Arctic

The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska (United States), Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Northern Canada, Norway, Russia and Sweden.

Similarly, the Far North (when contrasted to the North) may refer to the Canadian Arctic: the portion of Canada that lies north of the Arctic Circle, east of Alaska and west of Greenland.

Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic.

The subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, the Shetland Islands, and the Cairngorms.

The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth.

The Arctic has various definitions, including the region north of the Arctic Circle (currently Epoch 2010 at 66°33'44" N), or the region north of 60° north latitude, or the region from the North Pole south to the timberline. The Antarctic is usually defined as south of 60° south latitude, or the continent of Antarctica. The 1959 Antarctic Treaty uses the former definition.

The area can be defined as north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33'N), the approximate southern limit of the midnight sun and the polar night.

The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone.

The word Arctic comes from the Greek word (arktikos), "near the Bear, northern" and that from the word (arktos), meaning bear.

Bear taxon names such as Arctoidea and Helarctos come from the ancient Greek word ἄρκτος (arktos), meaning bear, as do the names "arctic" and "antarctic", from the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", prominent in the northern sky.

The Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws.

Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic.

The Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "warming in the Arctic, as indicated by daily maximum and minimum temperatures, has been as great as in any other part of the world."

Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost (permanently frozen underground ice) containing tundra.

(In some sources, old ice is more than 2-years old.) Multi-year ice is much more common in the Arctic than it is in the Antarctic.

Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens, and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra.

In the Arctic, the low tundra vegetation clothes a landscape of wide vistas, lit by the low-angle light characteristic of high latitudes.

Herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou.

The muskox (Ovibos moschatus, in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox (in ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak), is an Arctic hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae, noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted during the seasonal rut by males, from which its name derives.

An example of a dwarf shrub is the Bearberry.

Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos (see manzanita), they are adapted to Arctic and Subarctic climates, and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe, one with a small highly disjunctive population in Central America.

Herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou.

A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes.

The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions.

Indigenous peoples who maintain, or seek to maintain, traditional ways of life are found from the high Arctic north to the southern extremities of Tierra del Fuego.

They are preyed on by the snowy owl, Arctic fox, Grizzly bear, and Arctic wolf.

The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome.

They are preyed on by the snowy owl, Arctic fox, Grizzly bear, and Arctic wolf.

Snowy owls are native to Arctic regions in North America and Eurasia.

The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska (United States), Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Northern Canada, Norway, Russia and Sweden.

The northernmost part has a mostly maritime Subarctic climate, while Svalbard has an Arctic tundra climate.

Marine mammals include seals, walrus, and several species of cetacean—baleen whales and also narwhals, killer whales, and belugas.

It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia.

The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska (United States), Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Northern Canada, Norway, Russia and Sweden.

Ben Keene, the atlas's editor, commented: "In the last two or three decades, global warming has reduced the size of glaciers throughout the Arctic and earlier this year, news sources confirmed what climate scientists already knew: water, not rock, lay beneath this ice bridge on the east coast of Greenland. More islets are likely to appear as the sheet of frozen water covering the world's largest island continues to melt".

Other terrestrial animals include wolverines, moose, Dall sheep, ermines, and Arctic ground squirrels.

The Arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) (Inuktitut: ᓯᒃᓯᒃ, siksik) is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic and Subarctic of North America and Asia.

Marine mammals include seals, walrus, and several species of cetacean—baleen whales and also narwhals, killer whales, and belugas.

Although baleen whales are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Arctic and Antarctic.

Other terrestrial animals include wolverines, moose, Dall sheep, ermines, and Arctic ground squirrels.

In North America, the moose range includes almost all of Canada (excluding the arctic and Vancouver Island), most of Alaska, northern New England and upstate New York, the upper Rocky Mountains, northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin,

The polar bear is also a predator, though it prefers to hunt for marine life from the ice.

While they are rare north of 88°, there is evidence that they range all the way across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada.

A similar situation may also have been found amongst dinosaurs that lived in Antarctic regions, such as the Muttaburrasaurus of Australia.

The Antarctic (US English, UK English or and or ) is a polar region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole.

Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens, and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra.

An Arctic species called "map lichen" (Rhizocarpon geographicum) has been dated at 8,600 years, apparently the world's oldest living organism.

The Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws.

Positioned in the Arctic, the Greenland ice sheet is especially vulnerable to climate change.