Difference Between

Antarctic vs Antarctica
 

Treating earth as round, the top and bottom of the earth are regarded as the North Pole and the South Pole. While the two look same at a simple glance, there is a great difference between the two. While there is no landmass at North Pole with Arctic being an oceanic basin underneath a thin layer of ice, South Pole has a land mass which we call as Antarctica, the second smallest continent of the world, smallest being Australia. There is another word called Antarctic that confuses many as they think that both refer to one and the same in the world. However, the truth is somewhat different, and this article attempts to highlight the differences between Antarctic and Antarctica.

The Polar region in the southern most point of the earth is referred to as Antarctic that includes Antarctica, the second smallest continent on earth. Antarctica is a continent that is surrounded by the ocean and the land mass remains buried under the ice sheet that is almost a mile thick. It is one continent that is coldest and least populated because it receives almost nil precipitation, and hence, labeled as world’s largest cold desert.

It is the ocean surrounding Antarctica that is a unique are on the surface of the earth called Antarctic convergence. This is the place where warm waters from the north meet frozen water from the south producing waters that are very productive with lots of animals and plants.

Antarctica remains a virgin land of mass on earth with no country claiming a piece of land on it. The land mass is very important for human beings to conduct scientific experiments and to analyze the effects of global warming and pollution on sea animals found here. It was in 1959 that 43 countries of the world signed Antarctica Treaty forbidding any mining and exploration on this virgin landmass and also to cooperate with each other in an endeavor to conduct scientific research for the betterment of life and human beings in particular.