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90°N 0°W / 90°N -0°E / 90; -0

For other uses, see North Pole (disambiguation).
An Azimuthal projection showing the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole.
North Pole Scenery

This article is about the Earth's Geographic North Pole, also referred to as the Terrestrial North Pole, but usually (and henceforth in this article) simply called the North Pole.

The North Pole is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface (the other being the South Pole, diametrically opposite). The North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth; it defines latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of True North. At the North Pole all directions point south.

While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. There is no land at the North Pole, just waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. This makes it impossible to construct a permanent station at the North Pole (unlike the South Pole). However, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, have constructed a number of manned drifting stations, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole.

The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 13,410 ft (4087 m).[1] The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 440 miles away, though some perhaps non-permanent gravel banks lie slightly further north.

Precise definition

See also: Polar motion.

The Earth's axis of rotation – and hence the position of the North Pole – was commonly believed to be fixed (relative to the surface of the Earth) until, in the 18th century, the mathematician Leonhard Euler predicted that the axis might "wobble" slightly. Around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent "variation of latitude", as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earth's surface, by a range of a few meters. The wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the 8 month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer. This "wobble" means that a (fixed) definition of the Pole based on the axis of rotation is not useful when metre-scale precision is required.

It is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates (latitude, longitude, and elevations or orography) to fixed landforms. Of course, given continental drift and the rising and falling of land due to volcanoes, erosion and so on, there is no system in which all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System that does an admirable job. The North Pole of this system now defines geographic North for precision work, and it does not quite coincide with the rotation axis.

Expeditions

See also: Polar exploration and List of firsts

One of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82° 45' North. The Polaris expedition, an 1871 American attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, ended in disaster. In April 1895 Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen reached latitude 86° 14´ North. The American explorer Frederick Albert Cook stated that he reached the North Pole in 1908, but his claim is not widely accepted.

The conquest of the North Pole is traditionally credited to American Navy engineer Robert Edwin Peary, who claimed to have reached the Pole on April 6, 1909, accompanied by American Matthew Henson and four Inuit men named Ootah, Seeglo, Egigingwah, and Ooqueah. However, Peary's claim remains controversial. The party that accompanied Peary on the final stage of the journey included no one who was trained in navigation and could independently confirm his own navigational work, which some claim to have been particularly sloppy as he approached the Pole.

The distances and speeds that Peary claimed to have achieved once the last support party turned back border on the incredible, almost three times that which he had accomplished up to that point. Peary's account of a beeline journey to the Pole and back – the only strategy that might have allowed him to travel at such a speed – is contradicted by Henson's account of tortuous detours to avoid pressure ridges and open leads. But the controversy swung back in Peary's favour in 2005 when the British explorer Tom Avery and four companions recreated the outward portion of Peary's journey with replica wooden sleds and Canadian Eskimo Dog teams, reaching the North Pole in 36 days, 22 hours – nearly five hours faster than Peary. Avery writes on his web site that "The admiration and respect which I hold for Robert Peary, Matthew Henson and the four Inuit men who ventured North in 1909, has grown enormously since we set out from Cape Columbia. Having now seen for myself how he travelled across the pack ice, I am more convinced than ever that Peary did indeed discover the North Pole."[2]

The first undisputed sighting of the Pole was on May 12 1926 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his American sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth from the airship Norge. Norge, though Norwegian owned, was designed and piloted by the Italian Umberto Nobile. The flight started from Svalbard and crossed the icecap to Alaska. Nobile, along with several scientists and crew from the Norge, overflew the Pole a second time on May 24 1928 in the airship Italia. The Italia crashed on its return from the Pole, with the loss of half the crew.

USS Charlotte at the North Pole in 2005

Discounting Peary's disputed claim, the first men to set foot at the North Pole were, according to some sources, a Soviet Union party, variously described as including Pavel Gordiyenko (or Geordiyenko) and three[3] or five[4] others, or Aleksandr Kuznetsov and 23 others,[5] who landed a plane (or planes) there on April 23 1948.

