"occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere, north of the taiga belt. The word ""tundra"" usually refers only to the areas where the subsoil is permafrost, or permanently frozen soil. (It may also refer to the treeless plain in general, so that northern Sápmi would be included.) Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada. The polar tundra is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Nganasan and Nenets in the permafrost area (and the Sami in Sápmi). Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year."
"Basin formed during the Cenozoic Era from seafloor spreading. Amundsen Basin The Amundsen Basin, with depths up to 4.4 km, is the deepest abyssal plain in the Arctic Ocean. The Amundsen Basin is embraced by the Lomonosov Ridge (from to ) and the Gakkel Ridge (from to ). It is named after the polar researcher Roald Amundsen. Together with the Nansen Basin, the Amundsen Basin is often summarized as Eurasian Basin. The Russian-American cooperation Nansen and Amundsen Basin Observational System (NABOS) aims ""to provide a quantitative observationally based assessment of circulation, water mass transformations, and transformation mechanisms in the Eurasian"
"a desert because of its aridity-adapted plants. The North Slope of Alaska's Brooks Range also receives less than of precipitation per year and is often classified as a cold desert. Other regions of the world have cold deserts, including areas of the Himalayas and other high-altitude areas in other parts of the world. Polar deserts cover much of the ice-free areas of the Arctic and Antarctic. A non-technical definition is that deserts are those parts of the Earth's surface that have insufficient vegetation cover to support a human population. Potential evapotranspiration supplements the measurement of precipitation in providing a scientific"
"Amundsen Basin The Amundsen Basin, with depths up to 4.4 km, is the deepest abyssal plain in the Arctic Ocean. The Amundsen Basin is embraced by the Lomonosov Ridge (from to ) and the Gakkel Ridge (from to ). It is named after the polar researcher Roald Amundsen. Together with the Nansen Basin, the Amundsen Basin is often summarized as Eurasian Basin. The Russian-American cooperation Nansen and Amundsen Basin Observational System (NABOS) aims ""to provide a quantitative observationally based assessment of circulation, water mass transformations, and transformation mechanisms in the Eurasian and Canadian Basins of the Arctic Ocean"". The Amundsen"
"in these polar biomes. Polar desert Polar deserts are the regions of the Earth that fall under an ice cap climate (""EF"" under the Köppen classification). Despite rainfall totals low enough to normally classify as a desert, polar deserts are distinguished from true deserts (' or ' under the Köppen classification) by low annual temperatures and evapotranspiration. Most polar deserts are covered in ice sheets, ice fields, or ice caps. Ice-free areas have no vegetation whatsoever. Polar deserts are one of two polar biomes: polar deserts and Arctic tundra. They are called polar deserts because of their flat environment. These"
"Alas (geography) Alas () is a shallow depression which occurs primarily in Yakutia, which is formed by subsidence of the Arctic permafrost due to repeated melting and refreezing. An alas first develops as a shallow lake as melt water fills the depression. The lake eventually dries out and is replaced by grasses and other herbaceous vegetation. An alas is different from thermokarst depressions found elsewhere in the Arctic in that the lake is only temporary. Due to the aridity of Yakutia, the lake will dry up once the underlying ice has been depleted. Alases are often used for pasturage for"
"Glacial series The glacial series refers to a particular sequence of landforms in Central Europe that were formed during the Pleistocene glaciation beneath the ice sheets, along their margins and on their forelands during each glacial advance. The term ""glacial series"" () was used as early as 1882 by Albrecht Penck initially for the northern Alpine Foreland. Later the term was expanded and used to refer to the Scandinavian glaciation region. The elements of an ideal and complete glacial series are: The term ""glacial series"" is restricted to landforms created by glaciers and classified by geomorphological rules, as opposed to"
"horses as well as hay-fields. Alas (geography) Alas () is a shallow depression which occurs primarily in Yakutia, which is formed by subsidence of the Arctic permafrost due to repeated melting and refreezing. An alas first develops as a shallow lake as melt water fills the depression. The lake eventually dries out and is replaced by grasses and other herbaceous vegetation. An alas is different from thermokarst depressions found elsewhere in the Arctic in that the lake is only temporary. Due to the aridity of Yakutia, the lake will dry up once the underlying ice has been depleted. Alases are"
