Unit 2: The Northern Climate and the Physical Base of the North—Physical Geography

Question 1

Explain how an area can have an energy deficit.

Answer 1

The North is an area of energy deficit. The principal factor contributing to energy deficit is the low amount of solar energy received in high latitudes and the high loss of this energy through reflection from the ice/snow surface (the albedo effect).

Question 2

Discuss the treeline. What is it and why does it follow a northwest to southeast pattern?

Answer 2

It is the northern limit of tree growth and marks the boundary between the Tundra and Boreal biomes.

It follows a 10Celsius mean monthly temperature for July.

It has this pattern because of:
A. the continental effect (interior is warmer in summer)
B. the cold waters of Hudson Bay and Labrador Sea restrict growth from their coasts.

Question 3

How are geomorphic and physiographic regions both similar and different?

Answer 3

They both are large areas with a shared assemblage of landform features and geological histories.

The difference is physiographic regions account for climactic variables, which leads to variance.

Question 4

Why is the boreal forest a carbon sink?

Answer 4

Carbon sinks pull carbon out of the air and are critical for maintaining our planet. The Boreal Forest is the largest terrestrial carbon storehouse, storing 11% of the world’s total.

Question 5

What is the active layer?

Answer 5

Permafrost has two layers: active and inactive.

The active layer is the upper layer and it thaws each spring and summer and re-freezes in fall and winter.

It has an impact on ecology (root systems, soil moisture) and it can affect physical landscape (thermokarst).

Question 6

What is orographic precipitation?

Answer 6

It is precipitation produced when moist air is lifted as it moves over a mountain range.

Question 7

What are the climactic regions in the North and how do their climates vary in both temperature and precipitation?

Answer 7

Arctic Climate:

• –Colder
• –Lower annual precipitation
• –Lower annual temperature

Subarctic:

• –Warmer
• –Greater annual precipitation
• –Higher annual temperature

Question 8

What are the three most striking characteristics of the Arctic climate?

Answer 8

1. Severity
   - –Refers to persistent conditions that limit growth and survival, including not only cold winters but cool summers and low humidity. Cool temperatures affect moisture, soil stability, nutrient availability, habitat diversity.
2. Seasonality
   - –Refers to the contrast between the long, dark, cold winter and the brief, light, relatively warm summer.
3. Unpredictable variability
   - –Average arctic conditions are already close to the limits of growth or even survival of many species, and variability is typically high. Plants and animals must adapt.

Question 9

What is one of the most significant features of the Hudson Bay ecozone?

Answer 9

90% of it is wetlands (25% of Canada’s total wetlands).
Noted for its biodiversity
Largest peat store in North America beneath wetlands.

Question 10

The North is often characterized as being fragile. Explain what is meant by this.

Answer 10

It means that the risk of anthropogenic damage is much higher in the North than other regions. It takes much more time for nature to repair the human damage because of the cold environment.

Question 11

What makes the Smoking Hills so unusual?

Answer 11

Being a collection of smouldering coal and sulphur that produces thick smoke, they contrast with our vision of the north as clean and pristine.

Question 12

Where is the coldest and driest landscape in the Arctic?

Answer 12

The Northern Arctic Ecozone. It is a polar desert. It is below freezing year-round.

Question 13

What is permafrost and what are its four types?

Answer 13

Defined as ground remaining at or below freezing for at least two years.

The 4 types are broken up by area of permanent freeze and mean annual temperature:

1. Continuous (area = 80%; mean annual temp -7)
2. Discontinuous (area = 30-80%; mean annual -5 to -7)
3. Sporadic (area = <30%; 0 to -5)
4. Alpine (defined solely by presence in mountain setting).

Question 14

What are cryosols?

Answer 14

Thin soils formed in the continuous permafrost zone that have active layers less than one meter thick.

Question 15

What is a gyre and why do they occur?

Answer 15

An ocean eye is a large system of circular ocean currents formed by global wind patterns and forces created by Earth’s rotation.
They control the flows of water around the planet and affect warming and cooling by moving hot and cool water.

Question 16

What are the main differences between taiga snow and tundra snow?

Answer 16

Taiga (little affected by wind, loose and fluffy, moderate pricipitation, warmer and more stable environment helping biodiversity).

Tundra (moved by wind, packed and hard, low precipitation, high winds, harder for biodiversity).

Question 17

Explain the ventilator shafts in the snow.

Answer 17

Thick snow helps animals survive by keeping them insulated. They create ventilator shafts to the surface to allow air circulation.

Question 18

What are the three ways mammals adapt to taiga snow cover?

Answer 18

1. Using snow as a blanket to avoid deep cold (e.g. voles).
2. Have long legs to traverse it (e.g. caribou).
3. Float over the snow by being light enough (e.g. lynx) or snoeshoes (e.g. snowshoe hare). Or be trailers.

Question 19

Why is the ice edge of the Arctic Basin so important?

Answer 19

Sea ice helps keep polar regions cool and moderate global climate by reflecting sun away, stopping it from absorbing into the sea.

Ecologically, it forms an important habitat for sea birds, marine meals, plankton, fish.

Traditional Inuit hunting and sailing role.

Question 20

What are the three types of glacier?

Answer 20

1. Alpine (common; mountains and valleys)
2. Piedmont (rare; form at foot of mountains and spread over flat terrain)
3. Ice sheet (cover vast areas, unconfined by topography)

Question 21

What is calving as it relates to glacial ice?

Answer 21

Calving is when an iceberg breaks away from the glacier shelf.

Question 22

Explain why large northern bodies of water, such as the Beaufort Sea, have limited effect on the northern hydrological cycle.

Answer 22

1. Cold seas and sea ice have lower evaporation rate than warm seas, thus limiting moisture forming in Arctic air masses.
2. Circulation of the Arctic Ocean is relatively isolated from the rest of the world’s currents because the Beaufort Gyre circulation system tends to limit flows to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and because of the cold water.

Question 23

Explain the term “carrying capacity” as relates to the north.

Answer 23

Carrying capacity = the max population size in a given ecosystem that will allow sustainability for that system.

In Northern context, we speak of it in terms of the population growth exceeding the amount the land directly produces to support it. Meaning, we are seeing an excess beyond capacity and a need to externally support the population.