Location of the polar environment
It is the location of the polar environments that contributes primarily to its temperature, typography and wildlife. The polar regions are located between 60° North and South, and this means that it receives no direct solar radiation, and hence is extremely cold. Antarctica is surrounded on all sides by the southern ocean. However, the Arctic is surrounded by numerous seas most notably the Norwegian, Greenland, Arctic, Beaufort and Bearing Seas. Both Antarctica and the Arctic each cover a huge area of about 14 million square kilometers, nearly half the size of the United States.