Arctic - North Pole
The Arctic is the area around the Earth's North Pole. The Arctic includes parts of Russia, Alaska (United States), Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as the Arctic Ocean.
There are numerous definitions of the Arctic region. The boundary is generally considered to be north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33šN), which is the 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 also 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 is mostly a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless, frozen ground. It teems with life, including organisms living in the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals and human societies.
T h e A r c t i c r e g i o n i s b y i t s n a t u r e a u n i q u e a r e a . T h e c u l t u r e s i n t h e r e g i o n a n d t h e A r c t i c i n d i g e n o u s p e o p l e s h a v e a d a p t e d t o i t s c o l d a n d e x t r e m e c o n d i t i o n s . F r o m t h e p e r s p e c t i v e o f t h e p h y s i c a l , c h e m i c a l a n d b i o l o g i c a l b a l a n c e i n t h e w o r l d , t h e A r c t i c r e g i o n i s i n a k e y p o s i t i o n . I t r e a c t s s e n s i t i v e l y p a r t i c u l a r l y t o c h a n g e s i n t h e c l i m a t e , w h i c h r e f l e c t e x t e n s i v e l y b a c k o n t h e g l o b a l s t a t e o f t h e e n v i r o n m e n t . F r o m t h e p e r s p e c t i v e o f r e s e a r c h i n t o c l i m a t i c c h a n g e , t h e A r c t i c r e g i o n i s c o n s i d e r e d a n e a r l y w a r n i n g s y s t e m .
T h e A r c t i c i s a l s o k n o w n a s t h e ' L a n d o f t h e M i d n i g h t S u n' a s i t i s w i t h i n t h e A r c t i c C i r c l e . T h e n a m e A r c t i c c o m e s f r o m t h e a n c i e n t G r e e k , m e a n i n g ' b e a r ' , a n d i s a r e f e r e n c e t o t h e c o n s t e l l a t i o n s o f t h e G r e a t B e a r a n d L i t t l e B e a r , w h i c h a r e l o c a t e d n e a r t h e N o r t h S t a r ( w h i c h i s a c t u a l l y p a r t o f t h e L i t t l e B e a r ) .
Pollution
Nature in the Arctic is comparatively clean although there are certain ecologically difficult localized pollution problems that present a serious threat to peoplešs health living around these pollution sources. Due to the prevailing worldwide sea and air currents, the Arctic area is the fall out region for long-range transport pollutants and in some places the concentrations exceed the levels of densely populated urban areas.
Nature and Natural Resources
The Arctic region includes sizeable potential natural resources (oil, gas, minerals, forest - if the subarctic is included - and fish) to which modern technology and the opening up of Russia have given significant new opportunities. The interest of the tourism industry in the cold and exotic Arctic is also on the increase. This is for example, seen in the rise in international tourism as a significant opportunity but also as a threat.
The Arctic region is one of the last and most extensive continuous wilderness areas in the world and its significance in preserving biodiversity and genotypes is considerable. The increasing presence of people fragments vital habitats. The Arctic is particularly susceptible to the abrasion of groundcover and to the disturbance of the rare reproduction places of the animals that are characteristic to the region.
Environmental Impact Assessment
From the perspective of positive development in the Arctic region, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is in a key position. In the Arctic region, it is important that in a process, special attention is given to assessing social impacts. It is generally known that scientific information focused on the Arctic region is insufficient, so the actors conducting an EIA do not get sufficient material in order to compile a precise assessment.
Developing a dialogue between new actors in the region, business life and the local population is important so that mutual understanding and often conflicting needs for development can be improved. Improving access to information by local inhabitants, well functioning participatory planning, and ensuring the optimum use of its results are part of this activity. The horizontal processing of administration by different sectors in society that is required for an EIA necessitates for its support the production of strong multidisciplinary information. Managing and analyzing the above-mentioned multidimensional and demanding process requires combining many scientific fields and methods and further scientific analysis and development of functional models.
International cooperation and politics
The Arctic region is one of the important focuses of international political interest. International Arctic cooperation got underway on a broad scale well over ten years ago. The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), hundreds of scientists and specialists of the Arctic Council, the Barents Council and its regional cooperation have compiled high quality information.
