Portal:Arctic

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$\mathbb{THE}$  $\mathbb{ARCTIC}$  $\mathbb{PORTAL}$ Main page   Statistics   WikiProjects edit   Arctic - Arctic Circle The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. 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 (άρκτος) , which means bear. The name refers to the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", which dominates the northern region of the celestial sphere. 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. In recent years the extent of the sea ice has declined, and there is some evidence suggesting Arctic water may be ice-free in summer. According to the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat and polar scientists, this ice cap may disappear over the summer of 2008 Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, and human societies. edit   Selected articles - Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer. His fourth and last, undertaken when he was 59, was meant to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage. The entire expedition complement, Franklin and 128 men, died of causes natural and unnatural after their ships became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in the Canadian Arctic. Pressed by Franklin's wife and others, the Admiralty launched a search for the missing expedition in 1848. Prompted in part by Franklin's fame and the Admiralty's offer of a finder's reward, many subsequent expeditions joined the hunt, which at one point in 1850 involved eleven British and two American ships. Several of these ships converged off the east coast of Beechey Island, where the first relics of the expedition were found, including the graves of three crewmen. In 1854, explorer John Rae, while surveying near the Canadian Arctic coast southeast of King William Island, acquired relics of and stories about the Franklin party from the Inuit. A search led by Francis Leopold McClintock in 1859 discovered a note left on King William Island with details about the expedition's fate. Searches continued through much of the 19th century. edit   Selected biography - Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɾuːɑl ˈɑmʉnsən]), (July 16, 1872 – c. June 18, 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912. He was also the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage. He disappeared in June 1928 while taking part in a rescue mission. With Douglas Mawson, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Amundsen was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (something explorers had been attempting since the days of Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson), with six others in a 47 ton steel seal hunting vessel, Gjøa. edit   In the news - Wikinews Arctic portal September 4: Wikinews Shorts: September 2, 2010 September 3: Wikinews Shorts: September 3, 2010/Fuel tanker aground in Northwest Passage June 21: Greenland assumes self rule Sunday January 10: Canadian trio claim South Pole record for trans-Antarctic trip October 28: Arctic ice thickness decreasing, suggests satellite data study August 28: 73M-year-old fossilized fish found in Canada August 27: Canadian military exercise NANOOK 2008 travels through uncharted waters June 28: The North Pole may possibly be ice free by summer May 14: US says polar bears are threatened species March 19: NASA: Old Arctic sea ice continues to melt edit   Selected picture - Description:RMS Titanic's bow as seen from the Russian MIR I submersible. Author: Kevin Saff Featured picture ...Archive/Nominations edit   Did you know - Tookoolito, from an 1862 engraving ...that Tookoolito (pictured) and her companion were advertised as "Esquimaux Indians... from the arctic regions" and exhibited at Barnum's American Museum in 1862? Read More... ...that the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center is the northernmost supercomputer cluster in the world? Read More... The Whaling Disaster of 1871. ...that seven whaling ships escaped the Whaling Disaster of 1871, but were forced to abandon their catch in order to accommodate 1,219 people from 33 other ships trapped in ice off the Alaskan coast? Read More... ... that Texas rancher Montie Ritchie was the photographer on a British Alpine Club expedition in 1949 to the Baffin Islands in the Canadian Arctic? Read more... edit   Categories ▼ Arctic ► Arctic portal ► Arctic-related lists ► Images of the Arctic ► Astronomy in the Arctic ► Culture of the Arctic ► Environment of the Arctic ► Geography of the Arctic ► Government of the Arctic ► History of the Arctic ► Military in the Arctic ► Arctic research ► Arctic society ► Transport in the Arctic ► Arctic stubs ► Arctic templates ► WikiProject Arctic edit   Quotation - Even in our day, science suspects beyond the Polar seas, at the very circle of the Arctic Pole, the existence of a sea which never freezes and a continent which is ever green. Source: The Secret Doctrine -- Vol. 2 Theosophical University Press Online Edition by H. P. Blavatsky edit   Features Featured articles: S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 · Arctic Tern · Bob Marshall · Uriel Sebree · Jake Gyllenhaal · Peregrine Falcon · Common Raven · Orca · Right whale Good articles: Franklin's lost expedition · Walrus · Muskrat edit   Things to do edit   Selected panorama - Panoramic view of Tromsø ('Romsa in Northern Sami, Tromssa in Finnish) is a city and municipality in the county of Troms, Norway. More information... edit   Topics edit   Related portals edit   Wikimedia

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