


This operates for a few weeks during early spring. Since 2002, a group of Russians have also annually established a private base, Barneo, close to the Pole. However, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, constructed a number of manned drifting stations on a generally annual basis since 1937, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole. This makes it impractical to construct a permanent station at the North Pole ( unlike the South Pole). The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 m (13,980 ft) by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m (13,409 ft) by USS Nautilus in 1958. While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. The nearest permanently inhabited place is Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, which is located 817 km (508 mi) from the Pole. The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km (430 mi) away, though some perhaps semi-permanent gravel banks lie slightly closer. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere. Along tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west. No time zone has been assigned to the North Pole, so any time can be used as the local time. At the North Pole all directions point south all lines of longitude converge there, so its longitude can be defined as any degree value. It defines geodetic latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of true north. The North Pole is by definition the northernmost point on the Earth, lying antipodally to the South Pole. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole. The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This pressure ridge at the North Pole is about 1 km long, formed between two ice floes of multi-year ice.
