polar caps
Arctic and Antarctic
Polar caps are the masses of ice and snow covering a planet's polar regions.
On Earth, these are the Arctic ice sheet in the north and the Antarctic ice cap in the south.
Mars also has polar caps of frozen water and carbon dioxide.
The term appears in discussions of climate change, as melting polar caps contribute to rising sea levels: Scientists warn that polar caps are shrinking at an alarming rate.
- cryosphereEarth's frozen water systems
- AntarcticSouthern polar region
- ice shelfFloating glacial extension
- glacierSlow-moving ice mass
- ice sheetThick glacial landmass covering
permafrost · melting ice · climate change · sea level rise · albedo · global warming · icefield · glacial retreat · frozen wasteland · glaciology · axial tilt · sublimation · ice core · white · sea ice · expedition · frozen · frigid
- Marsred planet, Mars surface, Martian soil, Martian atmosphere, Olympus Mons
- earth scienceatmosphere, earthquake, geology, volcano, crust
- Mars climatedust storms, thin air, dry ice, temperature swings, seasons
- Mars studyMars, red planet, surface features, canals, craters
- terraformingterraforming, climate control, greenhouse gases, Mars colonization, Mars colony
- polar scienceglaciology, Antarctic research, ice shelf, Arctic, glacier retreat
polar capsdeserts
Abandons or barren lands
Sahara Desert · Death Valley · tropical rainforests · arid zones · arid regions
polar capswarm seas
Heated ocean regions
tropical oceans · temperate regions · open water · bare rock
cap, pole, polar, caps, polarity, polarizing, bipolar, polarized, polarizes