9781422279243

1

The Arctic Landscape

Words to Understand complicate  to make something more complicated or difficult. migratory  an animal that travels from one place to another. permafrost  a layer of permanently frozen earth. Scandinavia  a region in Northern Europe that includes Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark. taiga  a forest of mostly evergreen trees found in the southern Arctic regions. tundra  a type of biome in very cold areas characterized by limited plant growth, frozen soil, and low rainfall. C hances are you do not give much thought to the 5.5 million square miles (12.5 million sq km) of ice, ocean, and tundra known as the Arctic. Located at the northernmost part of the earth, far from major population centers, the Arctic is a vast, cold landscape with an average winter temperature of around -30˚F (-34°C). It includes the very icy Arctic Ocean as well as Greenland, Spitsbergen (an island in northern Norway), and the northern regions of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Russia. Some parts of the Arctic are covered with huge

9