The Arctic Circle, marked in red.

TheArctic is the region around theEarth's north pole, oppositeAntarctica, the continent at the south pole. Its geographic boundary is usually considered to be the Arctic Circle (66° 34’N),^[1] which is the approximate limit of the midnight sun and the polar night.^[2] It is home to a few states but many autonomous regions for the indigenous peoples that live there.

There is no land at the Arctic - what appears to be "solid ground" there is simply an ice cap floating on the Arctic Ocean, unlike Antarctica, which is a huge layer of ice sitting on top of an actual continent. Either way, it's cold.

Importance to the War on Science[edit]

The arctic is at the heart of theWar on Science because of its role in theglobal warming debates. One of the single best measures of the stability of the Earth's temperature is the thickness of the arctic ice and the length of arctic winters. And despite whatdeniers say, the evidence isn't good news. Winters are growing shorter, thus majorly disrupting migration patterns and other behavior that relies on seasons. So critical and apparently fleeting is the arctic winter that theBBC devoted an entire 8-episode series (or 7, if you live in the US and foundDiscovery edited out the last episode, which was specifically on global warming) special on theFrozen Planet.^[3]

Potential exploitation[edit]

Eats food. A lot. Mostly seals.

The Arctic region is in even greater danger fromglobal warming than Antarctica is, since unlike in the south polar region, the majority of the ice in the north pole is sea ice and is consequently much more likely to melt than the land ice in south pole. However, one consolation is that ice melting into the water it is floating in does not raise the level of the water.

Like its counterpart, the removal of its ice-cap will probably result in increased commercial exploitation and environmental degradation. The demands of increased world oil consumption due to economic globalization will only make this situation worse.

Ecosystem[edit]

The Arctic has a unique cold-adapted ecosystem which is under great threat as aconsequence of climate change. However, unlikeAntarctica, there are terrestrial and semi-terrestrial mammals in the Arctic, such as hares and bears. Penguins, contrary to popular belief, are found only south of the equator (barring a few iconoclastic Galápagos pengs at the north end of Isabela island, who do it mostly to annoy). You may, however, findlittle auks, which are close enough.

The Arctic Council[edit]

There is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to dealing with the special problems of the Arctic. It is made up of thosestates and autonomous regions that exist there. The states are theUnited States,Canada,Russia,Denmark,Finland,Sweden,Norway, andIceland.Greenland and theFaroe Islands have membership as well, despite being officially part of Denmark. Moreover, many indigenous organizations have permanent representation, including those of the Inuit, Aleut, Athabaskan, Gwi'chin, and Saami. Also, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North represents all indigenous peoples of Russia.

Also, all states that are closer to the North Pole than the equator, without being in the Arctic Circle, are allowed observer status.

Food[edit]

Baby seals make a tasty morsel. To club a baby seal, take a club. Now before you do anything else, look both ways to make sure nobody fromGreenpeace orPETA is watching. Then bash [THIS SECTION DELETED IN THE INTEREST OF SENSITIVITY AND HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS].

Otherwise, the cold waters are full ofmoney in the bank, er, fish and otheraquatic morsels.

Exploitation of workers[edit]

Santa Claus runs a large non-union sweatshop up there in the Arctic somewhere, where he exploits the labor of elves and reindeer. When the elves go on strike, Santa goes bowling and teaches them thereal meaning of strike. Elf elf baby!

References[edit]

• Geography