Portal:Arctic
Introduction
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 ice pack has declined, with a record summer low set in 2012, and the lowest winter maximum set in 2016.
Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals such as polar bears, plants, and human societies.
Selected articles
Andrée neglected many early signs of the dangers associated with his balloon plan. Being able to steer the balloon to some extent was essential for a safe journey, and there was plenty of evidence that the drag-rope steering technique he had invented was ineffective; yet he staked the fate of the expedition on drag ropes. Worse, the polar balloon Örnen (Eagle) was delivered directly to Svalbard from its manufacturer in Paris without being tested; when measurements showed it to be leaking more than expected, Andrée refused to acknowledge the alarming implications of this. Most modern students of the expedition see Andrée's optimism, faith in the power of technology, and disregard for the forces of nature as the main factors in the series of events that led to his death and the deaths of his two companions Nils Strindberg (1872–97) and Knut Frænkel (1870–97).[2]
Selected biography
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.
In the news
- April 25: UK announces £200 million polar research ship
- 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
- December 10: Wikinews Shorts: December 10, 2008
- 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
Selected image
Did you know
- ... that in 1937 a Soviet station became the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean? Read More...
- ...that the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center is the northernmost supercomputer cluster in the world? Read More...
- ... that while serving aboard HMS Carcass as a midshipman on an Arctic expedition, a young Horatio Nelson is reported to have chased a polar bear? Read more....
Wikipedia:Recent additions 225
- ...that there are parts of Canadian airspace where compasses aren't useful because they're too close to the magnetic north pole? Read more...
Subcategories
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Quotation
- O proudly name their names who bravely sail
To seek brave lost in Arctic snows and seas!
Features
Things to do
Selected panorama
Topics
Statistics
- Greek name: arktos (άρκτος)
- Names: Circumpolar North
- Principal waterway Arctic Ocean
- North Pole sea depth 4,261 metres (13,980 ft).
- Canada
- Prime Minister: Honourable Justin Trudeau
- Major Arctic Ports: Inuvik
- Principal Arctic Waterways: Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay
- Northern Canada
- North West Territories
- Premier Floyd Roland
- Official languages Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tłįchǫ[3]
- Largest City Yellowknife
- Nunavut
- Premier Eva Aariak
- Official Languages Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, French
- Largest City Iqaluit
- Yukon
- Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie
- Largest City Whitehorse
- North West Territories
- Denmark
- Faroe Islands
- Monarch: Margrethe II
- Prime Minister: Jóannes Eidesgaard
- Language Faroese, Danish
- Largest City: Tórshavn
- Greenland
- Monarch: Margrethe II
- Prime Minister: Hans Enoksen
- Languages: Greenlandic, Danish
- Largest city: Nuuk (Godthåb)
- Faroe Islands
- Finland
- President Sauli Niinistö
- Prime Minister Juha Sipilä
- Official languages Finnish, Swedish
- Largest Arctic City: Rovaniemi ~58,000.
- Norway
- Monarch: Harald V
- Prime Minister: Jens Stoltenberg (Ap)
- Storting President Thorbjørn Jagland (Ap)
- Languages: Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)1
- Largest Arctic Cities:Tromsø (62,000)
- Major Arctic Ports: Kirkenes, Hammerfest, Narvik, Bodø, Longyearbyen
- Russia
- President: Vladimir Putin
- Prime Minister: Dimitry Medvedev
- Language: Russian
- Largest Arctic Cities: Murmansk (325,100), Norilsk (135,000) Vorkuta (85,000)
- Major Arctic Ports:Pevek, Tiksi, Dikson, Dudinka, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk
- Sweden
- Monarch King Carl XVI Gustaf
- Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
- LanguageSwedish
- Largest city Stockholm
- Regional Languages: Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Romani, Yiddish
- United States
- President: Donald Trump
- Languages: English
- Alaska, United States
- Governor: Sean Parnell
- Largest city: Anchorage
- Major Arctic Ports: Barrow, Alaska, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Arctic waters
Arctic lands
- Alaska (USA)
- Aleutian Islands (USA)
- Baffin Island, Nunavut
- Bear Island (Norway)
- Canadian Arctic Archipelago
- Diomede Islands (Russia/USA)
- Foxe Basin
- Franz Josef Land (Russia)
- Island of Grímsey
- Kotzebue Sound
- Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada)
- New Siberian Islands (Russia)
- Northwest Territories, including Great Bear Lake (Canada)
- Novaya Zemlya (Russia)
- Nunavik (northern Québec, Canada)
- Nunavut (Canada)
- Finnmark (Norway)
- Greenland (Denmark)
- Iceland
- Jan Mayen (Norway)
- Severnaya Zemlya (Russia)
- Seward Peninsula, Alaska
- Siberia (Russia)
- Svalbard (Norway)
- Yukon (Canada)
- Wrangel Island (Russia)
Arctic indigenous peoples
The Circumpolar North generally includes the lands surrounding the Arctic Circle.
Related portals
Associated Wikimedia
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References
- ^ Andrée, christened Salomon August, invariably went by his initials as an adult.
- ^ This assessment is discussed in several contexts in Vår position är ej synnerligen god… by Andrée specialist Sven Lundström, curator of the Andreexpedition Polarcenter in Gränna, Sweden (see for example p. 131).
- ^ Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, 1988 (as amended 1988, 1991-1992, 2003)