On May 3, 1952, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher and Lieutenant William P. Benedict, along with scientist Albert P. Crary, landed a modified C-47 Skytrain at the North Pole. Some sources consider this (rather than the Soviet mission) to be the first ever landing at the Pole.[6]

The United States Navy submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571) crossed the North Pole on August 3, 1958, and on March 17, 1959, the USS Skate (SSN-578) surfaced at the Pole, becoming the first naval vessel to reach it.

Again discounting Peary's claim, the first confirmed surface conquest of the North Pole was achieved on April 19, 1968 by Ralph Plaisted, and companions Walt Pederson, Gerry Pitzl and Jean Luc Bombardier, who travelled over the ice by snowmobile.

On April 6 1969, Sir Wally Herbert and companions Allan Gill, Roy Koerner and Kenneth Hedges of the British Trans-Arctic Expedition became the first men to reach the North Pole on foot (albeit with the aid of dog teams and air drops). They continued on to complete the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean – and by its longest axis, Barrow, Alaska to Svalbard – a feat that has never been repeated.[7][8] Some sources classify Herbert's expedition (not Plaisted's) as the first confirmed to reach the North Pole over the ice surface by any means.[8][9]

The Soviet nuclear powered icebreaker Arktika completed the first surface vessel journey to the North Pole on August 17, 1977.

In 2005, the United States Navy submarine USS Charlotte (SSN-766) surfaced through 61 inches (155 cm) of ice at the North Pole and spent 18 hours there.[10]

It is reported that by 2002, 184 people had visited the North Pole, 26 of whom made the journey unsupported.[11] Journeys to the North Pole by air (landing at a runway prepared on the ice) or by icebreaker have now become relatively routine, and are even available to small groups of tourists through adventure holiday companies.

In July 2007, British endurance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh completed a 1 km swim at the North Pole. His feat, undertaken to highlight the effects of climate change, took place in clear water that had opened up between the ice floes.[12]

2007 descent to North Pole seabed

Main article: 2007 Russian North Pole expedition

On August 2 2007, a Russian expedition made the first ever manned descent to the ocean bottom at the North Pole, to a depth of 4.2 km, as part of a research programme in support of Russia's 2001 territorial claim to a large swathe of the Arctic Ocean. The descent took place in two MIR submersibles and was led by Soviet and Russian polar explorer Arthur Chilingarov. In a symbolic act, a titanium capsule carrying the Russian flag was placed on the seabed at the exact position of the Pole.[13][14] The expedition is the latest in a decades-long series of moves by Russia to show it is the dominant influence in the Arctic. [3] The warming Arctic climate and summer retreat of sea ice there has suddenly turned the attention of countries from China to the United States toward the top of the world, where resources and shipping routes may soon be exploitable.[4]

Day and night

During the summer months, the North Pole experiences twenty-four hours of daylight daily, but during the winter months the North Pole experiences twenty-four hours of darkness daily. Sunrise and sunset do not occur in a twenty-four hour cycle. At the North Pole, sunrise begins at the Vernal equinox taking three months for the sun to reach its highest point at the summer solstice when sunset begins, taking three months to reach sunset at the Autumnal equinox. A similar effect can be observed at the South Pole, with a six-month difference. This day/night effect is in stark contrast to what is observed at the Equator.

This effect is caused by a combination of the Earth's axial tilt and its revolution around the sun. The direction and angle of axial tilt of the Earth remains fairly constant (on a yearly basis) in its plane of revolution around the sun. Hence during the summer, the North Pole is always facing the sun's rays but during the winter, it always faces away from the sun.

Time

In most places on earth, local time is roughly synchronized to the position of the sun in the sky. Thus, at midday the sun is roughly at its highest. This method fails at the North Pole where each "day" lasts a whole year. There is no permanent human presence at the North Pole, and no particular time zone has been assigned. Polar expeditions may use any time zone that is convenient, such as GMT, or the time zone of the country they departed from.

Climate

The North Pole is significantly warmer than the South Pole because it lies at sea level in the middle of an ocean (which acts as a reservoir of heat), rather than at altitude in a continental land mass.

