INVESTIGATING EARTH's PoLAR BioMES from North Pole the end of the northern the Earth's axis Actually the Arctic Circle does not enclose all the Arctic regions The true Arctic is the area in which the mean tem perature for the warmest month is less than 50°F 10 °C The coldest region the polar segment is where the mean temperature of the warmest month is below freezing The subarctic region is the area that has as a mean temperature above 50 °F 1o °C for more than three but less than four months a year The boundary of the Arctic is some times said to be the line beyond which no trees grow This is based on the theory that tree life cannot exist unless there is at least one month a year with a temperature of 50 °F 10 °C ARCTIC OCEAN AND ARCTIC LAND The greater part of the 8 million square miles 21 million square kilometers within the Arctic Circle is occupied by the Arctic Ocean 5 440 000 square miles or 14 090 000 square kilometers Around the pole the ocean is about 13 800 feet deep 4 200 meters Islands dot the southern two thirds I2
GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS ID Colorful houses and landscape in Greenland iStockphoto Thinkstock of the ocean Below these comes a rim of land provided by the northern continents The most important islands north of America are Baffin Victoria and Ellesmere belonging to Canada Svalbard a Norwegian group and Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya belonging to Russia are the largest islands north of Europe North of Asia near Siberia lie Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands Other 13
INVESTIGATING EARTH's PoLAR BIOMEs AXEL HEIBERG Peak ISLAND 580 75 160 45 30 LINCOLN Cape Morris Jesup Robeson Channel t NORWAY SPITSBERGEN ISLAND Nordgstrundingen Headland loor LLESMEI CS ISLAN CANADA SMUSSEN Sounds Oaanaaq Thule KONG FREDERIK LAND GREENLAND BASIN Cape 75 Parry 75 KON CHRISTIAN X Greenland Ice Sheet LAND Baffin Bay Upermavik GREENLAND DEN coresh Sound Uummannaq Gunnbjorn Fjeld Qeqertars up BAFFIN Munua Bay ISLAND 3 Staunder WS KON CHRISTIAN ICELAND CANAD Nuuk Godthab LABRADOR SEAN GREENLAND Cape Farewell 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc 300 mi 150 200 400 km 14
GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS islands in the Arctic regions are Wrangel Prince Patrick Devon and Banks as well as the Parry Islands Alaska and north ern Canada form the Arctic lands of North America Farther east is the world's largest island Greenland It is part of the Danish kingdom At Dundas Greenland the United States has a large air base In northern Europe the Laplands of Norway Sweden Finland and western Russia jut into the Arctic Eastward stretches the Russian territory of Siberia In much of the Arctic earth ice and rock are frozen solid permanently The solid mass is called permafrost It is covered with a layer of ice and snow that melts in sum mer In winter the Earth's crust in the Arctic is a solid frozen mass as deep as 1 000 feet 300 meters in some places Climate warm ing in recent years however has caused part of the upper permafrost layer to melt The result in summer is a deep layer of swampy land which can cause buildings to sink In Map of Greenland highlighting the major geo graphic regions and the locations of human settlement 15
