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Drifting stations monitor the ice pack, temperature, sea depth, currents, weather conditions, and marine biology of the North Pole. Russia sends out a drifting station almost every year, all named "NP" (for North Pole). The most consistent research of the North Pole has come from manned drifting research stations. There isn’t land or a place for permanent facilities, making it difficult to set up equipment. Drifting Research Stations Since the North Pole sits on drifting ice, it's difficult and expensive for scientists and explorers to study. This means the region experiences up to 24 hours of sunlight in the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter. From the North Pole, the sun is always above the horizon in the summer and below the horizon in the winter. In fact, the North Pole experiences only one sunrise (at the March equinox) and one sunset (at the September equinox) every year. In the summer, the warmest time of year, the temperature is right at the freezing point: 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit.) Because Earth rotates on a tilted axis as it revolves around the sun, sunlight is experienced in extremes at the poles. This is because sits at a lower elevation ( sea level) and is located in the middle of an ocean, which is warmer than the ice-covered continent of Antarctica. The North Pole is much warmer than the South Pole. Greenland, the world's largest island and an autonomous teterritory within the Kingdom of Denmark, is also close to the pole. The Canadian territory of Nunavut lies closest to the North Pole. The depth of the ocean at the North Pole is more than 4,000 meters (13,123 feet).

The ice is about two to three meters (six to 10 feet) thick. The North Pole sits in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, on water that is almost always covered with ice. Polaris, the current North Star, sits almost motionless in the sky above the pole, making it an excellent fixed point to use in celestial navigation in the Northern Hemisphere. Its latitude is 90 degrees north, and all lines of longitude meet there (as well as at the South Pole, on the opposite end of Earth). From the North Pole, all directions are south. It is the precise point of the intersection of Earth's axis and Earth's surface. The North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth.