Average July temperature in Arctic deserts. Natural zone of arctic deserts. What is the soil like in the Arctic deserts? Urgent

And fragments of stones.

Climate

The climate in the Arctic is very harsh. Ice and snow cover lasts almost the entire year. In winter there is a long polar night (at 75°N latitude - 98 days; at 80°N latitude - 127 days; in the polar region - six months). This is a very harsh time of year. The temperature drops to −40 °C and below, strong hurricane winds blow, and snowstorms are frequent. In summer there is 24-hour lighting, but there is little heat and the soil does not have time to completely thaw. The air temperature is slightly above 0 °C. The sky is often overcast with gray clouds, it rains (often with snow), and thick fogs form due to the strong evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean.

Flora and fauna

Arctic deserts

Zone arctic deserts, the northernmost of the natural zones, is located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. Its southern border runs approximately 71° N. w. The zone includes the islands of the Arctic basin: Greenland, the northern part of the Canadian archipelago, the archipelagos of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, New Earth, New Siberian Islands, as well as a narrow strip along the coast of the Northern Arctic Ocean within the Yamal, Gydansky, Taimyr, Chukotka peninsulas.

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Arctic desert

The Arctic (translated from the gr. "arktikos" - northern) is located on the territory of the Arctic Ocean, its islands and on the northern outskirts of Europe, America and Asia, covering an area of ​​​​approximately 21 million km2.

Characteristics of the Arctic desert zone.

Climate. In the very center of the Arctic, called the Central Arctic, is located North Pole. There is only one day and one night in a year, which last for several months: during the night period everything is illuminated by the moon, stars and fantastic northern lights. The polar night ends in March, and the day gradually comes into its own for several months. Winters are long and very harsh, and summers are too short and cold, with an average temperature of +1- +3°C. But there are also warmer zones, where in summer on the coast washed by warm current(Kola Peninsula), during the hot short summer even delicate northern flowers bloom.

Look geographical position Arctic desert zones on the map of natural zones.

The natural zone of the Arctic deserts on a significant part of the surface is covered with glaciers and stone placers. Soils practically undeveloped. Vegetation on a surface free of ice and snow cannot form a closed cover. In the cold desert vegetable world represented by the dominance of mosses and lichens. Very rare flowering plants. Among Arctic animals, marine animals predominate in this zone: polar bears and birds.

IN ocean waters inhabited by walruses, seals, whales and seals. In summer, the rocky shores of the islands are completely covered with the nests of a variety of seabirds, with their noisy bird colonies.

Many travelers organized expeditions to the North Pole, most attempts were unsuccessful. It was only in 1909 that the American Robert Peary was able to reach these northern shores.

The constant study of the Arctic is associated with the development of the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest sea route between Murmansk and other ports on Far East. Northern sea ​​route available for shipping only in summer time, and during the rest of the period the ocean is covered with ice and only icebreakers can make their way there.

At the end of the 19th century, the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen made a famous drift in the ice on his ship Fram (you can read a poetic digression about this). In 1937, unique flights of pilots V. Chkalov and M. Gromov to the USA through the North Pole took place. In the same year, four Soviet polar explorers on a drifting ice floe studied the movement of ice, ocean and sea currents, and Arctic weather in the ocean. Nowadays, constant observation is carried out at drifting scientific stations in all regions of the Arctic, in addition, satellite observation provides constant new knowledge for scientists, for example, about the melting of glaciers.

These and many other events are the main stages in the development of the Arctic, which remains one of the most poorly studied places on Earth.

PS: in the south, the Arctic deserts border with

Arctic deserts are a natural area located in the Arctic, the northern polar region of the Earth; part of the Arctic Ocean basin. This natural zone includes the northern edges of the Arctic mainland and numerous islands located around the North Pole.

The Arctic desert zone is the northernmost natural zone with a characteristic Arctic climate. The territory of such deserts is covered with glaciers and stones, and the flora and fauna are very scarce.

This message is devoted to the features of the Arctic deserts as a natural area.

Welcome to the Arctic!

