Arctic
The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway (Nordland, Troms, Finnmark, Svalbard and Jan Mayen), northernmost Sweden (Västerbotten, Norrbotten and Lappland), northern Finland (North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Lappi), Russia (Murmansk, Siberia, Nenets Okrug, Novaya Zemlya), the United States (Alaska), Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), and northern Iceland (Grímsey and Kolbeinsey), along with the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas.
Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost under the tundra.
Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, and human societies.
Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures and heavier snowfalls than the colder and drier interior areas.
[11] Due to the poleward migration of the planet's isotherms (about 56 km (35 mi) per decade during the past 30 years as a consequence of global warming), the Arctic region (as defined by tree line and temperature) is currently shrinking.
[13][14] Arctic life is characterized by adaptation to short growing seasons with long periods of sunlight, and cold, dark, snow-covered winter conditions.
Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens, and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra.
Trees cannot grow in the Arctic, but in its warmest parts, shrubs are common and can reach 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height; sedges, mosses and lichens can form thick layers.
There are copious natural resources in the Arctic (oil, gas, minerals, freshwater, fish, and, if the subarctic is included, forest) to which modern technology and the economic opening up of Russia have given significant new opportunities.
However, others claim that dinosaurs lived year-round at very high latitudes, such as near the Colville River, which is now at about 70° N but at the time (70 million years ago) was 10° further north.
[19] Supported by genetic testing, evidence shows that descendants of the Dorset culture, known as the Sadlermiut, survived in Aivilik, Southampton and Coats Islands, until the beginning of the 20th century.
[24] Other Circumpolar North indigenous peoples include the Chukchi, Evenks, Iñupiat, Khanty, Koryaks, Nenets, Sámi, Yukaghir, Gwichʼin, and Yupik.
Upon ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country has ten years to make claims to an extended continental shelf beyond its 200 nautical mile zone.
[32] Foreign ministers and other officials representing Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States met in Ilulissat, Greenland on 28 May 2008 at the Arctic Ocean Conference and announced the Ilulissat Declaration,[33][34] blocking any "new comprehensive international legal regime to govern the Arctic Ocean," and pledging "the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims.
"[25][35] As of 2012, the Kingdom of Denmark is claiming the continental shelf based on the Lomonosov Ridge between Greenland and over the North Pole to the northern limit of the exclusive economic zone of Russia.
[39] Since 1937, the larger portion of the Asian-side Arctic region has been extensively explored by Soviet and Russian crewed drifting ice stations.
Most recently a group of states[clarification needed] at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, on 21 June 2012, proposed protecting the Arctic, similar to the Antarctic Treaty System.
The initial focus of the campaign will be a UN resolution creating a global sanctuary around the pole, and a ban on oil drilling and unsustainable fishing in the Arctic.
In particular, there are concerns that Arctic shrinkage, a consequence of melting glaciers and other ice in Greenland, could soon contribute to a substantial rise in sea levels worldwide.
[48][49] Release of methane and carbon dioxide stored in permafrost could cause abrupt and severe global warming,[50] as they are potent greenhouse gases.
[56] In addition, it is believed that the Arctic seabed may contain substantial oil fields which may become accessible if the ice covering them melts.
