Arctic Tundra

Arctic tundras are frozen, windy, desert-like plains in the Arctic that are dotted with bogs and ponds. Permafrost (a layer of frozen subsoil) covers the ground, so there is very little drainage of water. The short growing season lasts for only 50 to 60 days.

The Arctic is a very cold, windy, and often snowy biome located around the North Pole. When referring to the Arctic, people usually mean the part of the earth within the Arctic Circle (an imaginary circle around the Earth, parallel to the Equator and 23 degrees 28 minutes from the North Pole, that is, above about 75 degrees North Latitude). Although there is no land at the North Pole, the icy Arctic Ocean is teeming with life ranging from the microscopic (like zooplankton) to the huge (like whales).

There is also a lot of land within the Arctic Circle (northern parts of Asia, Europe, and North America). Land within the Arctic Circle is tundra, and it supports less life most other biomes because of the cold temperatures, strong, dry winds, and permafrost (permanently-frozen soil). Long periods of darkness (in the winter) and light (in the summer) also affect Arctic life.

Arctic Animals: Animals that live in the Arctic (either full time or seasonally) are adapted to extreme conditions. Many animals who overwinter in the Arctic (like the Arctic fox and the ermine) have a coat that thickens and changes color to white during the winter as camouflage in the snow (blending into the background is called cryptic coloration).

Some animals hibernate during the cold season; they go into a very deep, sleep-like state in which their heartbeat slows down. These animals often hibernate in an underground burrow or pit. Some hibernators include skunks, chipmunks, and some bears (but these bears are not true hibernators, they go into a state that is closer to a normal deep sleep).

Many animals (like the Arctic tern) spend the summer months in the Arctic, but leave as the weather turns frigid and food becomes scarce (these animals return again the next summer, repeating this pattern year after year). This behavior is called migrating.

  • covers a fifth of the earth’s land surface, little precipitation (less than 25 cm per year), less than one meter down the ground is permanently frozen (permafrost)
  • boggy in summer when ground thaws; bitterly cold most of the year; long winter, short summer
  • period of time when there is no sunlight and corresponding period when there is no night; drying winter winds
  • vegetation – virtually treeless, dominated by herbaceous plants, mosses and lichens, all of which grow close to the ground to help them survive icy winds
  • animals and adaptations – large hoofed mammals, small rodents, and some predators, during 2 months of summer migratory birds

    • Created and maintained by
    Terri Stahlheber.