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GP zones of the Arctic deserts. Natural zone of the Arctic deserts. Interesting inhabitants of the icy depths of the Arctic

It is located on the northernmost outskirts of Asia and North America, including all the islands in the Arctic basin, which are part of the polar geographic zone. The climate is arctic, with long and severe winters, summers are short and cold. Seasons don't exist. During the polar night - winter, and during the polar day - summer. Average temperatures are -10 to -35°, dropping to -50°. In summer - from 0 ° to + 5 °. There is little precipitation (200-300 mm per year).

The vegetation is sparse, so the fauna of the Arctic deserts is relatively poor: these are the Arctic wolf, seal, walrus, seal, lemming, musk ox (musk ox), arctic fox, polar bear, reindeer, etc .; birds - guillemots, puffins, eiders, pink gulls, snowy owls, etc. Cetaceans are a separate group, for which the conditions of the Arctic do not create any problems.

The most numerous inhabitants of the harsh northern region are birds.

The pink gull is a fragile creature, with a weight of 250 grams and a body length of 35 cm, feels quite confident and freely spends harsh winters in the tundra, or above the sea surface, which is covered with drifting ice floes. Often joins the meals of larger predators.

Guillemot is a black and white bird that nests on high sheer cliffs and spends the winter in the ice without experiencing much discomfort.

The common eider is a northern duck that can easily dive in icy water to depths of up to 20 meters.

The most ferocious and largest among birds is the polar owl. A ruthless predator with beautiful yellow eyes, snow-white plumage preys on other birds, rodents, and sometimes on cubs of larger animals, such as arctic foxes.

Typical animals of the arctic deserts:

cetaceans

The narwhal is interesting for its long horn protruding from its mouth, which is an ordinary tooth, only with a length of 3 meters and a weight of 10 kg. Photo: One for all and all for one 🙂

The bowhead whale is a relative of the narwhal. But he is many times larger than him, and instead of a strange tooth, there is a whalebone in his mouth with a huge tongue, which is convenient for licking stuck plankton.

The polar dolphin or beluga whale is a large animal weighing up to 2 tons, with a length of up to 6 meters, feeding on fish.

The killer whale ranks first among the largest and strongest marine predators in the Arctic waters, where it preys on beluga whales, walruses, seals and seals.

Beasts

Seals are animals that make up a special Arctic cohort that has been living in this region for thousands of years.

This species includes the harp seal with a very beautiful patterned skin.

The Arctic (translated from the gr. "arktikos" - northern) is located on the territory of the Arctic Ocean, its islands and on the northern outskirts of Europe, America and Asia, covers an area of ​​​​approximately 21 million km2.

Characteristics of the Arctic desert zone.

Climate. In the very center of the Arctic, called the Central Arctic, is the North Pole. There is only one day and one night in a year, which last for several months: during the night period, everything is illuminated by the moon, stars and fantastic northern lights. The polar night ends in March, and the day gradually comes into its own for several months. Winters are long and very severe, while summers are too short and cold, with an average temperature of +1- +3°C. But there are also warmer zones, where in the summer on the coast, washed by a warm current (Kola Peninsula), during a hot short summer, delicate northern flowers even bloom.

See the geographical location of the Arctic desert zone on the map of natural zones.

The natural zone of the Arctic deserts on a significant part of the surface is covered with glaciers and stone placers. Soils practically undeveloped. Vegetation, on a surface free from ice and snow, cannot form a closed cover. In the cold desert, the plant world is represented by the dominance of mosses and lichens. Flowering plants are very rare. Among the Arctic animals, marine animals predominate in this zone: polar bears and birds.

Walruses, seals, whales and seals live in ocean waters. In summer, the rocky shores of the islands are completely covered with nests of various sea birds, with their noisy bird colonies.

Many travelers organized expeditions to the North Pole, most of the attempts were unsuccessful. It was not until 1909 that the American Robert Peary was able to reach these northern shores.

Constant exploration of the Arctic is associated with the development of the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest sea route between Murmansk and other ports in the Far East. The Northern Sea Route is available for navigation only in the summer, and in the rest of the period the ocean is ice-bound and only icebreakers can make their way there.

At the end of the 19th century, the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen made the famous drift in the ice on his ship Fram (you can read a poetic digression about this). In 1937 there were unique flights of pilots V. Chkalov and M. Gromov to the USA through the North Pole. In the same year, four Soviet polar explorers on a drifting ice floe studied the movement of ice, ocean and sea currents, and arctic weather in the ocean. In our time, drifting scientific stations are constantly monitoring all areas of the Arctic, in addition, satellite observation provides constant new knowledge for scientists, for example, about the melting of glaciers.

