Snow cover lying all year round or thawing only for a short time - these are the main conditions that determine life in the polar regions.
polar deserts
Zones of the Arctic and Antarctic deserts are also common in Antarctica. They formed during the long polar night and extremely low temperatures. Only 10-12 days a year the temperature rises above 0 C, and the topsoil has time to thaw for a short time.
Most of the territory is occupied by glaciers. Mosses and lichens grow on ice-free areas. There are only two species of flowering plants, and there are several more in the Arctic. Arctic species include polar poppy, snow buttercup, and saxifrage. There is almost no humus horizon in primitive arctic soils.
The animal world is poor. Only on the rocky coasts in summer the life of noisy bird colonies is in full swing, where guillemots and auks, gulls and guillemots nest. On the coasts there are large animals (walruses, seals) that feed on fish and crustaceans. In the Northern Hemisphere in the Arctic there are large mammals - polar bears. Their main food is fish and seals. In the southern hemisphere, in the harsh Antarctic, penguins nesting on the coasts in the Antarctic oases feel best, where the air temperature is higher than in the surrounding area.
tundra
Tundras are common in North America. In Russia, they occupy the second largest area after the taiga. Tundras are almost absent in the Southern Hemisphere.
A typical tundra is a treeless expanse with low and not always continuous vegetation cover. The main vegetation of the tundra is mosses and lichens. Dwarf birch, polar willow, partridge grass also grow here. They, as if clinging to the ground, form a kind of "pillow". Many shrubs - lingonberries, cloudberries, cranberries - are evergreen. In the short summer, the tundra blooms. The soils of the tundra are often swampy and extremely poor in humus, but rich in semi-decomposed plant remains - peat.
The fauna of the tundra cannot be called diverse. Polar geese, swans, sandpipers nest along the shores of tundra lakes. Numerous inhabitants of the tundra - lemmings - are the main food for arctic foxes and snowy owls.
Large animal of the tundra - reindeer. It feeds on lichen moss. Many animals and almost all birds move to for the winter. It extends along the border of the tundra in a narrow strip. It is an alternation of tundra and forest areas.
The Arctic (translated from Greek, bear) is the edge of the northern land, where in summer the sun does not set beyond the sunset line. And in winter, severe frosts reign here, hurricane-force winds that cause strong snowstorms and a polar night that lasts from 98 to 127 days. At the North Pole itself, it lasts six months. And the only sources of light here in winter are the stars, the moon and the twinkling aurora. The Arctic is divided into arctic deserts of the earth, ice and polar. Simply put, on the territory of eternal snow and ice and patches of land with vegetation. The climate of the Arctic deserts, in view of their location in the natural zone, part of the geographical zone adjacent to the Arctic Ocean, is very cold and harsh. That is why they call this region of the Arctic deserts, the zone of eternal snow and ice. The arctic deserts of the earth are nothing but varieties of deserts, with very sparse and poor vegetation, among the ice and snow of the arctic belt of the earth.
Such deserts are distributed almost throughout Greenland, the northern part, most of North America, falling on the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and on a significant part of the islands with complex mountainous terrain, located in the icy ocean and having their own unique climate of the Arctic deserts. The cold climate of the Arctic deserts makes it impossible for vegetation to grow in abundance. Since, in short summers, the air temperature does not rise above 0 ° +5 °, in winter its average weighted temperature ranges from 10-35 °, and in the Greenland and Asian North to -50 °, -60 ° Celsius. Precipitation does not exceed the fallen rate of 200 - 400 millimeters per year. The Arctic deserts of the earth, during a short-term snowmelt, have insignificant land areas isolated by snow and ice - polar oases, where lichens, scale mosses and herbaceous vegetation in the form of sedge and simple grasses grow predominantly, up to approximately five tons of green mass per hectare. This is very, very little. But no matter how severe arctic desert climate, nature decreed that during the short cold summer, insignificant stony and swampy areas of soil freed from snow cover with beautiful colors that grow here, some types of flowers, such as buttercup, saxifrage, foxtail, polar poppy. Many of these plants, the peoples inhabiting the Far North, are considered medicinal. And for most of the animals common here, sparse vegetation is the main source of food. The almost never changing climate of the Arctic deserts has adapted for itself a small number of animal species that have chosen the territories of the harsh Arctic deserts. Here in this land, you can meet such animals as polar fox, the "owner" of these glacial places, the polar bear, the Greenland musk bull, the small rodent lemming (pied), often in the summer, you can also see the polar hare, which scientists initially consider it to be a hare.
