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The Arctic

Map from Worldatlas.com: The Arctic consists of ocean surrounded by continental land masses and islands. The central Arctic Ocean is ice-covered year-round, and snow and ice are present on land for most of the year.

The southern limit of the arctic region is commonly placed at the Arctic Circle (latitude 66 degrees, 32 minutes North). The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line that marks the latitude above which the sun does not set on the day of the summer solstice (usually 21 June) and does not rise on the the day of the winter solstice (usually 21 December). North of this latitude, periods of continuous daylight or night last up to six months at the North Pole.

This region of the planet, north of the Arctic Circle, includes the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Baffin Island, other smaller northern islands, and the far northern parts of Europe, Russia (Siberia), Alaska and Canada.

The Arctic is a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by tree-less, frozen ground, that teems with life, including organisms living in the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals and human societies.

The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, bordered by the northern parts of the mainlands of North American and Eurasia, and their outlying islands. Some of these islands are mountainous with interior icecaps, such as Greenland and the northern half of Novaya Zemlaya. Others are low-lying and not glaciated, such as Wrangel Island and the western islands of the Canadian Arctic.

The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line located at 66º, 30'N latitude, and as a guide defines the southernmost part of the Arctic. The climate within the Circle is very cold and much of the area is always covered with ice.

In the mid winter months, the sun never rises and temperatures can easily reach lows of - 50º F in the higher latitudes. In the summer months (further south), 24 hours of sunlight a day melts the seas and topsoil, and is the main cause of icebergs breaking off from the frozen north and floating south, causing havoc in the shipping lanes of the north Atlantic.

Arctic Life
The total number of species as well as biological productivity is lower than in more southern latitudes. Strong surface winds occur resulting in a severe wind-chill, and abundant drifting snow in winter. Instead of tree growth there is tundra vegetation that includes grasses, sedges, mosses, lichens, and shrubs...all low-standing plants that exist on permafrost soils that are frozen solid throughout most of the year.

In terms of marine life, because the waters of the Arctic are permanently covered with a layer of drifting pack ice, sunlight never deeply penetrates the surface waters to nourish and encourage biological growth. In addition, the water is vertically stable, offering no upwelling of inorganic salts (like phosphates, nitrates, and silicates,) without which a rich life in the upper sunlit layers cannot exist. The result is that the true marine Arctic remains cold and relatively lifeless. It is only near the land or in the Subarctic where the pack-ice is seasonal and the waters are warmer and richer in nutrients, that there is a proliferation of plant and animal life that encompasses the total spectrum of the food chain from microscopic phytoplankton to walruses and whales.

Arctic Residents
The primary residents of the Arctic include the Eskimos (Inuits), Lapps and Russians with an overall population (of all peoples) exceeding two million. The indigenous Eskimos have lived in the area for over 9,000 years, and many have now given up much of their traditional hunting and fishing to work in the oil fields and the varied support villages.

Exploring the Arctic
The first explorers of the Arctic were Vikings. Norwegians visited the northern regions in the 9th century, and Eric the Red (Icelander) established a settlement in Greenland in 982.

Robert E. Peary

Robert E. Peary
The northernmost point on the earth's surface is the geographic North Pole, also known as true north. It's located at 90° North latitude and all lines of longitude converge at the pole. The earth's axis connects the north and south poles, as its the line around which the earth rotates. The North Pole is about 450 miles (725 km) north of Greenland in the middle of the Arctic Ocean - the sea there has a depth of 13,410 feet (4087 meters). In 1909, after numerous attempts by regional explorers, Robert E. Peary reached the North Pole.

A magnetic compass does not point toward the true North Pole of the Earth. Rather, it more closely points toward the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth. The North Magnetic Pole is currently located in northern Canada. It wanders in an elliptical path each day, and moves, on the average, more than forty meters northward each day. Evidence indicates that the North Magnetic Pole has wandered over much of the Earth's surface in the 4.5 billion years since the Earth formed. The Earth's magnetic field is created by Earth's partially ionized outer core, which rotates more rapidly than the Earth's surface.

NASA JPL, University of Alaska - Fairbanks Satellite: RADARSAT

Arctic Climate
Maritime climate conditions prevail over the Arctic Ocean, coastal Alaska, Iceland, northern Norway and adjoining parts of Russia. In these areas, winters are cold and stormy. Summers are cloudy but mild with mean temperatures about 10 degrees Celsius. Annual precipitation is generally between 60 cm and 125 cm, with a cool season maximum (largely snowfall) and about six months of snow cover.

The interior, continental climates have much more severe winters, although precipitation amounts are less. In these regions, permafrost (permanently frozen ground) is wide-spread and often of great depth. In summer, only the top one to two meters of ground thaw. Since the water cannot readily drain away, this "active layer" often remains waterlogged. Although frost may occur in any month, long summer days usually provide three months with mean temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius, and at some stations in the continental interiors temperatures can exceed 30 degrees Celsius.

NASA JPL Video: The Big Thaw October 01, 2007

A thick chunk of Arctic sea ice the size of two states has disappeared. Is it global warming or normal causes? A new NASA-led study found a 23-percent loss in the extent of the Arctic's thick, year-round sea ice cover during the past two winters. Between winter 2005 and winter 2007, the perennial ice shrunk by an area the size of Texas and California combined. This drastic reduction of perennial winter sea ice is the primary cause of the fastest-ever sea ice retreat on record this summer. Scientists say the rapid decline in winter perennial ice was caused by unusual winds. For more information go to: www.jpl.nasa.gov

Dramatic Changes In The Arctic
Dramatic changes have been occurring in the Arctic during the past decade. The change in the Arctic may play a substantial role in climate change throughout the globe. These changes include unusual melting of glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost, and shifts in patterns of rain and snow fall, freshwater runoff, and forest/tundra growth. The consequences include disrupted wildlife migration patterns, altered fish stocks, modified agricultural zones, and increased forest fires. These changes have impacted the lives of Native residents who depend on the environment for a continuation of their traditional subsistence lifestyle, and may also have significant impacts on the oil industry, tourism, and shipping routes. The change in the Arctic may play a substantial role in climate change throughout the globe.

Melting Arctic sea ice has shrunk to a 29-year low, significantly below the minimum set in 2005, according to preliminary figures from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, part of the University of Colorado at Boulder. NASA scientists, who have been observing the declining Arctic sea ice cover since the earliest measurements in 1979, are working to understand this sudden speed-up of sea ice decline and what it means for the future of Earth's northern polar region.

Polar ice reflects light from the sun. As this ice begins to melt, less sunlight gets reflected into space. It is instead absorbed into the oceans and land, raising the overall temperature, and fueling further melting. This results in a positive feedback loop called ice albedo feedback, which causes the loss of the sea ice to be self-compounding. The more it disappears, the more likely it is to continue to disappear.