Introduction to Geography of the Arctic Regions
Arctic Regions, the area centering on the North Pole and including the Arctic Ocean, its outlying waters and islands, and the northern rims of North America, Europe, and Asia. The Arctic usually is considered to begin at the poleward limits of the northern coniferous forest, or taiga. In some areas the region extends far south of the Arctic Circle—the imaginary line circling the earth at about 66° 33' north latitude. In other places the Arctic stops north of this line.
The region covers an area of about 8,100,000 square miles (21,000,000 km 2 ). The Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas have an area of 5,105,700 square miles (13,224,000 km 2 ); Arctic lands, about 3,000,000 square miles (7,770,000 km 2 ).
Arctic Lands
Most Arctic lands are low and flat and were heavily glaciated during the last Ice Age. At that time, glaciers scraped away most of the loose surface material, leaving large areas of hard, bare rock. In other areas there are extensive deposits of glacial debris. Both kinds of terrain, which are treeless and are called tundra, are found over wide areas of northern Russia and of northern Canada.
Mountains dominate some Arctic lands. Baffin and Ellesmere islands in the Arctic archipelago of Canada have glacier-capped peaks that are from 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,800 to 2,400 m) above sea level. Even higher are the mountains, largely covered by ice, on the east and west coasts of Greenland. Parts of Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya are also mountainous.
Much of the Arctic has very poor drainage. During the brief summer thaw, there are vast areas occupied by marshes and bogs. Nearly everywhere a permanently frozen layer, called permafrost, underlies the ground. This layer varies in thickness from 5 feet (1.5 m) or less to about 5,000 feet (1,500 m).
About 85 per cent of Greenland, the world's largest island, is covered by a permanent ice cap. The only ice-free areas are along the rugged, fjorded coasts. Far northern Scandinavia, also part of the Arctic, has a similar coast.
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is divided by the underwater Lomonosov Ridge into two principal basins—the Canadian and the Eurasian. The ridge runs from the New Siberian Islands to Ellesmere Island, passing about 60 miles (100 km) from the North Pole.
Both basins are generally more than 6,000 feet (1,800 m) deep; in many places, they reach twice that depth. The greatest known depth, 18,399 feet (5,608 m), is in the Molloy Deep, between Svalbard and Greenland. At the North Pole the ocean is 13,410 feet (4,087 m) deep.
The central basins are ice-covered the year round. Ice thickness varies from about nine feet (2.7 m) in winter to less than six feet (1.8 m) in summer. During the warm season, as air and water temperatures rise, the ice cracks and separates into large slabs, called pancake ice. Travel across this ice is almost impossible. In winter, dog sledges and vehicles can move more freely across the solidly frozen ice pack; light airplanes can take off and land.
Most icebergs of the North Atlantic come from the glaciers in Greenland. Bergs that drift far out to sea may become a menace to shipping.
Bordering most Arctic lands is the continental shelf, a gently sloping seaward extension of the continents. The shelf is covered by the shallow parts of numerous seas, including the Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev, Kara, Barents, Norwegian, Greenland, and Beaufort seas. These Arctic seas are slightly warmer than the central basins and are rich in fish and smaller marine life.
Climate
Winters in the Arctic are long and bitterly cold, summers short and cool. Temperature contrasts between winter and summer are extreme. For example, Eureka, on Ellesmere Island, Canada, north of 80° north latitude, has a January average temperature of -36° F. (-38° C.) and a July average of 42° F (5.5° C.). Though intensely cold in winter, the Arctic is far from being the coldest area on earth. Much lower temperatures are recorded in interior Siberia and in Antarctica.
There is little rainfall, and total precipitation is low—usually less than 10 inches (254 mm) annually. Drizzles and light snow are common. High winds often whip up this snow into blizzards.
Plants and Animals
Vegetation is found only in the tundra areas, where mosses and lichens prevail. There are also some hardy grasses and low shrubs; in the brief summer many flowering plants appear. The only trees are dwarf varieties, most less than one foot (30 cm) high.
Insects, especially mosquitoes, swarm over the wet tundra during summer. At the same time, the Arctic is visited by many migratory birds, including geese, ducks, auks, ptarmigan, ravens, and Arctic terns. The only nonmigratory Arctic bird is the snowy owl. The most common land animals are the Arctic fox, musk ox, reindeer, caribou, Arctic hare, and lemming.
In the polar seas, rich in fish and smaller marine life, live large animals such as seals, walruses, whales, and polar bears. Uncontrolled hunting has reduced the number of many of these animals.
Economic Development
Modern development has occurred mainly along the northern coast of Russia. Here, a sea route connects Murmansk (the Arctic's largest city) in the west with small coastal ports in Siberia. The route is kept open for shipping during much of the year, allowing the utilization of resources from the subarctic interior.
Throughout the Arctic, agriculture is either impracticable or impossible. Although of limited extent, fishing and mining are chief economic activities. The Arctic seas are among the world's richest fishing grounds, and some commercial fleets fish these northern waters. Principal fish taken are halibut and cod. Rich shrimp beds are worked on the west coast of Greenland.
Greenland produces lead and zinc. Coal is mined in Svalbard, iron ore at Kiruna in Sweden. Northern Siberia contains numerous mineral resources. In 1968 the largest known oil deposits in North America were discovered near Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska.
The airplane has greatly improved transportation in the Arctic, and many previously inaccessible places can now be reached in a few hours by plane.
