norte (s)
norden (g)
norte (p)
north (e)
nord (f)
the north pole
What’s the first word that comes to mind? Well, if you’re of a certain age and/or have watched Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer lately, it might be Santa Claus. (If you’re not familiar with the Rudolph story, here’s a link to the 1964 original movie. Absolute poppycock from a geographical point of view but a classic nevertheless. (For extra credit, who plays Sam the Singing Snowman and what other film role is he famous for?)
Okay, let’s get back on track here. Thinking back to our orange example, the North Pole is the very top of the orange, as far north as you can get on earth. The only direction you can go from the North Pole is south. Its latitude is the maximum measure, 90 degrees north. All of the longitude lines north of the equator meet at the North Pole. As with the intersection of the equator and the Prime Meridian, the North Pole is not on land but rather in the Arctic Ocean, in water more than 13,000 feet deep, historically covered with ice, anywhere from 6 to 10 feet thick. But that seems to be changing. Some believe that by 2035, the North Pole will be ice free during the summer months.
An ice-free North Pole is an interesting prospect for the countries near to it: Russia; Canada (through its territory Nunavat); Denmark (through its territory Greenland); and Norway. Although the North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and therefore outside the territorial claims of any country, countries are very fond of the argument that they can claim land extending out from their continental shelf. (A continental shelf is the area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean.) Here is a link to a map showing the various continental shelves of the world. As you can see, they can add quite a bit of area to a country’s territory.
Control of the North Pole could mean the possibility of oil and gas exploration. It also might mean control of a trade route via the North Pole between Asia, Europe, and North America known as the Northwest Passage. The route was first completed by the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, who took more than three years to thread through the more than 36,500 islands in the Canadian Archipelago, making it to Alaska in 1906. Since the earth is not as wide around at the North (or South) Poles as it is at the equator, this route shortens a ship’s voyage and therefore makes such a voyage cheaper than transiting through the Panama or Suez Canal, both of which are much closer to the equator. Cruise ships are already offering cruises through the Northwest Passage.
In 2007, a Russian research expedition using sophisticated submersibles became the first to go beneath the ice, slush, and/or waves and reach the actual seabed beneath the North Pole. The expedition, named Arktika, planted a titanium Russian flag on the spot. Other nations were not amused but, as the Russians pointed out, historically, explorers have planted flags in unexplored places (think of that iconic picture of the American flag on the moon). The Russians admitted that the expedition was designed to find evidence showing that the North Pole is part of the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain chain stretching from Siberia all the way to Canada via Greenland. This would put the North Pole on the Russian continental shelf but also on the Danish and Canadian continental shelves. Surely more territorial claims to follow as the ice melts.
Burl Ives as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof