FRIGID ZONE

Acknowledgement
For this Geography project on Frigid Zone, I would like to express my gratitude to Mrs.
Kammila Vasanti, our class teacher. The compilation of this project has been a wonderful
learning experience. I also owe my gratitude to my parents who had helped me to
collect information and in giving this project a concrete form.
Contents
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Topic
Introduction
Location
Climate
Natural Vegetation
Animal Life
Life of the People
Effects on the Environment
Conclusion
Bibliography

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Introduction: The Earth has many climates. Among them The Polar Regions have a
very cold climate. These places are called Frigid Zones. Here land remains frozen for the
most of the year and strong winds and blizzards blow in this region.
It is always cold here though winter is much colder than summer.
The Frigid zones lie at the extreme north of the northern hemisphere and the extreme
south of the southern hemisphere.

North Frigid Zone:

It is located between the North Pole and Arctic Circle.
The northern hemisphere region includes arctic tundra and alpine tundra.

South Frigid Zone:

It lies between Antarctica and South Pole.
The southern hemisphere region includes Antarctica.

Polar Region contains

Polar ice caps high frozen, latitude region
Glaciers: rivers of frozen water
Icebergs: frozen chunks of fresh water in the ocean; much deeper under the water
Permafrost: It means permanently frozen ground.

Distributions of Permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere.

Purple region : permafrost
Blue regions: seasonally frozen ground (the soil is frozen for 15 days or more per year).
Pink regions : intermittently frozen ground ( the soil is frozen for fewer than 15 days per
year )
Solid line: the average maximum extent of the seasonal snow cover.

Climate
Polar region receive less intensive solar radiation because the sun's energy arrives at an
oblique angle, spreading over a larger area, and also travels a longer distance through
the Earth's atmosphere in which it may be absorbed, scattered or reflected,.
The axial tilt of the Earth has a major effect on climate of the polar regions. Since the
polar regions are the farthest from the equator, they receive the least amount of sunlight
and are therefore frigid. The large amount of ice and snow also reflects a large part of
what little sunlight the Polar Regions receive, contributing to the cold. Polar regions are
characterized by the polar climate, extremely cold temperatures,
heavy glaciation wherever there is sufficient precipitation to form permanent ice, and
extreme variations in daylight hours, with twenty-four hours of daylight in summer,
and complete darkness at mid-winter.

Polar Night
The northern Winter Solstice in December.
Polar Nights occur in the polar regions during the winter months:
Northern Hemisphere: September March
Southern Hemisphere: March September
As the polar region tilts away from the Sun during the winter, even areas that are on the
Earth's day side do not receive any direct sunlight as the Sun stays below the horizon.
The opposite of Polar Night is Midnight Sun or Polar Day.

Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun is when at least a part of the Sun's disk is visible above the horizon 24
hours of the day.
The scientific name for Midnight Sun is Polar Day, the opposite is Polar Night.

As the upper edge of the solar disc disappears below the horizon the Sun has set, and
there's no longer Midnight Sun. The moment the solar disc again becomes visible above
the horizon, its sunrise.
Midnight sun occur in the polar regions during the summer months:
Northern Hemisphere: March September
Southern Hemisphere: September March

The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically
charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen
above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known
as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south.
Natural Vegetation: Since these regions receive no rainfall and very little sunlight and
the ground remains frozen throughout the year, it is very difficult for plant to survive.
Such areas of Frigid Zone where one can find vegetation are called tundra.
Northern Hemisphere: Arctic Tundra: Arctic tundra is found around north pole , towards
the north of the taiga belt. It includes N. American Tundra, Scandinavian Tundra, Russian
Tundra (Siberia)
PLANTS in the TUNDRA:
the growing season is only 50-60 days long!
Shrubs
Sedges
Mosses
Lichens
Grasses
Lichens Southern Hemisphere: Antarctic Tundra: The entire region is barren and does
not support plant life. It has no plant life except for few mosses and lichens
Animal Life:
The animals of the frigid zones adapted themselves by
Natural adaptations: Some animals have thick coat which become thicker in winter.
Example:
Arctic Fox 2> Ground Squirrel
Hibernation:
Some animals goes for a deep sleep like state where heart beat slows down for many
months in an underground burrow. Example: Arctic ground Squirrel
Migration:
Some Animals migrate to warmer regions. For example:
The Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a seabird of the tern family. This bird has a
circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe,
Asia, and North America . The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each
year as it migrates from its northern breeding grounds to the Antarctic coast for the
southern summer and back again about six months later.
Polar bears
polar bears are good swimmers
They can live with out food for many days as they can store food in their fat

Polar bears can eat up to 68 kg of food

They love to eat ringed seals, berries and grass.