Friday, October 3, 2008

The Coldest Place on Earth


Son: "Mom, where is the coldest place on earth?"
Me: "Well, let me think about that for a minute."
Son: "It's the North Pole Silly!"
Me: "How do you know that?" I am very pleased at this point because my five-year-old has started a very inquisitive conversation. He might not have the right answer, but that is a good guess! Then he says:
Son: "I know because that's where Iceman lives!"
Mom: "Great. Everything goes back to super heroes when you're five!"

Antarctica
The lowest temperature ever recorded on earth was -129F recorded in 1983 at the Russian Base Vostok in Antarctica. Antarctica, a continent owned by no one, covers the southern end of our globe. In addition to being the coldest place on earth, Anarctica is also the wettest and the driest place on earth. How is this possible?

The Wettest Place on Earth

Over ninety eight percent of Anarctica is covered by ice. Antactica contains seventy percent of the earth's fresh water and ninety percent of the earth's ice.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest sheet of ice on earth, with an average depth of 7,200 feet. According to NASA's
Cold Facts, "the thickest ice found is in Wilkes Land, where it reaches a depth of 15,669 feet: about as deep as the highest of the Alps is high." If this ice cap were to melt the sea level would rise an average of 230 feet and would inundate most coastal cities, including New York, London, and Hong Kong.

So he had the right idea! The answer is the South Pole!

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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1 comments:

Unknown said...

I love it. Now I'm prepared for this question! ;o)

...and I laughed about it being owned by no one. Who would want it?!

 
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