These and many other events are the main stages in the development of the Arctic, which still remains one of the most poorly studied places on Earth.

PS: in the south, the Arctic deserts border

Arctic deserts - a natural zone located in the Artik, the northern polar region of the Earth; part of the Arctic Ocean basin. This natural zone includes the northern outskirts of the continental Arctic and numerous islands located around the North Pole.

The Arctic desert zone is the northernmost natural zone with a characteristic arctic climate. The territory of such deserts is covered with glaciers and stones, and the flora and fauna are very scarce.

This message is dedicated to the peculiarities of the Arctic deserts as a natural zone.

Welcome to the Arctic!

Climate

Arctic the climate is very cold, with harsh winters and cool summers.

Winter in the Arctic is very long, strong winds blow, snowstorms rage for several weeks. Everything is covered with snow and ice. The air temperature reaches -60 °C.

From the second half of October comes polar night. It lasts for six long months. There is no sun in the sky, and only sometimes there are bright and beautiful northern lights. The duration of the auroras is different: from two or three minutes to several days. They are so bright that you can even read under their light.

Northern lights.

In winter, all animals either hibernate or travel south. Nature freezes, but at the end of February the sun appears, and the day begins to increase.

Beginning in the second half of May polar day, when the sun doesn't set at all. Depending on the latitude, the polar day lasts 60-130 days. Although the sun shines 24/7, there is little heat from the sun.

Long, long day.

Summer is very short, but during this time hundreds of thousands of different birds fly to the Arctic, pinnipeds come: walruses, seals, seals. The air temperature rises very slowly and reaches the positive mark only by July (+2-6 °C). The average temperature in summer is about 0 °C.

Already from the beginning of September, the air temperature drops below zero, and soon snow falls, water bodies are frozen.

Flora and fauna of the Arctic

The soils in the Arctic deserts are very poor. from plants grow mainly mosses and lichens, and even those do not form a continuous cover. Arctic flowers and small shrubs bloom in summer:

  • polar poppy;
  • polar willow;
  • arctic buttercup;
  • semolina;
  • snow saxifrage;
  • asterisk.

Polar poppy.

Herbs also grow: alpine foxtail, bluegrass, sow thistle, arctic pike. All these plants, even shrubs, do not grow more than 3-5 cm. There are no trees in the Arctic deserts.

The underwater flora is richer: there are up to 150 species of algae alone. Algae feed on crustaceans, and fish and birds are the most numerous animals of the Arctic deserts.

Birds settle in nests on rocks and form noisy "bird colonies". This is:

  • guillemots;
  • seagulls;
  • cleaners;
  • eiders;
  • dead ends;
  • kittiwakes and other birds.

Northern bird.

On the coast pinnipeds live: walruses, seals, seals. In the sea there are whales, beluga whales.

The terrestrial animal world, due to the scarcity of the plant world, is not very rich. These are mainly arctic foxes, lemmings, polar bears.

The king of the Arctic deserts is the polar bear. This animal is perfectly adapted to life in a harsh region. He has a thick coat, strong paws, a sharp sense of smell. He swims well in the water, a wonderful hunter.

White bears in search of prey.

The bear's prey is mainly marine life: fish, seals, seals. It can eat eggs and chicks of birds.

Human impact on the natural zone of the Arctic deserts

The natural world of the Arctic deserts is fragile and slowly recovering. Therefore, the influence of man should be careful and careful. Meanwhile, the environment in this area is not very favorable:

  • ice is melting;
  • water and atmosphere are polluted;
  • the population of animals, birds and fish is declining;
  • the habitat of various animals is changing.

Man's exploration of the Arctic.

These negative processes due to human activities, active development of the natural resources of the Arctic zone: extraction of natural resources (natural gas, oil), fishing and seafood, shipping.

Meanwhile, the environmental problems of the Arctic deserts affect the entire climate of the Earth.

- (polar desert, icy desert), a kind of desert (see DESERT) with extremely sparse sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts of the Earth. Distributed in most of Greenland (see GREENLAND) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

The same as the icy desert. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. Moscow: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. A.P. Gorkina. 2006 ... Geographic Encyclopedia

ARCTIC DESERT- type of sparse vegetation of the Far North; differs from the tundra, where the vegetation cover is closed ... Glossary of botanical terms

DESERT ARCTIC- cold desert, arctic or alpine regions, in which the scarcity of vegetation is determined primarily by low temperatures, and not by dry air. Among the Arctic deserts, there are icy deserts, alpine deserts ... Ecological dictionary

- (wrong Streletsky; English Strzelecki Desert) desert in Australia: northeast of South Australia, northwest of New South Wales and extreme southwest of Queensland. Located northeast of Lake Eyre and north of the ridge ... ... Wikipedia

