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The 'Arctic' is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. In the northern hemisphere, the Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word ''arktos'' (αρκτως) , which means bear. This is due to the location of the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", above the Arctic region.
There are numerous definitions of the Arctic region. The boundary is generally considered to be north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N), which is the approximate limit of the midnight sun and the polar night. Other definitions are based on climate and ecology, such as the 10°C (50°F) July isotherm, which roughly corresponds to the tree line in most of the Arctic. Socially and politically, the Arctic region includes the northern territories of the eight Arctic states, including Lapland, although by natural science definitions much of this territory is considered subarctic.
The Arctic region consists of a vast ice-covered ocean (which is sometimes considered to be a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean) surrounded by treeless, frozen ground. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, and human societies.
The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. In climate change research, the Arctic region is often considered an early warning system for the planet.

Contents

Nature

Climate

Plants

Animals

Natural resources

Paleo-history

International cooperation and politics

Territorial claims

A strategic military region

Scientific exploration

Pollution

Effects of global warming

Arctic waters

Arctic lands

In popular culture

See also

References

External links

Nature

Climate

The Arctic's climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow. The Arctic's annual precipitation is low, with most of the area receiving less than 50 cm (20 inches). High winds often stir up snow, creating the illusion of continuous snowfall. Average winter temperatures can be as low as -37°C (-35°F), and the coldest recorded temperature is approximately -68°C (-90°F). Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures and heavier snowfalls than the colder and drier interior areas.

Plants

Since trees cannot grow in the Arctic climate, the vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra. As one moves northward, the amount of warmth available for plant growth decreases considerably. In the northernmost areas, plants are at their metabolic limits, and small differences in the total amount of summer warmth make large differences in the amount of energy available for maintenance, growth and reproduction. Colder summer temperatures cause the size, abundance, productivity and variety of plants to decrease. In the warmest parts of the Arctic, shrubs are common and can reach 2 m (6 ft) in height; sedges, mosses and lichens can form thick layers. In the coldest parts of the Arctic, much of the ground is bare; nonvascular plants such as lichens and mosses predominate, along with a few scattered grasses and forbs (like the Arctic poppy).

Animals

Herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou. They are preyed on by the Arctic fox, wolves, and wolverine. The polar bear is also a predator, though it prefers to hunt for marine life from the ice. There are also many birds and marine species endemic to the colder regions.

Natural resources

The Arctic region includes sizeable potential natural resources (oil, gas, minerals, forest – if the subarctic is included – and fish) to which modern technology and the opening up of Russia have given significant new opportunities. The interest of the tourism industry in the cold and exotic Arctic is also on the increase.
The Arctic region is one of the last and most extensive continuous wilderness areas in the world, and its significance in preserving biodiversity and genotypes is considerable. The increasing presence of humans fragments vital habitats. The Arctic is particularly susceptible to the abrasion of groundcover and to the disturbance of the rare reproduction places of the animals that are characteristic to the region.
''See also Petroleum exploration in the Arctic''

Paleo-history

During the Cretaceous, the Arctic still had seasonal snows, though only a light dusting and not enough to permanently hinder plant growth. Animals such as ''Chasmosaurus'', ''Hypacrosaurus'', ''Troodon'', and ''Edmontosaurus'' may have all migrated north to take advantage of the summer growing season, and migrated south to warmer climes when the winter came. A similar situation may also have been found amongst dinosaurs that lived in Antarctic regions, such as ''Muttaburrasaurus'' of Australia.

International cooperation and politics

The Arctic region is a focus of international political interest. International Arctic cooperation got underway on a broad scale well over ten years ago. The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), hundreds of scientists and specialists of the Arctic Council, the Barents Council and its regional cooperation have compiled high quality information on the Arctic.