The climate of the Arctic deserts, with its severity, did not affect the families of birds living here. Waders, geese, eiders, guillemots, guillemots, glaucous gulls, which from year to year, arriving here, collect their multi-million bird colonies here. And for such mammals as beluga whales, seals, ringed seals, sea seals, walruses, only the climate of the Arctic deserts and their immediate habitat, the Laptev Sea and the Kara Sea, are suitable for living. In the cold, phytoplankton is found in abundance and in sufficient quantities, such fish as nelma, cod, arctic cod, vendace. The Arctic deserts of the land, which polar bears have chosen, have been declared reserves, one of these is called Wrangel Island, the surface area of which is a continuous glacier strewn with broken stone and rubble. The climate of the Arctic deserts owes its formation not only to the low temperature of high latitude, but also to thermal reflection (albedo) during the daytime, from the surface of ice and snow, which is held in the Arctic, all year round. In summer, when the air temperature rises above zero, the effect of thermal reflection leads to a significant evaporation of moisture from the surface of the glaciers, so the sky of the Arctic deserts is almost constantly covered with low-weight lead clouds. It rains constantly, often with snow. Evaporation of water from the ocean opened from the ice contributes to the formation of thick fogs. Not the last influential role on the climate of the Arctic deserts is exerted by the underwater East Greenland Current and the clockwise movement of the ice field in the ocean caused by it with the ongoing removal of drifting ice into the Atlantic Ocean. An exceptionally last and no less important role in the climate of the Arctic deserts is played by permafrost, which fetters the land and waters of the Arctic with centuries of ice. The thickness of the permafrost ice shell ranges from 100 - 150 meters in the area of Franz Josef Land in the northern regions of the Taimyr Peninsula to 500 - 550 meters and over 680 meters on Novaya Zemlya. In some mountainous and elevated places, ice from the mainland, breaking off, slides into the ocean, forming giant floating icebergs. In such a natural way, mother herself - nature supports and regulates the harsh climate of the Arctic deserts.
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).
Vegetation is sparse, so animal world Arctic deserts are 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.
- (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...
), the predominant landscape of the northernmost (Arctic) natural area sushi. Characteristic in the main. for coastal areas. Snow and ice cover these areas all year round. The areas of glaciers are very large - up to several tens of thousands of square kilometers. Sometimes they cover more than 80% of the North Islands. the Arctic Ocean (for example, on Franz Josef Land). In some places they descend to the ocean, and huge fragments break off from them - icebergs. The climate is harsh and cold. Long harsh winter is replaced by a short (sometimes less than 2 weeks) cold summer. Wed the temperature of the coldest month is from -12 ° C in Svalbard to -38 ° C in S. Greenland; the very warm month 5°C. Precipitation will fall approx. 300 mm per year, mainly in the form of snow, which is blown away by strong winds into depressions of the relief, exposing lifeless rocks. Life in the icy deserts is practically non-existent. Occasionally, in the summer, multi-colored colonies of microscopic algae develop on the melting snow.
Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. A. P. Gorkina. 2006 .
See what "ice desert" is in other dictionaries:
Exist., f., use. often Morphology: (no) what? desert, why? desert, (see) what? desert than? desert, what? about the desert; pl. what? desert, (no) what? desert, why? deserts, (see) what? desert than? deserts, about what? about deserts 1. Deserts ... Dictionary of Dmitriev
desert- I pu / cold and; f.; see deserts II are empty / nya and; pl. genus. you/n; well. see also desert 1) a) A vast arid area with low rainfall, sharp fluctuations in air and soil and sparse vegetation ... Dictionary of many expressions
DESERT, and, wives. 1. A large, uninhabited space, devoid of vegetation or with sparse vegetation. Anhydrous settlement. Icy, snowy settlement (translated: about large expanses of ice, snow). 2. Deserted or sparsely populated area ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
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
- (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
The Arctic Desert (“Arktos” in Greek is bear) is marked in gray, a natural zone, part of the Arctic geographical zone, the basin of the Arctic Ocean. This is ... Wikipedia
This article describes the secondary geographical features described in the works that are part of the legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien. Contents 1 A 1.1 Avallone 1.2 Avatar ... Wikipedia
The Journey and Adventures of Captain Hatteras Les Aventures du capitaine Hatteras Genre: Adventure
The Journey and Adventures of Captain Hatteras Les Aventures du capitaine Hatteras Genre ... Wikipedia
Books
- Jules Verne. Collected works in 8 volumes (set of 8 books), Jules Verne. French writer Jules Gabriel Verne was 34 years old when he found his true calling and turned from a writer of comic plays into a scientific novelist. For 40 years of continuous literary ...
Loading...