"Muskeg Muskeg (; , lit. ""moss bog"") is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland, but ""muskeg"" is the standard term in Western Canada and Alaska, while 'bog' is common elsewhere. The term became common in these areas because it is of Cree origin; ""maskek"" (ᒪᐢᑫᐠ) meaning low-lying marsh. Large tracts of this soil existing in Siberia may be called muskeg or bogland interchangeably. Muskeg consists of dead plants in various states of decomposition (as peat), ranging from fairly intact sphagnum"
"Polar desert Polar deserts are the regions of the Earth that fall under an ice cap climate (""EF"" under the Köppen classification). Despite rainfall totals low enough to normally classify as a desert, polar deserts are distinguished from true deserts (' or ' under the Köppen classification) by low annual temperatures and evapotranspiration. Most polar deserts are covered in ice sheets, ice fields, or ice caps. Ice-free areas have no vegetation whatsoever. Polar deserts are one of two polar biomes: polar deserts and Arctic tundra. They are called polar deserts because of their flat environment. These biomes are located at"
"Pingo A pingo, also called a hydrolaccolith or a bulgunniakh, is a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to in height and up to in diameter. The term originated as the Inuvialuktun word for a small hill. The plural form is ""pingos"". The term is also used for depressions, often water filled, formed by the melting of ice at the end of the last glaciation. A pingo is a periglacial landform, which is defined as a nonglacial landform or process linked to colder climates. ""Periglacial"" suggests an environment located on the margin"
"névé. It is at an intermediate stage between snow and glacial ice. ""Permafrost"" is soil at or below the freezing point of water (0°C or 32°F) for two or more years. In practice it is a large stretch of land (found mostly in Siberia) with soil frozen all over deep to the bottom. """"Meta incognita"""" means ""unknown frontier"" in Latin. It's also another name for Baffin Island. Permafrost (album) Permafrost is the third solo album from German ambient music producer, Thomas Köner. Considered by many as his greatest work, he further develops the icy drone style of previous works, making"
"water-saturated and therefore has sufficient supply for the growing ice core. Palsa (plural: palsas) is a term from the Finnish language meaning ""a hummock rising out of a bog with a core of ice,"" which in turn is a borrowing from Northern Sami, ""balsa"". As palsas particularly develop in moorlands they are therefore also named ""palsamoors"". ""Bugor"" and ""bulginniakhs"" are general terms in the Russian language (the latter of Yakutian origin) for both palsas and pingos. Pictures of palsas and further information: Palsa A palsa is a low, often oval, frost heave occurring in polar and subpolar climates, which contain"
"otherwise the plain is exceedingly flat and featureless. Winters on the West Siberian Plain are harsh and long. The climate of most of the plains is either subarctic or continental. Two of the larger cities on the plain are Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk. The West Siberian Plain consists mostly of Cenozoic alluvial deposits and is extraordinarily flat. A rise of fifty metres in sea level would cause all land between the Arctic Ocean and Novosibirsk to be inundated (see also Turgai Straits, West Siberian Glacial Lake). It is a region of the Earth’s crust that has undergone prolonged subsidence and is"
"Talik A talik is a layer of year-round unfrozen ground that lies in permafrost areas. In regions of continuous permafrost, taliks often occur underneath shallow thermokarst lakes and rivers, where the deep water does not freeze in winter, and thus the soil underneath will not freeze either. Sometimes closed, open and through talik are distinguished. These terms refer to whether the talik is completely surrounded by permafrost, is open to the top (e.g. a thermokarst lake), or open to both top and unfrozen layers beneath the permafrost, respectively. Due to climate fluctuation or change, some permafrost regions may develop an"
"Antarctic oasis An Antarctic oasis is a large area naturally free of snow and ice in the otherwise ice-covered continent of Antarctica. In Antarctica there are, in addition to mountain tops and nunataks, other natural snow- and ice-free areas often referred to as ""Antarctic oasis"" or ""dry valleys"". These areas are surrounded by the Antarctic ice sheet or in coastal areas situated between the ice sheet and the Antarctic ice shelves. Antarctic oases and dry valleys develop in areas with particular regional weather patterns and geography. These areas have very low humidity and precipitation. Although these areas are very cold,"