Territorial claims

Under international law, no country owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland), are limited to a 370 kilometre (200 nautical mile) economic zone around their coasts.
Upon ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country has ten years to make claims to extend its 200 mile zone.^[1] Due to this, Norway (ratified the convention in 1996^[2]), Russia (ratified in 1997), Canada (ratified in 2003) and Denmark (ratified in 2004) launched projects to establish claims that certain Arctic sectors should belong to their territories.
On August 2, 2007, two Russian bathyscaphes, MIR-1 and MIR-2, for the first time in history descended to the Arctic seabed beneath the North Pole and placed there a Russian flag made of rust-proof titanium alloy. The mission was a scientific expedition, but the flag-placing raised concerns of a race for control of the Arctic's vast petroleum resources^[3](See 2007 Russian North Pole expedition)

A strategic military region

Some countries claim the Arctic has never been under the political control of any nation, although some nations' militaries have attached a strategic importance to the region. Canada has an outpost in the region (Alert) and has long laid claim to much of the Arctic. Several recent excursions by the Canadian navy have taken place, with more planned to underline Canadian sovereignty in the region. On July 9th, 2007, Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada will build up to eight armed patrol ships with helicopter pads and a deep water port at a location yet to be disclosed to reassert Canada's sovereignty over Arctic territory.^[4]
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Arctic was often used by submarines to test new weapons, sonar equipment, and depth capability. During the Cold War, the Arctic region was extensively monitored by the United States military and NATO, since it was believed that the first warnings of a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union would have been indicated by ICBMs launched over the North Pole towards the United States. The United States placed such importance on the region that two military decorations, the Arctic Service Ribbon and Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal, were established for military duty performed within the Arctic Circle.
In 2006, Envisat and EOS Aqua revealed a polar route connecting Spitsbergen and Siberia.
[2] Increased Russian activity has also been detected, though this can be attributed to the Chelyuskin icebreaker wreck expeditionary force. [3]

Scientific exploration

Since 1937 the whole Arctic region was extensively explored by the Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations. Scientific settlements that were established on the drift ice were carried thousands of kilometers by the ice flow.^[5]

Pollution

Long-range pollution pathways to the Arctic

The Arctic is comparatively clean, although there are certain ecologically difficult localized pollution problems that present a serious threat to people’s health living around these pollution sources. Due to the prevailing worldwide sea and air currents, the Arctic area is the fallout region for long-range transport pollutants, and in some places the concentrations exceed the levels of densely populated urban areas. An example of this is the phenomenon of Arctic haze, which is commonly blamed on long-range pollutants.

Effects of global warming

Main articles: Effects of global warming

The Arctic is especially vulnerable to the effects of global warming as has become apparent in the melting sea ice in recent years. Climate models predict much greater warming in the Arctic than global average.^[6] This fact has garnered significant international attention to the region. In particular there are concerns that melting glaciers and other ice in Greenland could soon contribute to a substantial rise in sea levels worldwide.^[7] Because the Arctic sea ice is collapsing at an unprecedented rate in 2007 recent estimates suggest the possibility that the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer as soon as 2030.^[8] See also: Polar ice packs.
Apart from concerns regarding the detrimental effects of warming in the Arctic, some potential opportunities have gained attention as well. The melting of the ice is making the so-called ''northwest passage'', the shipping routes through the northern-most latitudes, more navigable, raising the possibility that the Arctic region will become a prime trade route.^[9] In addition it is believed that the Arctic seabed may contain substantial oil fields which may become accessible if the ice covering them melts.^[10] These factors have led to recent international debates as to which nations can claim sovereignty or ownership over the waters of the Arctic.^[11]

Arctic waters

★ Arctic Ocean

★ Baffin Bay

★ Beaufort Sea

★ Barents Sea

★ Bering Sea

★ Bering Strait

★ Chukchi Sea

★ Davis Strait

★ Denmark Strait

★ East Siberian Sea

★ Greenland Sea

★ Hudson Bay

★ Kara Sea

★ Laptev Sea

★ Nares Strait

★ Norwegian Sea

Arctic lands

★ Alaska (USA)

★ Aleutian Islands (USA)

★ Bjørnøya (Norway)

★ Canadian Arctic Archipelago

★ Diomede Islands (Russia/USA)

★ Franz Josef Land (Russia)

★ Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada)

★ New Siberian Islands (Russia)

★ Northwest Territories (Canada)

★ Novaya Zemlya (Russia)

★ Nunavik (northern Québec, Canada)

