There is no land here, no time applies. You don't know this about the North Pole

The North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth. It is located in the Arctic Ocean and seems to many to be a distant and very mysterious land. What town is closest to the North Pole? Do any animals live here? Get to know the facts about this amazing point.

Where is the North Pole?

The axis of rotation of our planet passes through the North Pole. It has a fixed location – its latitude is 90°N. Although it may seem otherwise, there is no land here, but there is a vast Arctic Ocean covered with ice. No matter what direction you choose when at the North Geographic Pole, it is always south.

At the North Pole, there are polar days and nights that last half a year. As you may have guessed, it's also very cold here. The average temperature in winter is -40.2 degrees Celsius, while in summer it is only 0 degrees. The only precipitation recorded here is snow.

Discovery of the North Pole

The first confirmed and documented expedition to the North Pole took place on April 6, 1909 – although it is said that it was discovered a few years earlier, but local explorers were unable to prove it. The military engineer Robert Edwin Peary, his employee Matthew Henson and four Inuit – Ootah, Seegloo, Egingwah and Ooqueah – went here. However, it is said that they did not actually reach the Pole. According to the records, they were 32 km away.

In the following years, flights were made over the Pole, including: Roald Amundsen and American sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth. In May 1952, US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher and Lieutenant William P. Benedict landed at the geographic North Pole.

Amazing facts about the North Pole. You may not have known about this

What time is it at the North Pole? It turns out that… it has no time zone assigned. The sun rises here only once – in March, and sets once – in September. It's daytime for half the year and night for half the year. Moreover, there are no people here, so the time of day or hour does not matter. Arctic scientists and researchers coming to the area usually stay in the time zone of the country to which their station belongs.

There is no land at the North Pole. The only “permanent” part of the pole is the ice floating on the surface of the Arctic Ocean. According to the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, over the past four decades, scientists have observed a decline in Arctic sea ice thickness during both the summer and winter months.

You might think that it's extremely cold at the North Pole, but… it's not the coldest place on Earth. Much lower temperatures are recorded at the South Pole. According to AE Expeditions, the average annual temperature at the North Pole is -40°C in winter, and at the South Pole it is around -60°C.

You can visit the North Pole. Although it is unavailable for most of the year, travel agencies offer cruises to the Arctic in June and July, when it is the warmest.

Swoop Arctic explains that the favorite route for most guests is the icebreaker journey from the Russian port of Murmansk. The tour company offers several ice cruises a year, all during the summer months. However, passengers must take into account costs of up to PLN 30,000-140,000. PLN per person for such a trip.

In this part of the world it's hard to do research. This is because there is no land here and it consists only of water and drifting ice. There is no permanent place to place the equipment. That's why experts use manned drifting research stations.

There are no people here, but there is life in this place. Drifting ice at the North Pole makes it difficult for animals to survive, but arctic foxes and polar bears live there. In the local waters we can find several species of fish, including: Arctic cod.

Other creatures sighted at the North Pole include whales and ring seals, as well as a variety of migratory birds, including the snowflake and arctic tern.

We didn't expect this, but A marathon is held at the North Pole every year. Not only do the players have to pay a fee of approximately PLN 200,000. PLN for participation (!), they will still have to run in extremely low temperatures over a distance of just over 42 km in the most remote part of the world.

We also have bad news. The North Pole is not Santa's home. Although it is commonly said that the bearded gift-bearer's magical workshop is located at the North Pole, it is actually located in Rovaniemi, Finland.

The discovery of the North Pole is controversial. As many as two explorers claim to be the first to reach this point. Arctic explorers Frederick Cook and Robert Peary returned from expeditions to the North Pole in 1909, and both claimed to be the first to reach the northernmost point of the world.

Cook claimed to have discovered the North Pole in 1908, a year earlier than Peary. Peary publicly accused Cook of lying, causing an unprecedented scandal in the history of exploration.

Who was the first to reach the North Pole is still hotly debated, but according to a blog post by the National Archives, the first confirmed conquest of the North Pole actually took place in 1926 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

According to international law, the North Pole, as well as the Arctic Ocean located here they are not the property of any state. This is because the Pole is not a landmass and is therefore not an independent country or territory.

The city closest to the pole is Longyearbyen – 1,316 km away. It is located on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, between continental Norway and the Pole.

And finally, something that may seem obvious to some. At the North Pole, every direction is south. If you are standing at the North Pole, you are at the northernmost point of the Earth. It doesn't matter which way you look – every direction is south.