Final answer:
The Arctic and Antarctic differ in their ice coverage; the Arctic has declining sea ice, while the Antarctic's ice sheet is immense and contains 70% of Earth's freshwater. Climate change poses a threat to both, with potential impacts on global sea levels. Antarctic ice cores are valuable for studying past climate changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The differences in ice cover between the Arctic and Antarctic are significant and impact global processes. While the Arctic has sea ice that fluctuates annually and is declining due to global warming, the Antarctic is predominantly covered by a massive ice sheet that contains about 70 percent of the earth's fresh water.
Unlike the Arctic ice, which is only a few meters thick, the Antarctic ice sheet is more than a mile deep on average and extends out from the coastline during the winter, potentially doubling in size. Climate change and global warming pose a risk to these polar regions, with greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels contributing to the warming temperatures that threaten to melt the ice sheets.
While the interior of Antarctica receives very little precipitation, making it a desert, the coastal regions may get up to four feet of snow annually. The potential melting of the Antarctic ice sheet due to climate change could lead to a significant rise in sea levels, affecting coastal and low-lying regions globally. Moreover, the Antarctic ice cores provide crucial data on past climates and how the earth's temperatures and carbon dioxide levels have varied over time.