Each region is distinct from the others in its geology, terrain, water, vegetation, wildlife, climate, and human activities.
Summers are cool and short while winters are long and bitterly cold.
Soils are poorly developed and vegetation sparse. Lichen, mosses, and rock cranberry are common ground cover species. Black spruce and willow grow in sheltered areas. Eskers, moraines, palsas, and ice polygons are dominant features of the landscape. Bed-rock formations are principally limestone, shale, and granite.