A strategic military region
The Arctic has never been under the political control of any nation, although some nations' militaries have attached a strategic importance to the region. In the 1950s and 1960s, the arctic was often used by submarines to test new weapons, sonar equipment, and depth testing.During the Cold War, the Arctic region was extensively monitored by the United States military, since it was the opinion of the said military that the first warnings of a Soviet Union nuclear strike would have been indicated by ICBMs launched over the North Pole towards the United States. The United States placed such importance on the region that two military decorations, the Arctic Service Ribbon and Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal, were established for military duty performed within the arctic circle.
T h e A r c t i c O c e a n o c c u p i e s a r o u g h l y c i r c u l a r b a s i n a n d c o v e r s a n a r e a o f a b o u t 1 4 0 9 0 0 0 0 k m ž ( 5 , 4 4 0 , 0 0 0 m i ž ) , s l i g h t l y l e s s t h a n 1 . 5 t i m e s t h e s i z e o f t h e U S .
T h e c o a s t l i n e l e n g t h i s 4 5 3 8 9 k m . N e a r l y l a n d l o c k e d , i t i s s u r r o u n d e d b y t h e l a n d m a s s e s o f E u r a s i a , N o r t h A m e r i c a , G r e e n l a n d , a n d a n u m b e r o f i s l a n d s . I t i n c l u d e s B a f f i n B a y , B a r e n t s S e a , B e a u f o r t S e a , C h u k c h i S e a , E a s t S i b e r i a n S e a , G r e e n l a n d S e a , H u d s o n B a y , H u d s o n S t r a i t , K a r a S e a , L a p t e v S e a , W h i t e S e a a n d o t h e r t r i b u t a r y b o d i e s o f w a t e r . I t i s c o n n e c t e d t o t h e P a c i f i c O c e a n b y t h e B e r i n g S t r a i t a n d t o t h e A t l a n t i c O c e a n t h r o u g h t h e G r e e n l a n d S e a .
A n u n d e r w a t e r m i d - o c e a n r i d g e , t h e L o m o n o s o v R i d g e , d i v i d e s t h e d e e p s e a N o r t h P o l a r B a s i n i n t o t w o b a s i n s : t h e E u r a s i a n , o r N a n s e n , B a s i n , ( a f t e r F r i d t j o f N a n s e n ) w h i c h i s b e t w e e n 4 0 0 0 a n d 4 5 0 0 m ( 1 3 , 0 0 0 a n d 1 5 , 0 0 0 f t ) d e e p , a n d t h e N o r t h A m e r i c a n , o r H y p e r b o r e a n , B a s i n , w h i c h i s a b o u t 4 0 0 0 m d e e p . T h e t o p o g r a p h y o f t h e o c e a n b o t t o m i s m a r k e d b y f a u l t - b l o c k r i d g e s , p l a i n s o f t h e a b y s s a l z o n e , o c e a n d e e p s , a n d b a s i n s . T h e a v e r a g e d e p t h o f t h e A r c t i c O c e a n i s 1 0 3 8 m ( 3 , 4 0 7 f t ) , i n p a r t d u e t o t h e l a r g e e x t e n t o f c o n t i n e n t a l s h e l f e x t a n t o n t h e E u r a s i a n s i d e .
T h e g r e a t e s t i n f l o w o f w a t e r c o m e s f r o m t h e A t l a n t i c b y w a y o f t h e N o r w e g i a n C u r r e n t , w h i c h t h e n f l o w s a l o n g t h e E u r a s i a n c o a s t . W a t e r a l s o e n t e r s f r o m t h e P a c i f i c v i a t h e B e r i n g S t r a i t . T h e E a s t G r e e n l a n d C u r r e n t c a r r i e s t h e m a j o r o u t f l o w . T e m p e r a t u r e a n d s a l i n i t y v a r y s e a s o n a l l y a s t h e i c e c o v e r m e l t s a n d f r e e z e s . I c e c o v e r s m o s t o f t h e o c e a n s u r f a c e y e a r - r o u n d , c a u s i n g s u b f r e e z i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s m u c h o f t h e t i m e .
T h e A r c t i c i s a m a j o r s o u r c e o f v e r y c o l d a i r t h a t i n e v i t a b l y m o v e s t o w a r d t h e e q u a t o r , m e e t i n g w i t h w a r m e r a i r i n t h e m i d d l e l a t i t u d e s a n d c a u s i n g r a i n a n d s n o w . L i t t l e m a r i n e l i f e e x i s t s w h e r e t h e o c e a n s u r f a c e i s c o v e r e d w i t h i c e t h r o u g h o u t t h e y e a r . M a r i n e l i f e a b o u n d s i n o p e n a r e a s , e s p e c i a l l y t h e m o r e s o u t h e r l y w a t e r s . T h e o c e a n ' s m a j o r p o r t s a r e t h e R u s s i a n c i t i e s o f M u r m a n s k a n d A r k h a n g e l s k ( A r c h a n g e l ) . T h e A r c t i c O c e a n i s i m p o r t a n t a s t h e s h o r t e s t a i r r o u t e b e t w e e n t h e P a c i f i c c o a s t o f N o r t h A m e r i c a a n d E u r o p e o v e r f l i e s i t .
