What is Arctic: Definition and 33 Discussions

The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska (United States), Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost (permanently frozen underground ice) containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places.
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. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies. Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic.

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  1. anorlunda

    Viral spillover risk increases with climate change in High Arctic lake

    https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1073 This raises the specter of pre-human era pathogens being re-released because the permafrost is melting. AFAIK, even the sci-fi authors have not explored that idea.
  2. pinball1970

    Chlamydia found under the Arctic floor

    The paper published last week is here. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30189-5 My understanding was Chlamydia are intracellular parasites and are dependant on a host cell much like a virus so this is unexpected?
  3. Gspace

    Quantifying Arctic Ice Melt

    In the Arctic, if I had 10 vertical meters of 1 degree Celsius water above freezing brought to the surface, how much ice would that melt?
  4. C

    B Interplanetary travel, Arctic sea ice

    I'm a software developer, no formal astro-physics education, but would like to pose some questions/hypotheticals regarding interplanetary travel, and/or dynamic positioning of Earth orbiting objects using extraterrestrial fuel sources. 1. Asteroid-based hitch-hiking to other planets...
  5. MrsTesla

    B Sidereal Time and the Arctic Circle

    This may be a basic question, but why does the Sun rise at the same sideral time between December 22 and June 22 on the Arctic Circle? And how can I prove it?
  6. A

    What is causing the dramatic rise in Arctic temperatures?

    It seems Chip Knappenberger of the Cato Institute, who is considered something of a global warming skeptic, has made an interesting statement. “Natural variability is itself is becoming increasingly ‘non-natural’ as it includes influences which themselves are shaped by anthropogenic...
  7. ANAMUL

    B Midnight Sun in the Arctic

    can anyone explain the Midnight Sun occurring in Arctic region. Why it happens and is it possible on a globe?
  8. Jefffff

    Thermodynamics of an Arctic greenhouse?

    For a business project, I'm looking into the viability of a greenhouse situated in Canada's far northern town of Iqaluit. The problem is how to mathematically simulate the internal air temperature of the greenhouse. What I already have are detailed 3D renderings of the greenhouse as well as all...
  9. timallard

    Atlantic Inflow to the Arctic Basin via Pacific Inflow

    [screenshot nullschool ocean-currents-ssta] Inflow from the Pacifc the main flow show drifting east and a general value 0.8-0.9 sverdrup containing 10-Tw/winter, 20-Tw/summer heat-flux of less dense water from freshwater runoff creating a head-height of 40-50cm helping to melt sea-ice from...
  10. apeiron

    Arctic ice in uncharted territory

    The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has now made the call. Arctic ice melt hit a new record this year. http://nsidc.org/news/press/2012_seaiceminimum.html
  11. Gannet

    And the headline is: Why Does Arctic Ozone Hole Appear Later Than Antarctic?

    See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110321-ozone-layer-hole-arctic-north-pole-science-environment-uv-sunscreen/ As I understand it and please correct me if I am wrong in any of the statements below That the ozone hole is due to CFC in the stratosphere That more CFC are...
  12. J

    Can Arctic Methane Be Exploited to Mitigate Climate Change?

    I'm not sure if this is the best topical forum to put this question or not, but it seemed the most likely of the forums on pf.com. Anyhow, sorry if this is not in the right place. I've been hearing over the last year or two that climate scientists are very worried about very large releases of...
  13. K

    Spinning at the North Pole: Equator to Arctic Teleportation

    If You are suddenly teleported from the equator to the north pole. How fast and which way will you be spinning relative to your surroundings?
  14. D

    Melting arctic ice = NMP movement increase?

    i was just reading an article i got linked to from google, about the North magnetic poles location is moving towards siberia currently at about 45k per year, which has increased over the past 100 years from around 15k per year, it was explained that it was possibly caused by density variations...
  15. X

    Mid-Piacenzian Arctic: Warm Climate & Seasonally Ice-Free Oceans

    Here’s a recently published paper on sea surface temperatures 3 million years ago when the Arctic was seasonally ice free: http://micropress.org/stratigraphy/papers/Stratigraphy_6_4_265-275.pdf The paper presents some interesting data. The most northern location sampled was found to be...
  16. X

    Arctic Ice Instability: Recent Assessment & Effects of GHGs

    Here's a link to an animation from NASA of melting sea ice: http://www.nasa.gov/mov/391782main_sea_ice_concept.mov And also, a Science Journal Article on Arctic Ice: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/311/5768/1747.pdf GHG stands for Greenhouse Gases GIS stands for Greenland Ice Sheet LIG...
  17. S

    Would an ice have formed if the Arctic Ocean was not enclosed?

