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NATURAL REGIONS ON THE WORLD

NATURAL REGIONS ON THE WORLD. ARCTIC OCEANS DESERT TROPICAL FOREST. What is the Arctic ?. The arctic is the largest desert in the world. Only instead of sand it is snow and ice. The arctic is in the north and south parts of the world.

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NATURAL REGIONS ON THE WORLD

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  1. NATURAL REGIONS ON THE WORLD ARCTIC OCEANS DESERTTROPICAL FOREST

  2. Whatis the Arctic? • The arctic is the largest desert in the world. Only instead of sand it is snow and ice. The arctic is in the north and south parts of the world. • It is in Alaska, Canada, Antarctica and more places.

  3. Enjoythearcticregion…. • http://player.discoveryeducation.com/views/hh_httpView.cfm?guidAssetId=86715194-5b27-4894-b9ed-24cd7400b669&skin=DSA • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/regions-places/polar-regions/antarctica-overview-dest/ • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/regions-places/polar-regions/oceans-arctic/

  4. Howis the climate ? • The Arctic's climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow. The Arctic's annual precipitation is low. High winds often stir up snow, creating the illusion of continuous snowfall. • The Arctic is affected by current global warming. • The sun shines only from March to September

  5. ArcticLandscape

  6. PLANTS In the arctic, plants have to be very sturdy. The soil is only a few centimeters deep, but it is spread out far and wide. You won’t see any bare soil there because it is generally covered with snow or plant life. The arctic does not have many plants. It has some lichens, flowers, grass, shrubs and moss. Lichen is a plant that grows on the surface of rocks. (It is part of the moss family, and is a mix of fungi and alge.) There are many types of lichen. In the fall it changes color. This plant is a favorite of musk oxen and caribou. Another plant found in the arctic is the cloud berry. It is a flower with five white pedals and one berry per stalk. The fruit on it is red when not ripe, when it is ripe it is soft and orange.

  7. ANIMALS: GRAY WOLVES These wolves, travel in packs. They work together to take down large pray for food such as: moose, caribou, deer and wild horses. Gray wolves live along northern forests of Alaska, Minnesota and North Dakota, and most of Canada.

  8. POLAR BEARS Polar bears are large white bears that live in cold climates. Unfotunatley there are only 22,000-27,000 left. About 15,000 live in Canada. Polar bears mainly eat seals and walrus pups. When it is dry and they are stuck on land they will eat rodents, bird eggs, berries and most anything that is edible.

  9. Two kinds of puffins are the horned puffin and the tufted puffin. Puffins The tufted puffin has tufts of feathers that curl back from each side of the head. They have black bodies with a white face. They have orange feet and their bills are red and yellow In the summer the horned puffin has a black back and neck with white on the sides of the head and breast. In Eskimo language they are called katukh-puk meaning "big white breast." They also have a small, fleshy, dark "horn" over each eye in the summer.

  10. ARCTIC GRAYLING Sporting an elegant sail-like dorsal fin, Arctic grayling are cousins of the trout. During the short summer season, they feast on huge numbers of drifting aquatic insects

  11. DOLLY VARDEN Bright green, with red spots and a flaming red belly; the Dolly Varden gets attention. Formerly grouped with Arctic char on Alaska's North Slope, the Dolly Varden is a renowned sport fish on rivers and lagoons of the Arctic Refuge.

  12. ARCTIC CISCO It is not a game fish, has an obscure name, can't easily be seen, and has no great claim to fame. Yet the Arctic cisco plays a big role in the arctic. It is a critical link in the marine food chain, provides food for local residents, and brings money to commercial fishermen.

  13. POPULATION: It's Getting Crowded Up Here! There are now approximately 4 million people living permanently in the Arctic , with the vast majority of them having come to the area as populations expanded elsewhere, access and communications were improved, and natural resources were exploited. Discoveries of oil, minerals, and diamonds in the North, and a growing interest in Arctic tourism and ecotourism, are bringing many non-indigenous people to the Arctic to both visit and live. Indigenous populations now range from about 80% in Greenland, 50% in Canada, 20% in Alaska, 15% in Arctic Norway and as little as 3-4% in Arctic Russia. In contrast, Antarctica has no indigenous populations. The permanent human population of the Arctic - about 4,000,000. The Antarctic – 0. The main indigenous group are the inuits.

  14. GLOBAL WARMING…..SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT IT Readthispart of and articletakenfrom http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp and readabouthow global warmingisaffectingthearcticregion. Thenwrite and draw in yournotebook a nicesign, invitingtoyourfriendsto do somethingaboutthissituation.

  15. 1. Why are global warming specialists watching the Arctic so closely? It's a highly sensitive region, and it's being profoundly affected by the changing climate. Most scientists view what's happening now in the Arctic as a harbinger of things to come.

  16. 2. Whatkinds of changes are taking place in theArcticnow? Averagetemperatures in theArcticregion are risingtwice as fast as they are elsewhere in theworld. Arctic ice isgettingthinner, melting and rupturing. Forexample, thelargest single block of ice in theArctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, hadbeenaroundfor 3,000 yearsbeforeitstarted cracking in 2000. Withintwoyearsithadsplitallthewaythrough and isnowbreakingintopieces. The polar ice cap as a wholeisshrinking. Imagesfrom NASA satellites show thatthearea of permanent ice coveriscontracting at a rate of 9 percenteachdecade. Ifthistrendcontinues, summers in theArcticcouldbecome ice-free bytheend of thecentury.

  17. 3. Howdoesthisdramatic ice meltaffecttheArctic? • Themelting of once-permanent ice isalreadyaffectingnativepeople, wildlife and plants. Whenthe Ward Hunt Ice Shelfsplintered, therarefreshwaterlakeitenclosed, alongwithitsuniqueecosystem, drainedintotheocean. Polar bears, whales, walrus and seals are changingtheirfeeding and migrationpatterns, makingitharderfornativepeopletohuntthem. And alongArcticcoastlines, entirevillageswillbeuprootedbecausethey're in danger of beingswamped. Thenativepeople of theArcticview global warming as a threattotheir cultural identity and theirverysurvival.

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