Climate

Arctic the climate is very cold, With harsh winter and cool summers.

Winter in the Arctic is very long, the wind blows strong winds, snow storms rage for several weeks. Everything is covered with snow and ice. The air temperature reaches -60 °C.

From the second half of October comes polar night. It lasts for six long months. There is no sun in the sky, and only sometimes bright and beautiful northern lights appear. The duration of auroras varies: from two to three minutes to several days. They are so bright that you can even read by their light.

Northern lights.

In winter, all animals either hibernate or go south. Nature stands still, but at the end of February the sun appears and the days begin to increase.

Starts from the second half of May polar day, when the sun doesn't set at all. Depending on the latitude, the polar day lasts 60-130 days. Although the sun shines around the clock, there is little heat from the sun.

Long, long day.

Summer is very short, but during this time hundreds of thousands of different birds fly to the Arctic, pinnipeds swim: walruses, seals, seals. The air temperature rises very slowly and reaches above zero only in July (+2-6 °C). The average temperature in summer is about 0 °C.

Already at the beginning of September, the air temperature drops below zero, and soon snow falls and water bodies are frozen.

Flora and fauna of the Arctic

The soils in the Arctic deserts are very poor. From plants Mostly mosses and lichens grow and even those do not form a continuous cover. Arctic flowers and small shrubs bloom in summer:

• polar poppy;
• polar willow;
• arctic buttercup;
• semolina;
• snow saxifrage;
• chickweed.

Polar poppy.

Grasses also grow: alpine foxtail, bluegrass, sow thistle, arctic pike. All these plants, even shrubs, do not grow more than 3-5 cm. There are no trees in Arctic deserts.

The underwater flora is richer: algae alone number up to 150 species. Crayfish feed on algae, and crustaceans feed on fish and birds—the most numerous animals in the Arctic deserts.

Birds settle in nests on rocks and form noisy “bird colonies”. This:

• guillemots;
• seagulls;
• guillemots;
• eider;
• dead ends;
• kittiwakes and other birds.

Northern bird.

On the coast Pinnipeds live: walruses, seals, seals. There are whales and beluga whales in the sea.

The terrestrial fauna, due to the scarcity of flora, is not very rich. These are mainly Arctic foxes, lemmings, and polar bears.

King of the Arctic deserts - polar bear. This animal is perfectly adapted to life in a harsh region. He has thick fur, strong paws, and a keen sense of smell. He swims well in water and is a wonderful hunter.

Polar bears in search of prey.

The bear's prey is mainly Marine life: fish, seals, seals. Can feast on eggs and chicks of birds.

Human influence on the natural zone of Arctic deserts

The natural world of the Arctic deserts is fragile and slow to recover. Therefore, human influence must be careful and careful. Meanwhile, the ecology in this area is not very favorable:

• ice melts;
• water and atmosphere are polluted;
• the population of animals, birds and fish is declining;
• The habitat of various animals changes.

Human development of the Arctic.

These things happen negative processes due to human activity, active development of it natural resources Arctic zone: natural resource extraction ( natural gas, oil), fishing and seafood, shipping.

Meanwhile ecological problems Arctic deserts influence the entire climate of the Earth.

Located on the northernmost tip of Asia and North America, including all islands in the Arctic basin that are within the polar limit geographical zone. The climate is arctic, with long and harsh winters, summers are short and cold. There are no seasons. During the polar night it is winter, and during the polar day it is summer. Average temperatures are -10 to -35°, dropping to -50°. In summer - from 0° to +5°. There is little precipitation (200-300 mm per year).

The vegetation is sparse, so the fauna of the Arctic deserts is relatively poor: the Arctic wolf, seal, walrus, ringed seal, lemming, musk ox ( musk ox), arctic fox, polar bear, reindeer, etc.; Birds include guillemots, puffins, eiders, pink gulls, polar owls, etc. Cetaceans form a separate group, for which Arctic conditions do not create any problems.

The most numerous inhabitants of the harsh northern region are birds.

