Ice, Polar Bears & Penguins
Thursday, March 19, 2009 - 12:08
in Earth & Climate
There is an old gag which asks: "Why don't polar bears eat penguins?" The answer is that polar bears inhabit arctic regions, whereas penguins inhabit antarctic regions, as shown here. There is a saying that the poles are where weather is made. Weather is a heat-driven system, the temperature difference between the poles and the equator, amongst other things, drives our weather. Air is constantly being either warmed or cooled in a planet-wide system, but air is warmed much more in the equatorial regions and cooled more in the polar regions. (Please note: this is a deliberate oversimplification for purposes of explanation.) read more
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