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| Three Poles | |
|---|---|
| Name | Three Poles |
| Location | Arctic, Antarctic, Himalaya |
Three Poles
The Three Poles denote the three geographically extreme cold regions associated with the Arctic Ocean, Antarctica, and the high Tibetan Plateau including the Himalayas, each central to major scientific, geopolitical, and environmental debates involving entities such as the United Nations, the World Meteorological Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and national programs from United States, China, India, Russia, and Australia. The concept links research agendas from institutions like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Space Agency, the China Meteorological Administration, the Indian Space Research Organisation, and universities such as Harvard University, Tsinghua University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and Stanford University.
The term encompasses three loci of cryospheric mass and climatic extremity recognized by bodies including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Wildlife Fund, the Greenpeace International network, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Scholars from National Geographic Society, the Royal Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research frame the scope in relation to metrics used by the Global Climate Observing System, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund for risk assessment and adaptation planning.
Geographically the Three Poles are commonly identified as regions centered on the North Pole and the Arctic Circle including the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Barents Sea; the South Pole within the Antarctic Peninsula, the Ross Sea, and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet; and the High Asia complex comprising the Tibetan Plateau, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, the Pamir Mountains, and the Third Pole glacier systems such as the Kangri Garpo and Nyainqêntanglha ranges. These components intersect jurisdictions like the Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, United States (Alaska), Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, People's Republic of China, Republic of India, Pakistan, and Nepal and involve protected areas such as Svalbard, Antarctic Specially Protected Areas, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau National Nature Reserve, and designations by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Three Poles function as repositories and regulators of global cryospheric mass influencing sea level through processes documented by the IPCC AR6, satellite missions like GRACE, ICESat-2, Sentinel-1, and Landsat, and observational programs from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the British Antarctic Survey, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing. Climate feedbacks studied by teams at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Alfred Wegener Institute, and the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory link polar albedo changes, permafrost thawing, and glacier retreat to projections used by the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the International Energy Agency. Impacts on ocean circulation such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and atmospheric patterns like the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Southern Annular Mode, and the Indian Ocean Dipole are central to modeling by research centers including Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.
Human activity and scientific presence span national research stations like McMurdo Station, Scott Base, Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, Ny-Ålesund, Barrow (Utqiaġvik), Alert, Nunavut, Davis Station, Mawson Station, Concordia Station, and high-altitude field camps on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and in the Karakoram used by teams from National Snow and Ice Data Center, British Antarctic Survey, Chinese National Arctic and Antarctic Administration, Indian Antarctic Program, Russian Antarctic Expedition, and universities including Peking University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Columbia University, and University of Tokyo. Expeditions and projects such as the International Polar Year, the Polarstern research cruises, the Third Pole Environment (TPE) program, the Global Cryosphere Watch, and citizen-science initiatives coordinated with NASA and NOAA produce datasets for journals like Nature, Science, The Cryosphere, Geophysical Research Letters, and Journal of Glaciology.
Conservation challenges involve governance instruments like the Antarctic Treaty System, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Convention on Biological Diversity, and regional frameworks employed by the Arctic Council, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and bilateral accords among China, India, Russia, United States, Canada, Norway, and Australia. Geopolitical debates over resources, shipping lanes such as the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage, mineral claims, and biodiversity protection draw participation from actors including European Union, NATO, ASEAN, G77, and private firms subject to scrutiny by NGOs like Greenpeace International and World Wildlife Fund. Legal and policy scholarship from Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, and think tanks such as Chatham House and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace examine sovereignty, environmental security, and indigenous rights involving peoples like the Sámi, Inuit, Tibetan people, Sherpa, and communities in Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Culturally the Three Poles enter literature, art, and public discourse through works and institutions such as the Royal Geographical Society, expeditions by figures like Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Fridtjof Nansen, Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay, and contemporary filmmakers and writers associated with National Geographic Television, BBC Earth, David Attenborough, Werner Herzog, and authors published by Penguin Random House and Oxford University Press. Symbolic uses appear in climate advocacy campaigns by 350.org, scientific exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the Natural History Museum, London, and public lectures at institutions like Royal Institution and Carnegie Institution for Science, linking the poles to narratives about planetary limits, resilience, and heritage acknowledged by awards such as the Right Livelihood Award and the Polar Medal.
Category:Polar regions