The pink gull is a fragile creature, with a weight of 250 grams and a body length of 35 cm, feels quite confident and comfortably spends harsh winters in the tundra, or above the sea surface, which is covered with drifting ice floes. Often joins the meals of larger predators.

The guillemot is a black and white bird that nests on high steep cliffs and spends the winter in the ice without experiencing much discomfort.

The common eider is a northern duck that can easily dive into ice water to depths of up to 20 meters.

The most ferocious and largest among birds is the polar owl. A ruthless predator with beautiful yellow eyes and snow-white plumage hunts other birds, rodents, and sometimes even the cubs of larger animals, such as arctic foxes.

Typical animals of the Arctic deserts:

Cetaceans

The narwhal is interesting for its long horn, sticking out of the mouth, which is an ordinary tooth, only with a length of 3 meters and a weight of 10 kg. Photo: One for all and all for one :)

The bowhead whale is a relative of the narwhal. But he is many times larger than him, and instead of a strange tooth, there is a whalebone in his mouth with a huge tongue, which is convenient for licking stuck plankton.

The polar dolphin or beluga whale is a large animal weighing up to 2 tons, with a length of up to 6 meters, feeding on fish.

The killer whale ranks first among the largest and strongest sea ​​predators Arctic waters, where she hunts beluga whales, walruses, seals and ringed seals.

Animals

Seals are animals that make up a special Arctic cohort that has lived in this region for thousands of years.

This type includes harp seal with a very beautiful patterned skin.

Arctic deserts (polar desert, ice desert), a type of desert with extremely sparse vegetation among the snows and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic belts Earth. Distributed throughout most of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as on other islands of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern coast of Eurasia and on islands near Antarctica.

The Arctic desert contains small isolated areas with predominantly crustose mosses and lichens and herbaceous vegetation. They look like peculiar oases among polar snows and glaciers. In the conditions of the Arctic desert, several types of flowering plants are found: polar poppy, foxtail, buttercup, saxifrage, etc. Among the animals, lemming, arctic fox and polar bear are common, and in Greenland - musk ox. There are numerous bird colonies. In Antarctica, this landscape occupies less than 1% of the territory and is called the Antarctic oasis.

The Arctic desert zone occupies the northernmost edge of Asia and North America and the islands of the Arctic basin within the polar geographic zone. The climate of the zone is arctic, cold, with long, harsh winters and short, cold summers. Seasons are conditional - associated with the polar night winter period, with a polar day - summer. Average temperatures winter months range from -10 to -35°, and in northern Greenland to -50°. In summer they rise to 0°, +5°. There is little precipitation (200-300 mm per year). This zone is also called the kingdom of eternal snow and glaciers. During the short summer they are only freed from snow small areas sushi with rocky and marshy soils. Mosses and lichens, and occasionally flowering plants, grow on them. Animal world poor - small rodent pied (lemming), arctic fox, polar bear, birds - guillemots, etc.

Even harsher conditions exist in the Antarctic deserts. On the coast of Antarctica, the air temperature does not rise above 0 °C even in summer. Mosses and lichens grow occasionally. The fauna is represented by penguins, but numerous animals live in the waters of Antarctica (according to P.P. Vashchenko, E.I. Shipovich, etc.).

Arctic desert within Russia

The ice zone (the arctic desert zone) is the northernmost in our country and is located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. Its extreme south lies about 71° N. w. (Wrangel Island), and the north - at 81° 45" N (Islands of Franz Josef Land). The zone includes Franz Josef Land, the northern island of Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the northern outskirts Taimyr Peninsula and the Arctic seas located between these land areas.

High geographic latitude determines the exceptional severity of the nature of the ice zone. Its landscape feature is ice and snow cover, which lies almost throughout the year. Positive average monthly air temperatures, close to zero, are observed only in the lowlands, and, moreover, no more than two or three months a year. In August - the warmest month - average temperature air does not rise above 4–5° in the south of the zone. Annual amount atmospheric precipitation 200-400 mm. The vast majority of them fall in the form of snow, frost and frost. Even in the south of the zone there is snow cover for about nine months of the year. Its thickness is relatively small - on average no more than 40-50 cm. Large clouds, frequent fogs and strong winds aggravate the climate of the ice zone, which is unfavorable for life.

