Documents for "Arctic Physical Geography":

• Aasiaat formerly Egedesminde , town (1996 pop. 3,039), Aasiaat dist., W Greenland, at the mouth of Disko Bay. It is the fourth largest town in Greenland. It was founded in 1759 and named for Hans Egede...

• Ammassalik Greenland: see Tasiilaq.

• Arctic Circle imaginary circle on the surface of the earth at 66 1/2 °N latitude, i.e., 23 1/2 ° south of the North Pole. It marks the northernmost point at which the sun can be seen at the winter solstice...

• Arctic, the northernmost area of the earth, centered on the North Pole. The arctic regions are not coextensive with the area enclosed by the Arctic Circle (lat. 66°30′N) but are usually defined by the irregular and shifting 50°F (10°C) July isotherm that closely corresponds to the northern limit of tree growth and that varies both N and S of the...

• Axel Heiberg Island 13,583 sq mi (35,180 sq km), in the Arctic Ocean, N Nunavut Territory, Canada, W of Ellesmere Island. It was named by the Norwegian explorer Otto Sverdrup (who explored it 1898-1902) for one of...

• Bache Peninsula on E Ellesmere Island, in N Nunavut Territory, Canada. U.S. explorer Robert Peary proved this area to be a peninsula when he explored (1898) the region. From 1926 to 1933 the Royal Canadian...

• Baffin Bay ice-clogged body of water, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, between Greenland and NE Canada. It connects with the Arctic Ocean to the north and west and with the Atlantic Ocean to the south by way of...

• Banks Island c.26,000 sq mi (67,340 sq km), NW Northwest Territories, Canada, in the Arctic Ocean, in the Arctic Archipelago. It is the westernmost of the group and is separated from the mainland by Amundsen...

• Barents Sea arm of the Arctic Ocean, N of Norway and European Russia, partially enclosed by Franz Josef Land on the north, Novaya Zemlya on the east, and Svalbard on the west. Its waters are warmed by the...

• Beaufort Sea part of the Arctic Ocean, N of Alaska and Canada, between Point Barrow, Alaska, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The Mackenzie River flows into the sea, which is always covered with pack ice...

• Bering Island Rus. Beringa, largest of the Komandorski Islands , c.55 mi (90 km) long and up to c.15 mi (20 km) wide, off Kamchatka peninsula, E Russian Far East, in the Bering Sea. It is low and treeless and is subject to severe windstorms. Nikolskoye is the...

• Bering Sea c.878,000 sq mi (2,274,020 sq km), northward extension of the Pacific Ocean between Siberia and Alaska. It is screened from the Pacific proper by the Aleutian Islands. The Bering Strait connects it...

• Bering Strait c.55 mi (90 km) wide, between extreme NE Asia and extreme NW North America, connecting the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea. It is usually completely frozen over from October to June. The Diomede Islands are in the strait. The narrowness of the strait makes it possible for small boats to cross from Chukchi Peninsula, NE Russia, to Seward Peninsula in Alaska. The strait is named for the Danish...

• Christianshåb Greenland: see Qasigiannguit.

• Chukchi Sea part of the Arctic Ocean N of the Bering Strait, between Siberia and Alaska, Wrangell Island lies to the west and the Beaufort Sea lies to the east. The sea has an approximate area of 200,000 sq...

• Commander Islands see Komandorski Islands , Russia.

• Davis Strait c.400 mi (640 km) long and c.180 mi (290 km) wide at the narrowest point, between Greenland and Baffin Island, NE Canada, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Baffin Bay. Large amounts of ice and...

• Denmark Strait passage, c.300 mi (480 km) long and 180 mi (290 km) wide at the narrowest point, between Greenland and Iceland. The cold E Greenland current passes through the strait and carries icebergs S into...

• Diomede Islands pair of rocky islands in Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia. The larger island, Big Diomede, is Russian, while the smaller is part of Alaska. At 2 mi (3 km) apart, the Diomedes represent the...

• Disko island, 3,312 sq mi (8,578 sq km), in the Davis Strait off W Greenland. It is mountainous (rising to 6,296 ft/1,919 m) and partly glaciated. Telluric iron and lignite have been found there...

• East Siberian Sea Rus. Vostochno-Sibirskoye More, part of the Arctic Ocean N of NE Siberia, Russia, bounded on the W by the New Siberian Islands and on the E by Wrangel Island. The Indigirka, Kolyma, Chaun, and other rivers flow into the sea. The...