- (Urdu خاران) a desert located in the Kharan district of Balochistan province in Pakistan. Consists of sand dunes drifting over a base of pebble conglomerate. Drifting dunes reach a height of 15-30 meters. The desert is limited by spurs ... ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Desert (meanings). & ... Wikipedia

AND; pl. genus. tyn; well. 1. A vast arid area with little rainfall, extreme fluctuations in air and soil, and sparse vegetation. Boundless, sultry, red-hot, scorched settlement of Solonchakovaya settlement of P. Sahara. P. Karakum. Deserts... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Landscape in the Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a sandy desert in the center of Australia, more ... Wikipedia

Gibson Desert Region according to IBRA ... Wikipedia

Books

  • coal chips
  • Charcoal, Monica Christensen. Paulsen Publishing presents Monika Christensen's Detective Coal Chip, the continuation of the Arctic Crime Novel series. This psychological thriller is about...
arctic desert of death, arctic desert of sahara
arctic desert- a kind of desert with extremely sparse sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts of the Earth. It is distributed over most of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as on other islands of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern coast of Eurasia and on islands near Antarctica.

In the Arctic desert grow small isolated areas with mainly scale mosses and lichens and herbaceous vegetation. They look like a kind of oases among the polar snows and glaciers. Under the conditions of the Arctic desert, some types of flowering plants are found: polar poppy, foxtail, buttercup, saxifrage, etc. Among animals, lemmings, arctic foxes and polar bears are common, and in Greenland - musk ox. Numerous bird markets. In Antarctica, this landscape occupies less than 1% of the territory and is called the Antarctic oasis.

  • 1 Climate
  • 2 Flora and fauna
    • 2.1 Arctic deserts
  • 3 notes

Climate

It has low air temperatures in winter down to -60 °C, on average -30 °C in January and +3 °C in July. It is formed not only due to the low temperatures of high latitudes, but also due to the reflection of heat (albedo) in the daytime from the snow and under the ice crust. The annual amount of atmospheric precipitation is up to 400 mm. In winter, the soil is saturated with layers of snow and barely thawed ice, the level of which is 75-300 mm.

The climate in the Arctic is very harsh. Ice and snow cover lasts almost the whole year. In winter, there is a long polar night (at 75 ° N - 98 days; at 80 ° N - 127 days; in the region of the pole - half a year). This is a very harsh time of the year. The temperature drops to −40 °C and below, strong gale-force winds blow, snowstorms are frequent. In summer, there is round-the-clock lighting, but there is little heat, the soil does not have time to completely thaw. The air temperature is slightly above 0 °C. The sky is often overcast with gray clouds, it rains (often with snow), due to the strong evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean, thick fogs form.

Flora and fauna

The Arctic desert is practically devoid of vegetation: there are no shrubs, lichens and mosses do not form a continuous cover. The soils are thin, with patchy (island) distribution mainly only under vegetation, which consists mainly of sedges, some grasses, lichens and mosses. Extremely slow recovery of vegetation. The fauna is predominantly marine: walrus, seal, in summer there are bird colonies. Terrestrial fauna is poor: arctic fox, polar bear, lemming.

Arctic deserts

The Arctic is the land of the never-setting sun in summer and the long winter night, illuminated by polar lights; a world of frost, snowstorms, drifting ice, vast glaciers and arctic deserts. The Arctic is divided into two zones: the ice zone and the arctic desert zone. The ice zone is the seas north of the Taimyr Peninsula. Here is a very long and fierce winter, for several months in a row the sun does not appear at all - this is the polar night. The moon is shining in the sky, the stars are twinkling. Sometimes there are amazingly beautiful auroras. Summer in the Arctic is a polar day. For several months there is light around the clock. But not warm. the warmest month, the air temperature does not exceed + 5 °C. The organic world of the Arctic is very poor. Of the plants, only mosses and lichens live here. The animal world is more diverse, but most of the animals live in the seas - the Kara and the Laptev Sea. These are fish: polar cod, cod, vendace, nelma, smelt. Mammals: seals (sea hare, ringed seal), walrus, white whale. Birds fly to the coasts and islands in spring: geese, eider, sandpipers, guillemots, guillemots, puffins. The polar bear dominates the islands of Severnaya Zemlya and the ice of the Kara and Laptev seas. The reserve "Wrangel Island" was also created.

Notes

  1. Natalia Novoselova. Soil types
  2. Arctic Desert - Glossary of Physical Geography Terms

arctic atacama desert, arctic gobi desert, arctic sahara desert, arctic death desert

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