Polar Ecology - Water

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