Water
Water is an important part of human survival. Because of its cold temperature much of the earth's water comes from the polar regions. 90% of the world’s water comes from the Antarctic ice cap although a lot of this water is not used (Stonehouse, 106). Water environments are important for many species around the world. Many bacteria thrive there as well as algae and flora. Many of the ponds or lakes in polar regions are frozen over or snow covered for most of the year. Larger lakes thaw out around the edges during the warmer months while the smaller lakes thaw entirely. There are few rivers in the polar regions. The Arctic has more rivers compared to Antarctica. The regions also have ponds. The ponds that attract birds tend to be rich in nutrients. This is because of the bird droppings or bird feathers (Stonehouse, 109). There are two different types of lakes in polar regions including Arctic lakes and Antarctic lakes. Of the Arctic lakes they include glacial lakes and permafrost lakes.
The polar regions include the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean. The Arctic ocean covers 14 million km squared (Stonehouse, 127). In the spring the ice covers an area of 5-8 million km squared and in the winter it is twice that. In this area it is never totally ice covered. This is due to the winds breaking up the ice. Because of these cracks in the ice there is more biological productivity in the ocean.
The Southern Ocean is 28 million km squared. This ocean contains the Weddell Sea and Ross Sea. The ocean contains large packs of ice that surrounds Antarctica
Read more about this topic: Polar Ecology
Famous quotes containing the word water:
“This sand seemed to us the connecting link between land and water. It was a kind of water on which you could walk, and you could see the ripple-marks on its surface, produced by the winds, precisely like those at the bottom of a brook or lake. We had read that Mussulmans are permitted by the Koran to perform their ablutions in sand when they cannot get water, a necessary indulgence in Arabia, and we now understand the propriety of this provision.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I asked, “What happens, father, when you die?”
He told where all the running water goes,
And dressed me gently in my little clothes.”
—Robert Pack (b. 1929)
“Man is but a reed, the feeblest one in nature; but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him—a vapor, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)