Skip to main content

Arctic

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Western Arctic Seas Encyclopedia

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Seas ((EOS))

  • 87 Accesses

Arctic – the northernmost region of the Earth within the Arctic circle at latitude 66°30′N, centred on the North Pole. It consists of offshores, which during summer are covered with drifting ice that creates marginal conditions preventing navigation. The other part is either permafrost under icy cover or treeless tundra. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean with adjacent seas and islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Greenland with islands Spitsbergen, the Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, the Wrangel Island and others, part of the northern coast of Europe, the north coast of Asia and America, with the most part of Taymyr. The Arctic frontier is usually defined as a contour line of +10 °C of the warmest month – July or August, approximately equal to the timberline. The Arctic territory covers in total 25 million km2; 10 million km2 are under land and the rest is ocean.

figure 111 figure 111

Arctic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean#/media/File:Arctic.svg...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this entry

Cite this entry

(2017). Arctic. In: The Western Arctic Seas Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Seas. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25582-8_10032

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics