Arctic

The **Arctic** is the area around the Earth's North Pole. It includes parts of Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Lapland, and Svalbard.  It is an ocean, mostly covered with ice.  

The word 'Arctic' comes from the Greek word *αρκτος*, meaning "bear". The North Pole aims at the stars called the Great Bear and the Little Bear.

## Location 
Most scientists call the area north of the tree line "Arctic."

The tree line follows 

Across the world, trees cannot grow in places that are too high and/or too cold. Above the tree line, trees cannot survive. Forests on several continents have regions north of the tree line. These areas are part of the Arctic.

The area north of the tree line is not an empty ice field. In fact, the only large ice-covered land in the Arctic is central Greenland, which is covered year-round by a continental glacier.

## Tundra 
The land of the Arctic (located around the edges of the Arctic Circle) is mostly tundra.  A tundra is a cold, almost treeless plain covered with moss and sedges (grass-like plants). Tundras get little rain or snow. 

During Arctic summers, there are nights when the Sun never sets. This happens because the North Pole points toward the Sun during summertime. For this reason, people sometimes call the Arctic the *Land of the Midnight Sun*.

### Permafrost 
Though they get little precipitation, tundras can get very wet during the summertime. In warmer temperatures, the snow on the ground melts. However, there is a permanent layer of ice (called permafrost) under the ground. Permafrost can be thousands of miles thick and is rock-hard, so melting snow cannot soak into it. As a result, water can only form lakes and puddles on top of the ground until it freezes again or dries up.

## Plant life 
In some parts of the Arctic, the ground is covered with bright-colored flowers during the short summer. These little plants have very short stems. They must stay close to the ground, because the earth is warmer than the cold winds that blow above it. 

Even some rocks have plants growing on them. These plants are called lichens, and they grow on bare rocks. The Arctic reindeer's summer food,  which is called yellow reindeer moss, is actually a lichen. It grows slowly, but can eventually grow to be six inches tall (15&nbsp;cm) or higher. It is spongy and full of water.

Trees are rare on the tundra. Small trees are only able to grow in protected valleys or along the banks of rivers. Rivers come into the Arctic from the warmer south, so their banks are a little warmer than the rest of the tundra - warm enough for trees to grow there.  Outside of these areas, there are rare clusters of bushes. Berries are the only fruits that grow in the Arctic.

Russia has a huge port city right in Lapland, within the Arctic Circle. Murmansk is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle. The port is kept ice-free by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream coming up around Norway and Sweden from the South Atlantic. Huge icebreakers work to keep a path open so ships can reach the port. The port ships out fish, minerals, and lumber to Russia and the rest of the world.

### Airplane routes 
The Arctic is also the shortest way (Great circle route) for airlines to fly between some cities on different continents. The flight from London to Tokyo, for example, is 1,400 miles shorter if flown across the top of the world instead of the old route south across Europe and Asia. The polar route from San Francisco to Norway is several hours shorter than the same flight going across the United States and the Pacific Ocean.

Thus, man is making use of the Arctic in various ways even though it is a hard place to live.

## References