Climate of The Arctic - Overview of The Arctic

Overview of The Arctic

There are different definitions of the Arctic. The most widely used definition, the area north of the Arctic Circle, where, on the June solstice, the sun does not set is used in astronomical and some geographical contexts. However, in a context of climate, the two most widely used definitions in this context are the area north of the northern tree line, and the area in which the average temperature of the warmest month is less than 10 °C (50 °F), which are nearly coincident over most land areas (NSIDC).

This definition of the Arctic can be further divided into four different regions:

• The Arctic Basin includes the Arctic Ocean within the average minimum extent of sea ice.
• The Canadian Arctic Archipelago includes the large and small islands, except Greenland, on the Canadian side of the Arctic, and the waters between them.
• The entire island of Greenland, although its ice sheet and ice-free coastal regions have different climatic conditions.
• The Arctic waters that are not covered by sea ice in late summer, including Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, Ungava Bay, the Davis, Denmark, Hudson and Bering Straits, and the Labrador, Norwegian, (ice-free all year), Greenland, Baltic, Barents (southern part ice-free all year), Kara, Laptev, Chukchi, Okhotsk, sometimes Beaufort and Bering Seas.

Moving inland from the coast over mainland North America and Eurasia, the moderating influence of the Arctic Ocean quickly diminishes, and the climate transitions from Arctic to subarctic, generally in less than 500 kilometres (300 mi), and often over a much shorter distance.