Polar Regions

The polar regions are important components of the atmospheric and oceanic circulation. While the Arctic region is largely capped by sea ice that is decreasing in extent, the Antarctic is covered by land and surrounded by a continuous ocean. Both hemispheres have a semi-permanent surface anticyclone near the pole, along with a circumpolar vortex aloft. The intense continentality and cryosphere gives the South Polar region special characteristics that make it an important driver of the global thermohaline circulation, particularly through subsurface ocean currents in such an oxygen-rich part of the world ocean. While Arctic temperatures are frigid and contain polar climates, temperatures are far more moderate than over the Antarctic. Likewise, precipitation is sparse in both the Arctic and Antarctic, but especially in the Antarctic, where virtually no precipitation occurs near the pole. Occasional summer mid-latitude wave cyclones affect coastal Antarctica and the Arctic. The stratospheric ozone hole has been problematic especially in the Antarctic, but it has been repairing itself in recent years due to global bans on the products that were depleting it.