic region is minus 25 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature ever measured at the South Pole was minus 94.5 degrees Celsius, while the lowest temperature at the North Pole was minus 68.5 degrees Celsius. The fact that the South Pole is colder than the North Pole is caused by many factors, which are combined for the following three reasons:

First, obtain solar radiation heat is different

1. There is a difference in the height of the sun at the North and South Poles. The height of the sun is the determining factor of solar radiation. As we all know, the earth is a two-stage slightly flattened, equatorial slightly bulging irregular ellipsoid, the North Pole radius is 10 meters higher than the average geodetic level, the South Pole radius is 30 meters lower than the average geodetic level, which makes the annual average solar height of a latitude in the Antarctic region less than the North Pole, and the smaller the solar height, the less solar radiation per unit area, the lower the annual temperature.

2. Changes in the distance between the Sun and the Earth. The orbit of the earth around the sun is an ellipse. When it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Earth is right near perihelion; During winter in the southern Hemisphere, the Earth shifts to Aphelion, which makes the Antarctic winter colder than the North Pole.

3. The number of days of polar day and polar night is different in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Because the Earth rotates more slowly at aphelion, there are more polar nights a year in the Antarctic Circle than in the Arctic Circle. In other words, the South Pole has been releasing heat into space for a little longer than the North Pole.

Second, the atmospheric circulation conditions are different

The Arctic and Antarctic regions are located in high latitudes and are controlled by the polar high pressure all year round. But Antarctica is surrounded by oceans, and the ocean above is controlled by "low pressure," so that polar easterlies often blow from the center of the continent to its edges. Winds are so strong, up to 100 meters per second, that Antarctica is also known as the "wind Pole of the World." By contrast, the Arctic is a low-lying ocean surrounded by continents, with relatively weak easterly winds at the poles.

Third, the underlying surface condition is different

1. Influence of land and sea location. The Antarctic region consists of the Antarctic continent and nearby islands. Although it is surrounded by the ocean, the interior of the continent is less affected by the ocean because of the high terrain in the east. The Arctic region is mainly the Arctic Ocean, and under the influence of the North Atlantic Current, naturally more "warm" than the Antarctic.

2. The effect of altitude. With an average elevation of 2,350 meters, Antarctica is the highest continent in the world. There is a strong relationship between temperature and altitude, with an average temperature drop of 6 degrees Celsius for every 1 kilometer rise.

3, the effect of reflectivity. The ice layer is extremely reflective of sunlight, and almost all of the Antarctic continent is covered by a thick ice sheet, ranging in thickness from a few hundred meters to several thousand meters. As a result, the Antarctic ice sheet is significantly better at blocking sunlight than the North Pole, and therefore cooler.