What Continent Is The North Pole On?
What and Where Is the North Pole?
The North Pole is a point on the Northern Hemisphere where the world’s rotational axis meets with the surface of the earth. It is in the Arctic Ocean in the middle of the water, and it is always covered with a permanently shifting sea ice. It is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere and on the northern side of Greenland, Russia, and Canada. Even though the North Pole does not belong to any continent, it is not considered to be a continent on its own.
The North Pole is a magnetic region where the magnetic fields of the world meet. The actual magnetic pole is not constant. The Canadian Geographical survey determined that the North Magnetic pole is in western Ellesmere, Canada in 2001. All the directions at the North Pole point towards the South Pole and all the longitude lines converge here. The ice covering it is about 10 ft thick, and the ocean’s depth at that point is over 13,123 ft deep. The only three continents close to the North Pole are Asia, Europe, and North America. The nearest inhabited region is Alert, Canada which is 508 miles from the North Pole.
How Far Is the North Pole from Other Continents?
Even though the two biggest nations of North America, the United States and Canada have some land on the Arctic Circle, the North Pole is not part of North America. North America is 3,036 miles to the south of the North Pole. North America is in the Northern Hemisphere and about 3,184 miles from the Equator.
The European nation which is close to this point is one of Denmark Kingdom’s constituent countries known as Greenland. Denmark itself is 2,349.9 miles to the south of the North Pole. The Kaffeklubben Island, Greenland is about 430 miles from the North Pole. Kaffeklubben Island is on the northern tip of Greenland.
Asia is about 6,223 miles to the southern parts of the North Pole. Russia is the only Asian state with some cities on the Arctic Circle. About 2,100,000 sq miles of Russia is on the northern parts of the Arctic Circle. Russia is on the Northern Hemisphere and about 3,337 miles south of this position.
South America is in the Southern Hemisphere and about 3,657 miles to the south of the North Pole. Australia is on the Southern Hemisphere and about 7,948 miles from the North Pole with Africa being even further south.
Antarctica is on the opposite side of the Arctic and the home to the South Pole. Antarctica is about 12,430 miles to the south of the North Pole, and unlike the Arctic, it is a continent.
Why Is the Arctic Not a Continent like Antarctica?
The North Pole is on the sea ice in the Arctic and not on any continent. Unlike Antarctica which is considered to be a continent, the Arctic is not a continent. A continent is any of the earth's continuous expanse of land mass, and the Arctic is just an ice sheet floating on the Arctic Ocean. Even though it has some land masses surrounding it, the Arctic is mostly ocean.
