Arctic and Antarctic Geography Quiz

Answer: Novaya Zemlya

Officially named the AN602 Hydrogen Bomb, it had a yield of 50 megatons. Detonated 2.5 miles above the archipelago, it took only one second for the fireball to reach four miles in diameter, and its light is supposed to have been seen from 1,200 miles away. The islands were levelled for several miles from ground zero, and even rocks melted.

Answer: Svalbard

Svalbard is famous for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which houses nearly one million seed samples. These are stored to ensure various types of food aren't wiped out by natural or man-made catastrophes. It sits on the main island of Spitsbergen, which makes up half of the 23,000 square mile archipelago by itself.

Answer: Southern Ocean

The boundaries of the Southern Ocean have proven to be impossible to agree on. However, all definitions of the ocean include the ocean immediately surrounding Antarctica. A few organizations, such as the National Geographic Society, even refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Southern Ocean despite the International Hydrographic Organization having formally named it in 1928 and revised its borders in 2000.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth Land

Queen Elizabeth Land contains areas laid claim to by Russia and Argentina, who both insist either the territory belongs to them, or no country can lay claim to parts of Antarctica due to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, depending on whose story you choose to believe.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth Islands

The archipelago, made up of 2,126 islands, lies to the northwest of Greenland; they are the northern-most islands belonging to Canada. The islands have a total population of around 400.

Answer: Australia

Antarctica would look like a large archipelago in the eastern half, and the western part would be a single, large island. The weight of all the ice on the continent pushes the land underneath approximately two kilometers below sea level.

Answer: Aleutian Islands

The Aleutian Islands are a chain of volcanic islands just off the southwestern coast of Alaska and run along the northern Pacific Ocean toward Russia, dividing the Pacific from the Bering Sea. The westernmost islands belong to Russia, and are called the Commander Islands. Geographically they are considered part of the Aleutians.

Answer: Barents Sea

Named after an early Dutch Arctic explorer, Willem Barentsz, the Russian side was used as a dump for spent nuclear reactor cores, leading to modern-day environmental concerns.

Answer: White Sea

In the mid-1500s, a small group of British ships searching for a northern route to the Indies became the first foreign incursion into the White Sea. Following the British discovery of the White Sea, the Muscovy Company was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I to conduct trade with Russia along the arctic route.

Answer: Vinson Massif

Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica, and the Vinson Massif itself, is named after a US Congressman from Georgia. It was discovered in January, 1958 and was first climbed in 1966 by a US team.