What is the Arctic?
Q: What is the Arctic?
A: The Arctic is the area around the Earth's North Pole, including parts of Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Lapland and Svalbard as well as the Arctic Ocean. It is an ocean mostly covered with ice.
Q: What is north of the treeline in the Arctic?
A: North of the treeline in the Arctic is not an empty ice field; it is usually covered with tundra. A tundra is a cold, almost treeless plain covered with moss and grasslike plants called sedges.
Q: What causes trees to stop growing in certain areas of the Arctic?
A: Trees will not grow when temperatures get too cold or when they are too far north or too high up a mountain (higher places are colder). This place where trees stop growing is called the tree line.
Q: What type of layer lies beneath most tundras in the Arctic?
A: Beneath most tundras in the Arctic lies permafrost - a layer of ice with hardness like stone that keeps water from soaking into earth beneath it. Permafrost can be thousands of feet thick.
Q: How does permafrost affect water levels during summertime in the Arctic?
A: During summertime in the Arctic, permafrost prevents melted snow from draining into ground; instead it soaks topsoil and forms lakes and puddles on top until it freezes again or dries up.
Q: Why do people sometimes call this region "Land of Midnight Sun"?
A: People sometimes call this region "Land of Midnight Sun" because during summer there, North Pole points toward sun so there are nights when sun never sets.
Q: Where did word 'Arctic' come from?
A: The word 'Arctic' comes from Greek word αρκτος meaning "bear". The North Pole aims at stars called Great Bear and Little Bear which explains why this region was named 'Arctic'.