Wikipedia References and Links
The pole is located in the Arctic Ocean. Classically (19th century) this pole was exactly where people believed the pole of rotation met the Earth's surface, but soon astronomers noticed a small apparent variation of latitude as determined for a fixed point on Earth by observing stars.
This variation had a period of about 435 days and the periodic part of it is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer. It is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates (latitude, longitude, and elevations or orography) to fixed landforms.
Of course, given continental drift and the rising and falling of land due to volcanos, erosion and so on, there is no system in which all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System that does an admirable job.
The North pole of this system now defines geographic North and it does not quite coincide with the rotation axis. Also see polar motion.
On the basis of the sector principle, Canada claims its sovereignty to extend all the way to the Geographic North Pole. There is no land at this location, which is usually covered by sea ice.
The theory under which Canada has claimed sovereignty to the North Pole is controversial as there is in fact 770 km of ocean between the pole and Canada's northernmost land point, and several nations, most notably the United States, have challenged the notion that the North Pole does not lie in international waters.
Magnetic North is the place to which all magnetic compasses point, although since the pole marked "N" on a bar magnet points north, and only opposite magnetic poles are attracted to each other, the Earth's magnetic north is actually a south magnetic pole.
The orientation of magnetic fields of planets can flip over, an event which is called a geomagnetic reversal. The Earth's poles have done this repeatedly throughout history, and 500,000 years ago, the south magnetic pole was at the South Pole. It is thought that this occurs when the circulation of liquid nickel/iron in the Earth's outer core is disrupted and then reestablishes itself in the opposite direction. It is not known what causes these disruptions.
Proof of this can be seen at mid-ocean ridges where tectonic plates move apart, and the sea bed is filled in with magma. As the magma comes out of the mantle, the magnetic particles in it are attracted slightly to the North Pole, and when the poles switch, so does the direction in which the metallic elements face. Therefore, on the sea bed, parallel bands of alternating magnetic fields are found.
The first expedition to reach this pole was led by James Clark Ross, who found it at Cape Adelaide on the Boothia Peninsula on June 1, 1831. Roald Amundsen found Magnetic North in a slightly different location in 1903. The third observation of Magnetic North was by Canadian government scientists Paul Serson and Jack Clark, of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, who found the pole at Allen Lake on Prince of Wales Island.
The Canadian government has made several measurements since, which show that Magnetic North is continually moving northwest. In 1996 an expedition certified its location by magnetometer and theodolite at 78°35.7' North, 104° 11.9' West. Its location (in 2005) is 82°07' North, 114° 04' West, near Ellesmere Island, the biggest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, in Canada. During the 20th century it has moved 1100 km, and since 1970 its rate of motion has accelerated from 9 km/year to 41 km/year (2001-2003 average; see also Polar drift).
If it maintains its present speed and direction it will reach Siberia in about 50 years, but it is expected to veer from its present course and slow down.This movement is on top of a daily or diurnal variation in which Magnetic North describes a rough ellipse, with a maximum deviation of 80 km from its mean position. This effect is due to disturbances of the geomagnetic field by the sun.
A line drawn from one magnetic pole to the other does not go through the centre of the Earth; it actually misses it by about 530 km.The angular difference between Magnetic North and true North varies with location, and is called the magnetic declination.
The Geomagnetic poles are the places where the axis of this dipole intersects the Earth's surface. Because the dipole approximation is far from a perfect fit to the Earth's magnetic field, the magnetic field is not quite vertical at the geomagnetic poles.
The locations of true vertical field orientation are the magnetic poles, and these are about 30 degrees of longitude away from the geomagnetic poles.
Like the Magnetic North Pole, the geomagnetic north pole is a south magnetic pole, because it attracts the north pole of a bar magnet.