"Abyssal zone The abyssal zone or abyssopelagic zone is a layer of the pelagic zone of the ocean. ""Abyss"" derives from the Greek word , meaning bottomless. At depths of , this zone remains in perpetual darkness. These regions are also characterized by continuous cold and lack of nutrients. The abyssal zone has temperatures around through the large majority of its mass. It is the deeper part of the ""midnight zone"" which starts in the bathypelagic waters above. The area below the abyssal zone is the sparsely inhabited hadal zone. The zone above is the bathyal zone. The deep trenches"
"The NCSS glossary instead suggests ""flood plain"". Alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the smaller area over which the rivers flood at a particular period of time, whereas the alluvial plain is the larger area representing the region over which the floodplains have shifted over geological time. As the highlands erode due to weathering and water flow, the sediment from the hills"
"Arctic desert The Arctic desert ecoregion (WWF ID:PA1101) is a terrestrial ecoregion that covers the island groups of Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Severny Island and Severnaya Zemlya in the Artic Ocean, above 75 degrees north latitude. The islands are covered with glaciers, snow, and bare rock in a harshly cold environment. The temperature does rise above freezing for short periods in the summer, so some ice melt occurs, and the area supports colonies of sea birds and mammals. It has an area of . The ecoregion stretches 2,000 km west-to-east, and 1,000 km north-to-south, across the Arctic Ocean north of"
"to aridity; but today the word is most often used in its climate-science sense (an area of low precipitation). Phrases such as ""desert island"" and ""Great American Desert"", or Shakespeare's ""deserts of Bohemia"" (""The Winter's Tale"") in previous centuries did not necessarily imply sand or aridity; their focus was the sparse population. A desert is a region of land that is very dry because it receives low amounts of precipitation (usually in the form of rain, but it may be snow, mist or fog), often has little coverage by plants, and in which streams dry up unless they are supplied"
"the northern and southern land areas receive their winter snow cover, which combined with the reduced solar radiation at the surface, ensures an end to the warm days those areas may experience in summer. By November, winter is in full swing in most of the Arctic, and the small amount of solar radiation still reaching the region does not play a significant role in its climate. The Arctic is often perceived as a region stuck in a permanent deep freeze. While much of the region does experience very low temperatures, there is considerable variability with both location and season. Winter"
"Nansen Basin The Nansen Basin (also Central Basin, formerly Fram Basin) is an abyssal plain with water-depths of around 3 km in the Arctic Ocean and (together with the deeper Amundsen Basin) part of the Eurasian Basin. It is named after Fridtjof Nansen. The Nansen Basin is bounded by the Gakkel Ridge on the one side and by the Barents Sea continental shelf on the other. The lowest point of the Arctic Ocean lies within the Nansen Basin and has a depth of 4,665 m. The Barents Abyssal Plain is located at the center of the Fram Basin. The Russian-American"
"Palsa A palsa is a low, often oval, frost heave occurring in polar and subpolar climates, which contain permanently frozen ice lenses. Like pingos, palsas consist of an ice core with overlying soil, but they are generally smaller than pingos, often occur in groups and may develop from ground water without additional hydrostatic pressure. Palsas are characteristically found in areas with discontinuous permafrost, and in such areas they may be the only reliable surface evidence of permafrost. Surface water, found in bogs, enhances palsa formation in areas called palsa bogs. Palsas may be initiated in areas of a moor or"
"Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of cold climate are termed ""glacial periods"" (or, alternatively, ""glacials"" or ""glaciations"", or colloquially ""ice ages""), and intermittent warm periods are called ""interglacials"". In the terminology of glaciology, ""ice age"" implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres. By this definition, we are in an interglacial period—the Holocene—of the current ice age. The"
"Subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, subalpine climate, or boreal climate) is a climate characterised by long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool to mild summers. It is found on large landmasses, away from the moderating effects of an ocean, generally at latitudes from 50° to 70°N poleward of the humid continental climates. These climates represent Köppen climate classification ""Dfc"", ""Dwc"", ""Dsc"", ""Dfd"", ""Dwd"" and ""Dsd"". In very small areas at high altitudes around the Mediterranean Basin, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Alaska and other parts of the northwestern United States (Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Idaho)"