The People
The Arctic has a native population, chiefly of Mongoloid ancestry. It includes the Eskimos of Canada, Greenland, northern Alaska, and northeastern Siberia, and the Chukchi and Yakuts of northern Siberia. In northwestern Siberia are the Nentsy (formerly called Samoyeds), who are of Central Asian ancestry and speak a Finno-Ugric language. Lapps live in northern Scandinavia and adjoining parts of Russia.
In recent decades, the Arctic peoples have come increasingly into contact with modern civilization, which in some cases has disrupted the traditional way of life.
Arctic Explorations
The first explorer to reach as far north as the Arctic Circle may have been the Greek navigator Pytheas, in the fourth century B.C. Irish monks in the sixth century A.D. and Norsemen beginning in the ninth century also sailed to the Arctic Circle and settled on islands in the North Atlantic and Arctic waters. Intensive exploration of the Arctic regions did not begin, however, until the mid-16th century, when Europeans began seeking new trade routes to the Far East.
Northwest and Northeast Passages. The English and the Dutch were in the forefront of the search for the Northwest Passage (a sea route along the northern coast of North America to the Pacific Ocean). Martin Frobisher, often called the first real Arctic explorer, sailed along the western coast of Greenland in an attempt to locate a northern passage in 1576. His voyage, although unsuccessful, stimulated others.
Carefully planned expeditions were organized to penetrate the uncharted Arctic regions. In 1585 John Davis, an English sea captain, sailed into the strait later named for him. In 1596 Willem Barents, a Dutch navigator, reached Spitsbergen (Svalbard) and was credited with its discovery, although it is likely that Vikings had been there first.
In 1607 Henry Hudson of the English Muscovy Company sailed farther north than had anyone before him. Attempting to find a passage to the Pacific by way of the northern coast of Asia (the Northeast Passage), he discovered the island later called Jan Mayen. On a voyage to the northwest, he located Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, 1610-11. In 1616 William Baffin, an English explorer, sailed through Davis Strait into what is now Baffin Bay.
Reports by Hudson and other explorers of whales, seals, and walruses in the Arctic waters caused polar exploration to become secondary to the development of fisheries in the area during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Sealers and whalers, in turn, discovered new islands while plying the Arctic.
Exploration of the Bering Strait in 1728 by Vitus Bering, a Dane in the service of Russia, renewed interest in a passage over the "top of the world." However, not until 1773 and the British expedition of Constantine Phipps did anyone reach a point farther north than that reached by Henry Hudson more than a century and a half earlier.
After the end of the Napoleonic Wars early in the 19th century, times were favorable for accelerated exploration of the polar region. Men and ships were available, and important advances in maritime technology had been made. During 1819-25, William Parry, a British naval officer, led three expeditions in search of a Northwest Passage. In 1827 he made the first overland attempt to reach the North Pole, coming to within 437 miles (703 km) of the Pole by sledge.
In 1847 the expedition under the experienced polar explorer Sir John Franklin was lost when seeking a northwest route. Numerous search parties were sent to the Arctic, arousing widespread interest in the region. One rescue expedition led by Robert McClure became the first to locate a Northwest Passage (one of several eventually discovered), although crossing partly on foot, 1850-54.
During 1878-79, the Swedish explorer Nils Nordenskjöld successfully navigated the Northeast Passage. He sailed along the Siberian coast from Scandinavia to the Bering Strait. A Northwest Passage from Greenland along the Canadian Arctic coast to the Bering Strait was finally navigated by ship by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, 1903-06.
Assault On the PoleMany attempts to reach the North Pole were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1896 Fridtjof Nansen of Norway traveled by kayak, by dogsled, and on foot to within about 225 miles (362 km) of the Pole.
The first man credited with reaching the Pole was Robert E. Peary. Peary, accompanied on his expedition by Matthew Henson and four Eskimos, claimed to have reached the Pole on April 6, 1909. The first airplane flight over the Pole was credited to Richard E. Byrd in 1926. A dirigible flight was made a few days later by Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth of the United States, and Umberto Nobile of Italy.
(Questions have been raised concerning the authenticity of the claims of both Peary and Byrd. The claim of yet another explorer—Frederick A. Cook of New York, who said he reached the Pole in 1908—is rejected by most historians.)
Modern Exploration and DevelopmentAs late as the mid-1940's, much of the Arctic remained unmapped and unexplored, challenging scientists and explorers from many nations. Also, the strategic military importance of the region caused some countries, particularly the United States and the Soviet Union, to expand their Arctic programs. Research and communication stations were constructed not only on the polar ice cap and on lands within the Arctic Circle, but also on ice islands adrift in Arctic waters. (The United States discovered the first such island, T-1, in 1946.)
During the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58, and International Years of the Quiet Sun, 1964-65, many nations cooperated in studying and mapping the region.
In addition to its scientific and military importance, the Arctic has value as a travel route. In 1952 the first commercial transarctic flight, from Los Angeles to Copenhagen, was made. Soon polar flights became commonplace. The feasibility of using the shortest undersea route between the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans—under the Arctic ice cap—was demonstrated by the voyage of the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus in 1958.
In 1969 the United States tanker Manhattan navigated the Northwest Passage to demonstrate that the route could be used for oil shipments. In 1977 the Soviet ship Arktika became the first surface vessel to reach the Pole.