    This is hypothetical question, but it does go the ability of polar ice caps to form and survive. Years ago I read about a computer simulations of a planet with a single circular continent centered on the north pole extending to the 30th N parallel. The continent was entirely flat with an...
  18. S

    Human Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reverse 2000 Years of Arctic Cooling

    http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2009/arctic2k.jsp [Broken] The associated albedo flip will amplify the warming.
  19. G

    Satelilite in orbite about arctic circle

    Homework Statement "Can a satellite maintain an orbit in the plane of the arctic circle? why or why not?" Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution My guess: No...but I don't know why...
  20. M

    Warm Arctic AND Glaciers At The Same Time?

    I've recently come to believe in the possibility of the Gulf Stream being stronger in the recent past and warming the Arctic Ocean. It would explain why Mammoth remains are found on the New Siberian Islands, which lie between the Arctic coast of Siberia and the North Pole. Could a decrease in...
  21. wolram

    Exploring Animal Migration: GPS Tracks Arctic Foxes

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080206150703.htm
  22. Evo

    Record low temperatures in Arctic ozone layer - causing ozone loss

    It seems the colder artic winters have been causing ozone damage. Warmer weather stops the ozone damage. Go Figure. "The first signs of ozone loss have now been observed in the Arctic this winter, and large scale losses are expected to occur if the cold conditions persist. Overall...
  23. D

    Why is the Arctic sea level dropping while global sea levels are rising?

    I was quite surprised by all this. With global warming ice is melting, and sea levels in general are going up. Why should the Arctic be any different :confused:
  24. D

    Comments on AP article about prehistoric tropical arctic

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060601/ap_on_sc/hot_arctic;_ylt=Ap5sztcWGDT3_X9KlVBicqGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-" [Broken] I don't know much about geology, but shouldn't this AP science writer have at least asked about the possibility that the location where these preserved...
  25. G

    Age/weight relationship of female arctic foxes caught in Svalbard

    The age/weight relationship of female arctic foxes caught in Svalbard, Norway, can be estimated by the function M(t)=3102e^(-e)^(-0.022(t-56)) where t is the age of the fox in days and M(t) is the weight of fox in grams. a) estimate the weight of a female fox that is 200 days old i found...
  26. Astronuc

    Russian Arctic Fox Birthday Wishes

    С днем рождения - Arctic Fox! Можете Вы иметь еще много лет!
  27. Ivan Seeking

    Arctic Warming: Bad and Good News - Andrew C. Revkin, NYT

    http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2004/10/29/news/arctic.html
  28. Andre

    Sub-tropical Arctic - global warming?

    I'm not surprised, Space daily I think we are heading for a rigourous paradigm shift.
  29. Ivan Seeking

    1 year: 1.08 F rise in Arctic ocean temp

    http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040827174145.s71k5at1.html
  30. Arctic Fox

    Are there advantages to launching space missions from the Arctic/North Pole?

    Thinking that there is quite a bit of junk orbiting around the equator, what would be the disadvantages (if any) of conducting a launch from the Arctic/North Pole? Any comments on launching from the Magnetic North Pole?
  31. Ivan Seeking

    Arctic melt may dry out US west coast

    http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994856
  32. Ivan Seeking

    What Evidence Suggests Humans Lived in the Arctic 30,000 Years Ago?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3361925.stm
  33. Ivan Seeking

    Report: Giant Arctic ice shelf breaks up: CNN

    http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/09/22/arctic.ice.reut/index.html [Broken]
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