Winter (January) temperatures at the North Pole can range from about −43 °C (−45 °F) to −26 °C (−15 °F), perhaps averaging around −34 °C (−30 °F). Summer temperatures (June, July and August) average around the freezing point (0 °C, 32 °F).[15]

The sea ice at the North Pole is typically around two or three meters thick[16], though there is considerable variation and occasionally the movement of floes exposes clear water.[17] Studies have suggested that the average ice thickness has decreased in recent years due to global warming, though this conclusion is disputed by some.[17] Reports have also predicted that within a few decades the Arctic Ocean will be entirely free of ice in the summer months.[18] This may have significant commercial implications; see "Territorial Claims", below.

Flora and fauna

Polar bears are believed to rarely travel beyond about 82° North due to the scarcity of food, though tracks have been seen in the vicinity of the North Pole, and a 2006 expedition reported sighting a polar bear just one mile from the Pole.[19][20] The ringed seal has been also been seen at the Pole, and Arctic foxes have been observed less than 60 km away at 89°40′ N.[21][22]

Birds seen at or very near the Pole include the Snow Bunting, Northern Fulmar and Black-legged Kittiwake, though some bird sightings may be distorted by the fact that birds tend to follow ships and expeditions.[23]

Fish have been seen in the waters at the North Pole, but these are probably few in number.[23]

Territorial claims to the North Pole and Arctic regions

Main article: Territorial claims in the Arctic

Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland), are limited to a 320 kilometre (200-mile) economic zone around their coasts, and the area beyond that is administered by the International Seabed Authority.

Upon ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country has a ten year period to make claims to extend its 200 mile zone.[24] Norway (ratified the convention in 1996[25]), Russia (ratified in 1997[25]), Canada (ratified in 2003[25]) and Denmark (ratified in 2004[25]) have all launched projects to base claims that certain Arctic sectors should belong to their territories.

In Western culture, the geographic North Pole is the residence of Santa Claus. Canada Post has assigned postal code H0H 0H0 to the North Pole (referring to Santa's traditional exclamation of "Ho-ho-ho!").[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ "A Voyage of Importance", Time, Aug. 18, 1958
  2. ^ Tom Avery website, retrieved May 2007
  3. ^ Guiness Book of Records, 1998 edition
  4. ^ Concise Chronology of Approaches to the Poles, R. K. Headland, DIO Vol. 4 No. 3
  5. ^ Concise chronology of approach to the poles, Scott Polar Research Institute
  6. ^ Aviation History Facts, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission
  7. ^ Obituary of Sir Wally Herbert, Times Online, 13 June, 2007
  8. ^ a b Obituary of Sir Wally Herbert, Guardian Unlimited, 15 June 2007
  9. ^ [1] northpolewomen.com
  10. ^ USS Charlotte Achieves Milestone During Under-Ice Transit, Navy NewsStand website, retrieved May 2007
  11. ^ North Pole Challenge 2006 website
  12. ^ Swimmer rises to Arctic challenge, BBC news, 15 July 2007
  13. ^ Template:Ru icon Press release of the AARI, July 9 2007
  14. ^ Russia plants flag under N Pole, BBC News, 2 August 2007
  15. ^ "Science question of the week", Goddard Space Center
  16. ^ Beyond "Polar Express": Fast Facts on the Real North Pole, National Geographic News
  17. ^ a b The Top of the World: Is the North Pole Turning to Water?, John L. Daly
  18. ^ Arctic sea ice 'faces rapid melt', BBC news story, December 2006
  19. ^ Polar Bear - Population & Distribution, WWF, January 2007
  20. ^ Explorers' Blog, Greenpeace Project Thin Ice, 1 Jul 2006
  21. ^ Ringed seal makes its home on the ice, Antti Halkka
  22. ^ The Arctic Fox, Magnus Tannerfeldt
  23. ^ a b [2]
  24. ^ "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Annex 2, Article 4)". Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  25. ^ a b c d http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/status2007.pdf
  26. ^ "Canada Post Launches 24th Annual Santa Letter-writing Program", Canada Post press release, November 15, 2006
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