It is the center of the region in the magnetosphere in which the Aurora Borealis can be seen. Its present location is 78°30' North, 69° West, near Qaanaaq in Greenland, however it is now drifting away from North America and toward Siberia. The first voyage to this pole was by David Hempleman-Adams in 1992.
Northern Pole of Inaccessibility
Defining North Poles in astronomy
Astronomers define the north "geographic" pole of a planet or other object in the solar system by the planetary pole that is in the same ecliptic hemisphere as the Earth's north pole. More accurately, The north pole is that pole of rotation that lies on the north side of the invariable plane of the solar system.
This means some objects will have directions of rotation opposite the "normal" (i.e., not counter-clockwise as seen from above the north pole). Another frequently used definition uses the right-hand rule to define the north pole: it is then the pole around which the object rotates counterclockwise.
When using the first definition (the IAU's), an object's axial tilt will always be 90° or less, but its rotation period may be negative (retrograde rotation); when using the second definition, axial tilts may be greater than 90° but rotation periods will always be positive.
For the magnetic poles, their names are decided upon by the direction that their field lines emerge or enter the planet's crust. If they enter the same way as they do for Earth at the north pole, we call this the planet's north magnetic pole.
Some bodies in the solar system, including Saturn's moon Hyperion and the asteroid 4179 Toutatis, lack a stable geographic north pole. They rotate chaotically because of their irregular shape and gravitational influences from nearby planets and moons, and as a result the instantaneous pole wanders over their surface, and may vanish altogether for brief periods (when the object comes to a complete standstill with respect to the distant stars).
The projection of a planet's north geographic pole onto the celestial sphere gives its north celestial pole.In the particular (but frequent) case of synchronous satellites, four more poles can be defined. They are the near, far, leading, and trailing poles. Take Io for example; this moon of Jupiter rotates synchronously, so its orientation with respect to Jupiter stays constant.
There will be a single, unmoving point of its surface where Jupiter is at the zenith, exactly overhead - this is the near pole, also called the sub- or pro-Jovian point. At the antipode of this point is the far pole, where Jupiter lies at the nadir; it is also called the anti-Jovian point.
There will also be a single unmoving point which is furthest along Io's orbit (best defined as the point most removed from the plane formed by the north-south and near-far axes, on the leading side) - this is the leading pole. At its antipode lies the trailing pole. Io can thus be divided into north and south hemispheres, into pro- and anti-Jovian hemispheres, and into leading and trailing hemispheres.
Note that these poles are mean poles because the points are not, strictly speaking, unmoving: there is constant jiggling about the mean orientation, because Io's orbit is slightly eccentric and the gravity of the other moons disturbs it regularly.
Day and Night
During the summer months, the North Pole experiences twenty-four hours of daylight daily but during the winter months the North Pole experiences twenty-four hours of darkness daily. Sunrise and sunset do not occur in a twenty-four hour cycle. At the north pole, sunrise begins at the Vernal equinox taking three months for the sun to reach its highest point at the summer solstice when sunset begins, taking three months to reach sunset at the Autumnal equinox. A similar effect can be observed at the South Pole, with a six month difference. This day/night effect is in stark contrast to what is observed at the Equator.
This effect is caused by a combination of the Earth's axial tilt and its rotation around the sun. The direction and angle of axial tilt of the Earth remains fairly constant (on a yearly basis) in its plane of rotation around the sun. Hence during the summer, the North Pole is always facing the sun's rays but during the winter, it always faces away from the sun.
Territorial Claims to the North Pole (Arctic)
In 1925, based upon the Sector Principle, Canada became the first country to extend its boundaries northward to the North Pole, at least on paper, between 60°W and 141°W longitude, a claim that is not universally recognized. In addition, Canada claims the water between its Arctic Islands as internal waters. The claim is not recognized by the United States, which argues the Northwest Passage is an international waterway, despite its minimal usage for shipping. Denmark (Greenland), Russia and Norway have made similar claims, which are also opposed by the United States and by the European Union.
Otherwise, until 1999, the North Pole and Arctic Ocean had been generally considered international territory. However, as the polar ice has begun to recede at a rate higher than expected (see global warming), several countries have made moves to claim, or to enforce pre-existing claims to, the waters or seabed at the Pole. Russia made its first claim in 2001, claiming Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain ridge underneath the Pole, as a natural extension of Siberia. This claim was contested by Norway, Canada, the United States and Denmark in 2004. The Danish autonomous province of Greenland has the nearest coastline to the North Pole, and Denmark argues the Lomonosov Ridge is in fact an extension of Greenland.