• Egedesminde Greenland: see Aasiaat.

• Ellesmere Island 82,119 sq mi (212,688 sq km), c.500 mi (800 km) long, in the Arctic Ocean, N Nunavut Territory, Canada; second largest and northernmost island of the Arctic Archipelago. It is separated from NW Greenland by a narrow passage. The island's coast is indented by deep fjords. The interior plateau rises more than 2,000 ft (610 m) above sea level; the United States...

• Etah abandoned village, NW Greenland, on Smith Sound, opposite Ellesmere Island. The Eskimo tribe discovered there by John Ross in 1818 is known as the Polar Eskimo and was studied by R. E. Peary, D...

• Franz Josef Land Rus. Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa, archipelago, c.8,000 sq mi (20,720 sq km), in the Arctic Ocean N of Novaya Zemlya, Russia. It consists of 85 islands of volcanic origin, including Aleksandra Land, George Land, Wilczek Land, Graham...

• Frederikshåb Greenland: see Paamiut.

• Godhavn Greenland: see Qeqertarsuaq.

• Godthåb Greenland: see Nuuk.

• Greenland Green. Kalaallit Nunaat, Dan. Grønland, the largest island in the world (2005 est. pop. 56,000), 836,109 sq mi (2,166,086 sq km), self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark, lying largely within the Arctic Circle. It is...

• Greenland Sea arm of the Arctic Ocean, off the northeast coast of Greenland between Svalbard and Jan Mayen Island. It is the main outlet of the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. Because of drifting arctic ice, the...

• Holsteinsborg Greenland: see Sisimiut.

• Humboldt Glacier NW Greenland. The largest known glacier of the Northern Hemisphere, it debouches into Kane Basin along a front c.60 mi (100 km) wide and 300 ft (91 m) high. U.S. explorer E. K. Kane discovered it...

• Ivittuut or Ivigtut , town, SW Greenland, on the Arsuk Fjord. The world's largest known cryolite deposit was discovered there in 1806. Mined since 1864, the deposit has been recently exhausted; stockpiled cryolite has...

• Julianehåb Greenland: see Qaqortoq.

• Kane Basin 110 mi (177 km) long, part of the channel between NW Greenland and E Ellesmere Island. The Humboldt Glacier flows into the basin. It is named for the U.S. explorer Elisha K. Kane.

• Kara Sea Rus. Karskoye More, shallow section of the Arctic Ocean, off N Russia, between Severnaya Zemlya and Novaya Zemlya. It has an average depth of 420 ft (128 m). It receives the Ob, the Yenisei, the Pyasina, and the...

• King William Island part of the Arctic Archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut Territory, Canada, between Boothia Peninsula and Victoria Island. The northern coast of the island was explored (1831) by Sir James C. Ross...

• Komandorski Islands or Commander Islands, Rus. Komandorskiye Ostrova, group of treeless islands, off E Kamchatka Peninsula, E Russian Far East, in SW Bering Sea. They consist of Bering Island, Medny Island, and two islets. These hilly, foggy islands often have...

• Kotelny Island largest island of the Anjou group of the New Siberian Islands , c.100 mi (160 km) long and c.60 mi (100 km) wide, off N Siberian Russia. The island was sighted in 1773 by Ivan Lyakhov, a Russian merchant....

• Laptev Sea section of the Arctic Ocean, c.250,900 sq mi (649,800 sq km), N Siberian Russia, between the Taymyr Peninsula and the New Siberian Islands. It is shallow sea and is frozen for most of the year...

• Lyakhov Islands c.2,700 sq mi (7,000 sq km), southern group of the New Siberian Islands , N Siberian Russia, between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, Sakha Republic. They include Bolshoy Lyakhov, Maly Lyakhov, and Stolbovoy islands and are separated from the Anjou group of the...

• Maniitsoq formerly Sukkertoppen , town (1996 pop. 3,000), Maniitsoq dist., W Greenland. The town is a fishing center with modern canneries.

• Melville Bay broad indentation of the western coast of Greenland, opening to the SW into Baffin Bay. The inland ice cap comes down to the coast, and glaciers discharge much ice into its waters.

• Morris Jesup, Cape northernmost land point in the world, N Greenland. At lat. 83°39′N, it is 440 mi (708 km) from the North Pole. U.S. explorer Robert Peary reached the cape in 1892.