The terrain of most islands is complex. Flat, low-lying plains, where the zonal landscape is best expressed, are characteristic of coastal areas. The interior of the islands is generally occupied high mountains and dining plateaus. The maximum absolute elevations on Franz Josef Land reach 620-670 m, on the northern island of Novaya Zemlya and on Severnaya Zemlya they are close to 1000 m. The exception is the New Siberian Islands, which have flat terrain everywhere. Due to the low position of the snow line, significant areas on Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and the De Long Islands are occupied by glaciers. They cover 85.1% of Franz Josef Land, 47.6% of Severnaya Zemlya, 29.6% of Novaya Zemlya.

The total area of ​​glaciation on the islands of the Soviet Arctic is 55,865 km 2 - more than 3/4 of the area of ​​​​the entire modern glaciation of the territory of the USSR. The firn feeding zone in the southeast of Franz Josef Land begins at an altitude of 370-390 m; slightly lower - from 300-320 to 370-390 m - lies the zone fed by “superimposed” ice on Novaya Zemlya - above 650 - 680 m, on Severnaya Zemlya - at an altitude of 450 m. The average thickness of the ice sheet on Novaya Zemlya is 280-300 m, on Severnaya Zemlya – 200 m, on Franz Josef Land – 100 m. In some places continental ice They descend to the coast and break off to form icebergs. The entire land area free of ice is bound by permafrost. Its maximum thickness in the north of the Taimyr Peninsula is more than 500 m. Fossil ice of vein and partly glacier (on Novaya Zemlya) origin is found.

The seas of the Arctic Ocean, washing the islands and archipelagos, represent a special but integral part of the landscape of the ice zone. For most of the year they are completely covered with ice - a perennial Arctic pack that turns into coastal fast ice in the south. At the junction of pack and fast ice, in areas with predominant ice removal, stationary polynyas tens and even hundreds of kilometers wide are formed. There are Canadian and Atlantic massifs of multi-year ocean ice with a separation zone in the area of ​​the underwater Lomonosov Ridge. Younger and less powerful ice The Canadian massif is characterized by an anticyclonic circulation system (clockwise), while the ice of the Atlantic Massif is characterized by an open cyclonic system (counterclockwise), in which they are partially carried into the East Greenland Current. Atlantic Ocean. V.N. Kupetsky (1961) proposes to distinguish here the landscapes of drifting ice of the Central Arctic and low-latitude Arctic, fast ice, ice of the continental slope and stationary french polynyas. The last two types of landscapes are characterized by the presence of open water and relatively rich organic life - an abundance of phytoplankton, birds, the presence of polar bears, seals, and walruses.

Low air temperatures contribute to the vigorous development of frost weathering in the ice zone, sharply slowing down the intensity of chemical and biological weathering processes. In this regard, the soils and soils here consist of fairly large rock fragments and are almost devoid of clayey material. The frequent transition of air temperature in summer through 0° when permafrost is close to each other causes the active manifestation of solifluction and heaving of soils. These processes, combined with the formation of frost cracks, lead to the formation of so-called polygonal soils, the surface of which is dissected by cracks or rollers of stones into regular polygons.

Water erosion processes in the zone are greatly weakened due to the short warm period. Nevertheless, even here, under favorable relief conditions for these processes (steep slopes) and the presence of loose rocks, a dense ravine network can develop. Gully landscapes are described, for example, for the north of Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, the Vize and Isachenko islands, and the Taimyr Peninsula. The development of ravines on the New Siberian Islands is facilitated by thick layers of buried ice. Buried ice, exposed by frost cracks or erosion washouts, begins to melt vigorously and melt water enhance the erosion process.