The potential value of the North Pole and the area around resides not so much in shipping but in the possibility that lucrative petroleum and natural gas reserves exist below the sea floor. Such reserves are known to exist under the Beaufort Sea, and further exploration elsewhere in the Arctic might become more feasible if global warming opens up the Northwest Passage as a regular channel of international shipping and commerce, particularly if Canada is not able to enforce her claim to it.
Magnetic north is determined by the earthšs magnetic field and is not the same as true (or geographic) north. The location of the magnetic north pole changes slowly over time, but it is currently northwest of Hudson Bay in northern Canada (approximately 700 km [450 mi] from the true north pole). Maps are based on the geographic north pole because it does not change over time, so north is always at the top of a quadrangle map. However, if you were walk a straight line following the direction your compass needle indicates as north, you would find that you didnšt go from south to north on the map.
How far your path varied from true north depends on where you started from; the angle between a straight north-south line and the line you walked is the magnetic declination in the area you were walking.Magnetic declination has been measured throughout the U.S. and can be corrected for on your compass.
The line of zero declination runs from magnetic north through Lake Superior and across the western panhandle of Florida. Along this line, true north is the same as magnetic north. If you are working west of the line of zero declination, your compass will give a reading that is east of true north. Conversely, if you are working east of the line of zero declination, your compass reading will be west of true north. The exact amount that you need to adjust the declination on your compass to reconcile magnetic north to true north is given in the map legend to the left of the map scale.
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Largest In Northern Hemisphere, Has Fractured Into Three Main Pieces Science Daily - April 17, 2008
Mysterious "Rain on Snow" Events Tracked in Arctic National Geographic - March 4, 2008
Svalbard's giant cold store Guardian - February 26, 2008
Arctic Seed Vault Opens National Geographic - February 26, 2008
Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Seed-Protecting "Doomsday" Vault Opens National Geographic - February 26, 2008
Giant "Sea Monster" Fossil Discovered in Arctic - National Geographic - February 27, 2008
The 150-million-year-old creature was first discovered in 2006 on Spitsbergen, part of
Norway's Svalbard archipelago, in a polar wasteland littered with fossilized sea reptiles.
Sea reptile is biggest on record BBC - February 27, 2008
A fossilized "sea monster" unearthed on an Arctic island is the largest
marine reptile known to science, Norwegian scientists have announced.
The 150 million-year-old specimen was found on Spitspergen,
in the Arctic island chain of Svalbard, in 2006.
Rich life emerges from nature's freezer BBC - December 27, 2007
Tiny channels in the Arctic ice support creatures that
play a crucial role in climate-affected ecosystems.
McCall melt links the Arctic eras BBC - December 26, 2007
The dramatic springtime collapse of surface ozone in the Arctic has been documented by scientists BBC - December 14, 2007
Arctic summers ice-free 'by 2013' BBC - December 12, 2007
Arctic Sea Ice Gone in Summer Within Five Years? National Geographic - December 12, 2007
Arctic muds reveal sea ice record BBC - October 15, 2007
Russia's Arctic Claim Backed By Rocks, Officials Say National Geographic - September 21, 2007
Ice withdrawal 'shatters record' BBC - September 21, 2007
Warming 'opens Northwest Passage' BBC - September 14, 2007
Vast ice island trapped in Arctic BBC - September 1, 2007
Arctic sea ice set to hit new low BBC - August 13, 2007
Mysterious Clouds Creeping Out of the Arctic Live Science - June 29, 2007
Arctic spring's 'rapid advance' BBC - June 19, 2007
Arctic ice no barrier for plants BBC - June 15, 2007
Surprise New Arctic Inhabitants: Trees Live Science - March 9, 2007
Deep Sea, Arctic May Hold World's Largest Fuel Supply, Experts Say National Geographic - March 7, 2007
'Monster' fossil find in Arctic BBC - October 5, 2006
"treasure trove" of fossils belonging to giant sea reptiles
that roamed the seas at the time of the dinosaurs.
'Drastic' shrinkage in Arctic ice BBC - September 14, 2006
Arctic's tropical past uncovered BBC - May 31, 2006
Fifty-five million years ago the North Pole was an ice-free
zone with tropical temperatures, according to research.
'Noah's Ark' in Arctic region to be built to protect world's crop seeds from disaster News in Science - May 31, 2006
Mysterious Arctic skull raises questions about what animals once roamed North CNews - June 1, 2006
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