The Arctic

     This is my project on the Arctic Region. The weather in the Arctic is like being in winter year-round. You need to always dress warm so you don't get hypothermia or frostbite. The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, the United States (Alaska), Sweden, Finland, Russia and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost.



      There are many factors that are affecting life in the Arctic. Climate change is one of these factors. The average temperatures in the Arctic region are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere in the world. Arctic ice is getting thinner, melting and rupturing. For example, the largest single block of ice in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, had been around for 3,000 years before it started cracking in 2000. Within two years it had split all the way through and is now breaking into pieces. The polar ice cap as a whole is shrinking. Images from NASA satellites show that the area of permanent ice cover is shrinking at a rate of 9 percent each decade. If this continues, summers in the Arctic could become ice-free by the end of the century. This would drastically effect the lives of the people and the animals of the Arctic.
 

     The animals that live in this region are polar bears,foxes,wolves,whales and various kinds of fish.One of the best known species that live in the Arctic are the polar bears which are fighting against extinction.

 

       The natural resources of the Arctic are oil,fish,gold,forestry and mining. Merchandise is more expensive in the Arctic because it has to be sent by plane. Life in Canada’s North can be different than life in the rest of the country and these differences extend to transportation choices and options. To get people in the north to where they need to go in the most efficient way, is usually by plane. Northern residents have a high chance to travel by plane and have higher household expense from air travel. Air travel causes a lot of greenhouse emmisions, which affect the climate in the arctic.

      The Arctic region covers Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The Arctic borders the North Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. There are mountains,islands,polar ice caps and lots of water in the Arctic.

      Houses that are built on thin ice are on stilts so when the ice breaks the house wont fall into the water under neath the ice.The ground is permafrost. Most people live in regular houses which are mostly on stilts but some people still live in igloos.The first Inuit people lived in igloos. A long time ago igloos were used instead of houses. They are made of snow.Today people don't live in igloos. However, igloos can be use for shelter from storms. The people further up north mostly use igloos when they go out on land because they are passed the tree line. They use igloos because there are less trees. In the southern part of the Arctic, people use tents when they go out on the land because we have trees.

      
The Inuit were mainly hunters, and relied heavily on the animals of the Arctic as their main source of food. Since very little vegetation could survive in the Arctic climate, the Inuit could not depend solely on plants for food.