"altitudes, temperatures increase but precipitation is so low that the subarctic climate grades into a cold semi-arid climate. Subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, subalpine climate, or boreal climate) is a climate characterised by long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool to mild summers. It is found on large landmasses, away from the moderating effects of an ocean, generally at latitudes from 50° to 70°N poleward of the humid continental climates. These climates represent Köppen climate classification ""Dfc"", ""Dwc"", ""Dsc"", ""Dfd"", ""Dwd"" and ""Dsd"". In very small areas at high altitudes around the Mediterranean Basin, Iran,"
"so much colder than the Arctic. In summer, the presence of the nearby water keeps coastal areas from warming as much as they might otherwise. There are different definitions of the Arctic. The most widely used definition, the area north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun does not set on the June Solstice, is used in astronomical and some geographical contexts. However the two most widely used definitions in the context of climate are the area north of the northern tree line, and the area in which the average summer temperature is less than , which are nearly coincident"
"Cryoplanation In geomorphology, cryoplanation or altiplanation is a term used to both describe and explain the formation of plains, terraces and pediments in periglacial environments. Uncertainty surrounds the term, and the effectiveness of the cryoplanation process is held to be limited meaning it can only produce small terraces. Instead, many of so-called cryoplanation terraces are likely an expression of the underlying lithology and rock structure rather than being unique products of cold-climate processes. Cryoplanation can be seen as a variant of pediplanation that is restricted to cold climates. All the cryoplanation surfaces that exists at present date to the Quaternary."
"Arctic Basin Marine Ecozone (CEC) The Arctic Basin Marine Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian marine ecozone encompassing the northwestern areas of waters on the Arctic continental shelf. It is bitterly cold and permanently covered in ice. Polar nights and the midnight sun may last months in this region, which has come to characterize the stereotype of the north. Its only land contact is with the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. Because of this, there are no inhabitants in this zone. All human activity here involves scientific excursions, petroleum exploration, rare hunting groups"
"Desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the world is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions where little precipitation occurs and which are sometimes called polar deserts or ""cold deserts"". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location."
"Nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit ""nunataq"") is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within (or at the edge of) an ice field or glacier. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural pyramidal peaks. The word is of Greenlandic origin and has been used in English since the 1870s. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present and the nunataks protrude above the sheet. Nunataks present readily identifiable landmark reference points in glaciers or ice caps and are often named. While some"
"peat bog. Permafrost plateaus may have parts suffering decay while others are growing at the same time. Permafrost plateaus are usually surrounded by wetlands but have often internal water pools during summer due to uneven relief, partial decay and thaw. Palsas are typical forms of the discontinuous permafrost zone regions and are therefore found in Subarctic regions of northern Canada and Alaska, Siberia, northern Fennoscandia and Iceland. They are almost exclusively associated with bogs and commonly occur in areas where the winters are long and the snow cover tends to be thin. In some places palsas extend into underlying permafrost;"
"fjords, and large bordering bodies of water, distinctive of many similar arctic regions in the world. Although the terrain is infamous for its unforgiving conditions, humans maintained an established population of 1000 people – 80% of which were Inuit. In addition, the landscape is 75% covered by ice or exposed bedrock, with a continuous permafrost that persists throughout the year, making plant and animal life somewhat scarce. The temperature of the Arctic Cordillera ranges from 6 °C in summer, down to −16 °C in winter. Vegetation is largely absent in this area due to permanent ice and snow. The Arctic"