The expression cold pole refers to the coldest points in each hemisphere. Principal sources of cold air are the winter continental anticyclones of Siberia and northern Canada and the two polar regions. Extensive snow cover in the source usually leads to intense surface cooling with subsidence and the formation of a low-level inversion. These areas are extremely cold, extremely dry, and have small cloud amounts with only occasional light snowfalls.
According to Lamb (1972), cold poles are zones within which the temperature at 500 mb is less than −30°C in summer or less than −40°C in other months. The movement of the cold poles controls the height of the 500-mb surface over the North Polar region, which can delay considerably the rise in surface temperatures in the region.
The cold poles differ in the two hemispheres. The Southern Hemisphere has by far the coldest minimum temperatures. Several International Geophysical Year (IGY) stations have recorded below −73°C in an area between...
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References
Lamb, H. H., 1972. Climate: Present, Past, Future. London: Methuen.
Lockwood, J. G., 1974. World Climatology. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Orvig, S. (ed.), 1970. Climates of the Polar Regions. New York: Elsevier.
Stringer, E. T., 1972. Foundations of Climatology. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Sugden, D., 1982. Arctic and Antarctic. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble Books.
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© 1987 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Binkley, M. (1987). Cold pole . In: Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_51
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