★ Nunavut (Canada)

★ Finnmark (Norway)

★ Greenland (Denmark)

★ Iceland

★ Jan Mayen (Norway)

★ Severnaya Zemlya (Russia)

★ Siberia (Russia)

★ Svalbard (Norway)

★ Yukon (Canada)

★ Wrangel Island (Russia)

In popular culture

★ ''Raising the Past'' by Jeremy Robinson

★ ''Ice Hunt'' by James Rollins

★ ''Deception Point'' by Dan Brown

★ ''Arctic Dreams'' by Barry Lopez

See also

★ Polar ice packs

★ Arctic Haze

★ Nordicity

★ Polar climate

★ Extreme points of the Arctic

★

References

1. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Annex 2, Article 4)
2. http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/status2007.pdf
3. The Battle for the Next Energy Frontier: The Russian Polar Expedition and the Future of Arctic Hydrocarbons, by Shamil Midkhatovich Yenikeyeff and Timothy Fenton Krysiek, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, August 2007
4. ''New patrol ships will reassert northern sovereignty: PM'', Victoria Times Colonist, 9 July, 2007[1]
5. North Pole drifting stations (1930s-1980s)
6. ACIA, Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, Cambridge University Press, 2004. [4]
7. ''Study: Glaciers contributing more to rising seas'', CNN.com, 19 July 2007[5]
8. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/05/climatechange.sciencenews ''Ice-free Arctic could be here in 23 years'', David Adam, environment correspondent, The Guardian, September 5 2007, Retrieved September 5 2007
9. ''Will ice melt open fabled Northwest Passage?'', CNN.com, 29 Aug, 2002[6]
10. ''The great Arctic Circle oil rush'', CNN.com, 8 Aug, 2007[7]
11. ''Russia stakes its claim on North Pole in underwater search for oil'', Times Online, 28 July, 2007[8]



★ Arctic Centre, Rovaniemi Arctic research

★ WordReference.com Dictionary Etymology

★ CIA World Factbook 2002 - Arctic Region Large version of the Arctic region map

★ Arctic Theme Page Comprehensive Arctic Resource from NOAA.

★ Bering Sea Climate and Ecosystem Current state of the Bering Sea Climate and Ecosystem. Comprehensive resource on the Bering Sea with viewable oceanographic, atmospheric, climatic, biological and fisheries data with ecosystem relevance, recent trends, essays on key Bering Sea issues, maps, photos, animals and more. From NOAA.

★ Arctic time series: The Unaami Data collection Viewable interdisciplinary, diverse collection of Arctic variables from different geographic regions and data types.

★ Arctic exploration and history

★ Arctic research

External links

★ The Battle for the Next Energy Frontier: The Russian Polar Expedition and the Future of Arctic Hydrocarbons, by Shamil Midkhatovich Yenikeyeff and Timothy Fenton Krysiek, Oxford Energy Comment, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, August 2007

★ UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics library Information resources from the UN Environment programme

★ Arctic Institute of North America Digital Library Over 8000 photographs dating from the late 1800s through the 1900s.

★ euroarctic.com News service from the Barents region provided by Norwegian Broadcasting Corp (NRK), Swedish Radio (SR) and STBC Murman.

★ WWF International Arctic Programme ''Arctic environment and conservation information''

★ International Polar Foundation

★ Arctic Council

★ NOAA Arctic Theme Page

★ Arctic Environmental Atlas ''Circum-Arctic interactive map, with multiple layers of information''

★ GLOBIO Human Impact maps ''Report on human impacts on the Arctic''

★ International Arctic Research Center

★ Vital Arctic Graphics ''Overview and case studies of the Arctic environment and the Arctic Indigenous Peoples.''

★ Arctic and Taiga Canadian Atlas

★ Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2004): Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment – Summary

★ NOAA State of the Arctic Report 2006

★ UN Environment Programme Key Polar Centre at UNEP/GRID-Arendal

★ Arctic Geobotanical Atlas, University of Alaska Fairbanks

★ AMAP - the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme

★ [9]Massachusetts School of Law Educational Forum Presents: Arctic Climate Impact