• Nanortalik town, Nanortalik dist. (1996 pop. 1,527), SW Greenland, between Cape Farewell and Qaqortoq. It is a fishing center.

• North Pole northern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90°N. It is distinguished from the north magnetic pole. U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary is traditionally credited as being the first to reach (1909) the North...

• Northeast Passage water route along the northern coast of Europe and Asia, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Beginning in the 15th cent., efforts were made to find a new all-water route to India and China...

• Northern Sea Route Russia: see Northeast Passage.

• Northwest Passage water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, and along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even though the explorers of the 16th cent. demonstrated that...

• Novaya Zemlya archipelago, c.35,000 sq mi (90,650 sq km), in the Arctic Ocean between the Barents and Kara seas, NW Russia. It consists of two main islands (separated by Matochkin Strait) and many smaller ones...

• Nuuk formerly Godthåb , town (1996 pop. 12,882), Nuuk dist., W Greenland, on the Godthåbfjord. The largest town and capital of Greenland, it is the seat of the national council and of the supreme court, and it has...

• Okhotsk, Sea of Rus. Okhotskoye More, 590,000 sq mi (1,528,100 sq km), northwest arm of the Pacific Ocean, W of the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril Islands. It is connected with the Sea of Japan by the Tatar and La Pérouse straits...

• Paamiut formerly Frederikshåb , town (1996 pop. 2,040), Paamiut dist., SW Greenland; founded in 1792. Fishing, seal hunting, and sheep raising are the main occupations.

• Peary Land peninsula, N Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It terminates in Cape Bridgman in the northeast and Cape Morris Jesup in the north, the most northerly point of land yet discovered. The...

• Qaqortoq formerly Julianehåb , town (1996 pop. 3,176), Qaqortoq dist., SW Greenland. It is a fishing port with canneries. Sheep raising, meatpacking, and sealing are other significant industries.

• Qasigiannguit formerly Christianshåb , town (1996 pop. 1,515), Qasigiannguit dist., W Greenland, on Disko Bay. The town was founded in 1734. It has a shrimp-canning factory.

• Qeqertarsuaq formerly Godhavn , town (1996 pop. 1,095), Qeqertarsuaq dist., W Greenland, on Disko Island; founded in 1773. A fishing base and former whaling base, it has a geophysical observatory and an arctic research station...

• Scoresby Sound arm of the Greenland Sea, E Greenland. It has numerous fjords that branch out generally westward to the ice cap. Some of the branches extend more than 180 mi (290 km) inland. At its mouth is the...

• Sisimiut formerly Holsteinsborg , town (1996 pop. 5,117), Sisimiut dist., W Greenland. The second largest town in Greenland, it is a fishing center with a modern canning factory and several shipyards.

• Sukkertoppen Greenland: see Maniitsoq.

• Tasiilaq formerly Ammassalik , settlement and trading post (1996 pop. 1,684), E Greenland, on the Denmark Strait just S of the Arctic Circle. It was founded in 1894. Its radio-meteorological station (est. 1925) is the oldest on...

• Thule or Qaanaaq , town (1995 pop. 627), N Greenland, on the north side of Inglefield Gulf. The name of Thule was originally attached to the main settlement for the Thule Eskimos, founded in 1910 by the arctic...

• Umanak see Uummannaq , Greenland.

• Upernavik town (1996 pop. 1,131), Upernavik dist., W Greenland, on a small island in Baffin Bay. It is an important sealing and whaling base.

• Uummannaq or Umanak , town (1996 pop. 1,497), W Greenland, on an inlet of Baffin Bay. A hunting and fishing base, it has a canning factory. Marble is quarried there.

• Viscount Melville Sound 250 mi (402 km) long and 100 mi (161 km) wide, arm of the Arctic Ocean, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada, between Victoria and Prince of Wales islands on the south and Melville and...

• Vrangelya island, Russia: see Wrangel Island.

• White Sea Rus. Beloye More, c.36,680 sq mi (95,000 sq km), NW European Russia, an inlet of the Barents Sea. Its northern section, opening into the Barents Sea between the Kola and Kanin peninsulas, is connected with the...

• York, Cape NW Greenland, in N Baffin Bay, W of Melville Bay. The Cape York meteorites were discovered by U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary, who brought the largest (c.100 tons) to the American Mus. of Natural...