artic tundra

Question 1

location

Answer 1

~located in the artic circle on the high latitude land masses
~covers 8.8 sq miles in the northern hemisphere
~in alaska, canada, russia, icland , etc

Question 2

management

Answer 2

~national parks - 23 in alaska, 2 million guests yearly, $200 million a year
~habitat conservation programmes
~artic council _ 8 states have territories in tundra and have responsibility to care for
~oil clean up - mechanical recovery, in situ burning, dispersants

Question 3

permafrost

Answer 3

~permafrost ( layer of ice/ soil just below surface that stays frozen )
~roughly 700M thick
~stores 1,500 gigatons- holds 2x amount of carbon in atmosphere

Question 4

human factors

Answer 4

~ human activity leads to the melting of the permafrost- which increases run off which will end up in artic oceans -sea levels rise
~removal of vegetation cover which insulates permafrost - 1702 complex plant species adapted for cold climate located there

Question 5

human factors carbon

Answer 5

~damage to vegetation leads to less photosynthesis - also takes a while for it to grow back due to harsh conditions
~cold climate leads to slow decomposition leading to accumulation of organic carbon, can be released when permafrost melts
~permafrost is its the largest carbon store

Question 6

characteristics

Answer 6

~low precipitation (150-250) mm
~less precipitation than a hot dessert
~tundra summer season lasts 50-60 days
~temp range -40,-18

Question 7

Alaskan pipeline

Answer 7

~length - 800 miles
~has slider beams so can move
~built april 1974 - june 1977

Question 8

oil and gas mining

Answer 8

~180 million barrels are harvested a day
~ heavy machinery used damages permafrost as it is very sensitive - machinary like mobile oil drills (230 currently in artic tundra)
~oil was found in 1968 so over 50 years drilling- led to pools of water on permafrost
~ by 1990s accounted for 1/4 of usa oil supply, today only 6%