Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
sion. During the prosperous years in the 1920s, farmers expanded their holdings, plowing up large areas
of grassland, digging more wells, and allowing their cattle to range over wider areas. Drawing on so much
underground water dried the land and accelerated the erosion of some of the world's richest topsoil. When
a major drought struck, the remaining soil was blown away by high winds in massive dust storms.
In a few years' time, by in the mid-1930s, what had been a thriving agricultural region was a dry, wind-
blown desert. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were uprooted in the largest forced migration in Americ-
an history. Families in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, and other Plains states left behind
worthless farmland in scenes captured by John Steinbeck in his classic novel,
The Grapes of Wrath
(1939).
Which Is Colder, Antarctica or the Arctic Circle?
Too frigid for humans without the greatest of precautions, hard to reach, impassably ice-bound for most
of the year, the separate polar environments used to be among the least known places on earth. We knew
more about the moon than we did about the two poles. But things are changing. With energy and miner-
al companies licking their chops as they eye the natural resources that might be trapped beneath the icy
wastelands, the scene is set. The familiar story of conflict between exploitation of potentially valuable as-
sets and preservation of these areas may dominate their future. For now, science has the upper hand as
most exploration taking place at the two poles is largely of a research nature rather than a treasure hunt for
new mineral wealth. But that could always change.
People tend to think of the two polar zones as being similar. But they are quite different. At the North
Pole, the Arctic is the smallest of the oceans. There is no evidence yet of any native population living at
the North Pole. But that isn't to say there isn't any Santa Claus. Just because you can't see him doesn't
mean he isn't there.
Antarctica is an ice-covered land mass twice the size of Western Europe and surrounded by a vast open
ocean. (See in Chapter 2, “Who Owns Antarctica?”) The world's record cold temperature was the read-
ing of -126.9˚F (88.3˚C) recorded at the Soviet Union's Vostok station in Antarctica. An average warm
summer day in Antarctica is about 1˚F. The average daily temperature of the six-month Antarctic winter is
-70˚F.
Land tends to be colder than water because of its density, so Antarctica is generally colder than the
Arctic Ocean because it is a land mass, while the Arctic is water. But seasonal differences between the
regions are typical. On average, the polar region of Antarctica during July is the coldest place on earth.
But in January, the coldest temperatures occur in Siberia, Canada, and Greenland, hundreds of miles to the
south of the North Pole.
Who Is El Niño?
Short for “El Niño de Navidad,” or the Christ Child, El Niño is actually a “what” rather than a “who.”
A huge pool of extra-warm seawater that flows in a tonguelike current out of the tropical eastern Pacific
Ocean, El Niño seems to occur unusually strongly about once a decade, usually in December, before
Christmas, which is how he got his name. But El Niño does not come bearing gifts. Instead, this regular
visitor brings climate havoc and is responsible for a big falloff in the anchovy haul, pushing up the price
of pizzas. Its effects are not funny, however, and can be extremely destructive.
