The Earth's Geographic North Pole is also referred to as the Terrestrial North Pole, but
usually simply called the North
Pole.
North Pole, northern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90°N. It is
distinguished from the north magnetic pole. U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary was long
generally credited as being the first to reach (1909) the North Pole despite
Frederick A.Cook's prior claim (1908). In 1926, Richard E.
The North Pole is defined as one of the two points where
the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface (the other being the South Pole, diametrically opposite). The North Pole is the
northernmost point on Earth; it defines latitude 90°
North, as well as the direction of True North. At the North Pole all directions
point south.
Byrd and Floyd
Bennett may have been the first persons to fly over the pole, but entries in
Byrd's diary suggest that they may have missed the actual pole; if so, that
feat would belong to Roald Amundsen. The first overland expedition to have
unquestionably reached the pole arrived in 1968; it was led by American Ralph
Plaisted and traveled by snowmobile. See also Arctic, the.
While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the
North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. There is no land at
the North Pole, just waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly
shifting sea ice. This makes it impossible to construct a permanent station at
the North Pole (unlike the South Pole). The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured
at 13,410 ft.[1]Sunrise and sunset do not occur in a twenty-four hour
cycle at the North Pole; sunrise lasts for three months until the sun reaches
its highest point at the summer solstice.
The American explorer Robert E. Peary claimed to
have reached the pole by dog sledge in April 1909, and another American
explorer, Richard E. Byrd, claimed to have reached it by airplane on May 9,
1926; the claims of both men were later questioned. Three days after Byrd’s
attempt, on May 12, the pole was definitely reached by an international team of Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth, andUmberto Nobile, who traversed the polar region in a dirigible.
The first ships to visit the pole were the U.S. nuclear submarines Nautilus
(1958) and Skate (1959), the latter surfacing through the ice, and the Soviet
icebreaker Arktika was the first surface ship to reach it (1977). Other notable
surface expeditions include the first confirmed to reach the pole (1968; via
snowmobile), the first to traverse the polar region (1969; Alaska to Svalbard,
via dog sled), and the first to travel to the pole and back without resupply
(1986; also via dog sled); the last expedition also included the first woman to
reach the pole, American Ann Bancroft.
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