Thawing of permafrost and the horizons of buried, injected and polygonal ice wedges contained in it is accompanied by the formation of gaps, depressions and lakes. This is how unique thermokarst landscapes arise, characteristic of the southern regions of the zone and especially of the New Siberian Islands. In the rest of most of the ice zone, thermokarst landscapes are rare, which is explained by poor development there is fossil ice here. Thermokarst depressions are common here only on ancient moraines, under which the ice of retreating glaciers is buried. The formation of cone-shaped earthen mounds-baidzharakhs with a height of 2-3 to 10-12 m is associated with thermokarst and erosive washout of loose sediments. Finely hummocky baydzharakh landscapes are characteristic of the sea and lake coasts of Taimyr and the New Siberian Islands.

By the nature of vegetation, the ice zone is an arctic desert, characterized by broken vegetation cover with a total cover of about 65%. On snowless winter inland plateaus, mountain tops and moraine slopes, the total coverage does not exceed 1-3%. The predominant species are mosses, lichens (mainly crustaceans), algae and a few species of typical Arctic flowering plants - Alpine foxtail (Alopecurus alpinus), Arctic pike (Deschampsia arctica), buttercup (Ranunculus sulphureus), snow saxifrage (Saxifraga nivalis), polar poppy (Papaver polare ). The entire island flora of higher plants here numbers about 350 species.

Despite the poverty and monotony of the vegetation of the Arctic deserts, its character changes when moving from north to south. In the north of Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, and the north of Taimyr, grass-moss Arctic deserts are developed. To the south (the south of Franz Josef Land, the northern island of Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands) they are replaced by depleted shrub-moss Arctic deserts, in the vegetation cover of which shrubs are occasionally found pressed to the ground: polar willow (Salix polaris) and saxifrage (Saxifraga oppo-sitifotia) . The south of the ice zone is characterized by shrub-moss arctic deserts with a relatively well-developed shrub layer of polar willow, arctic willow (S. arctica) and dryad (Dryas punctata).

Low temperatures in summer, sparse vegetation and widespread permafrost create unfavourable conditions for the development of the soil-forming process. The thickness of the seasonally thawed layer is on average about 40 cm. The soils begin to thaw only at the end of June, and at the beginning of September they freeze again. Over-moistened at the time of thawing, in summer they dry out well and crack. Over vast areas, instead of formed soils, placers of coarse clastic material are observed. In lowlands with fine-earth soils, arctic soils are formed, very thin, without signs of gleying. Arctic soils have a brown profile, a slightly acidic, almost neutral reaction, and an absorbing complex saturated with bases. A characteristic feature is their ferruginous content, caused by the accumulation of low-mobile iron-organic compounds in the upper soil horizons. Arctic soils are characterized by complexity associated with microrelief, soil composition and vegetation. According to I. S. Mikhailov, “the main specific feature arctic soils is that they represent a kind of “complex” of soils with a normally developed profile under plant sods and with a reduced profile under algal soil films.

The productivity of the vegetation cover of Arctic deserts is negligible. The total phytomass reserve is less than 5 t/ha. Characterized by a sharp predominance of living aboveground mass over underground, which distinguishes arctic deserts from tundras and deserts of temperate and subtropical zones, where the ratio of aboveground to underground phytomass is the opposite. Low productivity vegetation is the most important reason for the poverty of the animal world of the ice zone. Lemmings (Lemmus), arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), polar bear (Thalassarctos maritimus), and occasionally reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) live here. On Franz Josef Land, located north of 80° N. sh., there are no lemmings or reindeer.

On rocky shores In summer, seabirds nest in colonies, forming so-called bird colonies. They are especially large on Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. Colonial nesting – characteristic birds of this zone, due to many reasons: abundance of food in the sea, limited territory suitable for nesting, harsh climate. That is why, for example, of the 16 bird species living in the north of Novaya Zemlya, 11 form nesting colonies. Common in the colonies are little auks or little auks (Plotus alle), fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), guillemots (Uria), guillemots (Cepphus), kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), and glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus).

Literature.

1. Geography / Ed. P.P. Vashchenko [and others]. - Kyiv: Vishcha school. Head Publishing House, 1986. - 503 p.
2. Milkov F.N. Natural zones of the USSR / F.N. Milkov. - M.: Mysl, 1977. - 296 p.