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North Water Polynya
The North Water Polynya (NOW), or ''Pikialasorsuaq'' to Inuit in Greenland and ''Sarvarjuaq'' to Inuit in Canada, is a polynya (area of year-round open water surrounded by sea ice) that lies between Greenland and Canada in northern Baffin Bay. The world's largest Arctic polynya at about , it creates a warm microclimate that provides a refuge for narwhal, beluga whale, beluga, walrus, and bowhead whales to feed and rest. While thin ice forms in some areas, the polynya is kept open by wind, tides and an ice bridge on its northern edge. Named the "North Water" by 19th century whalers who relied on it for spring passage, this polynya is one of the most biologically productive marine areas in the Arctic Ocean. Fauna Polynyas are often compared to oasis, oases as their open waters allow for an unusually early spring plankton bloom and an open water wintering area in a frozen world. This provides food for Arctogadus glacialis, Arctic cod, a species that plays a critical role in suppo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Water MODIS 2015-05-27
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is related to the Old High German ''nord'', both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *''ner-'', meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word ''borealis'' comes from the Greek ''boreas'' "north wind, north" which, according to Ovid, was personified as the wind-god Boreas, the father of Calais and Zetes. ''Septentrionalis'' is from ''septentriones'', "the seven plow oxen", a name of ''Ursa Major''. The Greek ἀρκτικός (''arktikós'') is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word ''Arctic''. Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian, ''kefer'' can mean bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBattesti, Vincent (2005) Jardins au désert: Évolution des pratiques et savoirs oasiens: Jérid tunisien. Paris: IRD éditions. . that sustains plant life and provides habitat for animals. Surface water may be present, or water may only be accessible from wells or underground channels created by humans. In geography, an oasis may be a current or past rest stop on a transportation route, or less-than-verdant location that nonetheless provides access to underground water through deep wells created and maintained by humans. Although they depend on a natural condition, such as the presence of water that may be stored in reservoirs and us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grise Fiord
Grise Fiord (; ) is an Inuit hamlet on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of three populated places on the island; despite its low population (144 residents at the 2021 Canadian census), it is the largest community (and only public community) on Ellesmere Island. Created by the Canadian Government in 1953 through a relocation of Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec, it is Canada's northernmost public community. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of . History Creation This community (and that of Resolute) was created by the Canadian government in 1953, partly to assert sovereignty in the High Arctic during the Cold War. Eight Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec (on the Ungava Peninsula), were relocated after being promised homes and game to hunt, but the relocated people discovered no buildings and very little familiar wildlife. They were told that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pond Inlet
Pond Inlet () is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always has been Mittimatalik." The Scottish explorer John Ross (Royal Navy officer), Sir John Ross had named an arm of the sea that separates Bylot Island from Baffin Island as Pond's Bay, and the hamlet now shares that name. On 29 August 1921, the Hudson's Bay Company opened its trading post near the Inuit camp and named it Pond Inlet, marking the expansion of its trading empire into the High Arctic. At the 2021 Canadian census the population, which is predominantly Inuit, was 1,555, a decrease of 3.7% from the 2016 Canadian census, 2016 census. Pond Inlet, the largest community in northern Baffin Island—part of the Arctic Cordillera—with mountains visible from all sides, is called the "Jewel of the North". At the ice flow edge there is an abundance of wildlife, including polar bears, Reindeer, ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arctic Bay
Arctic Bay (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᒃᐱᐊᕐᔪᒃ, ''Ikpiarjuk'', "the pocket") is an Inuit hamlet located in the northern part of the Borden Peninsula on Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Arctic Bay is located in the Eastern Time Zone although it is quite close to the time zone boundary. The predominant languages are Inuktitut and English. Arctic Bay is notable for being the birthplace of the former Premier of Nunavut and, as of 2021, the Commissioner of Nunavut, Eva Aariak. It is the northernmost public community in Canada not formed from forced relocation. The community is served by annual supply sealift, and by Arctic Bay Airport. There is also a road connecting it to Nanisivik, a former mining community just inland that is now closed. History The Arctic Bay area has been occupied for nearly 5000 years by Inuit migrating from the west. In 1872, a European whaling ship, the ''Arctic'', captained by Willie Adams, passed through and gave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avanersuaq
Avannaa, originally Nordgrønland ("North Greenland"), was one of the three counties () of Greenland, which existed until 31 December 2008. The county seat was Qaanaaq, the main settlement. It was one of the least-densely populated administrative divisions in the world, with 843 people living in 106,700 km2 of ice-free land, a density of 0.0079 people per square kilometre. The total land area, including the land covered by the ice cap, is over 500,000 km2. North Greenland has a higher portion of ice-free land than most other areas of the country, because much of the extreme north, such as Peary Land, is largely ice-free due to its low precipitation."The CIA World Factbook 2008" Central Intelligence Agency, Skyhorse Publishing, 2007, , p. 253 The county was also sometimes known as ''Avannaarsua'' or ''Avanersuaq''. Former local divisions * Qaanaaq municipality, created 1 January 1963 *Pituffik Space Base ( Pituffik) (unincorporated), an enclave surrounded by Qaana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and the Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Inuit languages are part of the Eskaleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskimo–Aleut. Canadian Inuit live throughout most of Northern Canada in the territory of Nunavut, Nunavik in the northern third of Quebec, the Nunatsiavut in Labrador, and in various parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon (traditionally), particularly around the Arctic Ocean, in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. These areas are known, by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Government of Canada, as Inuit Nunangat. In Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 classify Inuit as a distinctive group of Abo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thule People
The Thule ( , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by 1000 AD and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture who had previously inhabited the region. The appellation " Thule" originates from the location of Thule (relocated and renamed Qaanaaq in 1953) in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the archaeological remains of the people were first found at Comer's Midden. Evidence supports the idea that the Thule (and, to a lesser degree, the Dorset) were in contact with the Vikings, who had reached the shores of Canada in the 11th century as part of the Norse colonization of North America. In Viking sources, these peoples are called the '' Skrælingjar''. Some Thule migrated southward, in the "Second Expansion" or "Second Phase". By the 13th or 14th century, the Thule had occupied an area inhabited until then by the D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorset Culture
The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from to between and , that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) in Nunavut, Canada, where the first evidence of its existence was found. The culture has been defined as having four phases due to the distinct differences in the technologies relating to hunting and tool making. Artifacts include distinctive triangular end-blades, oil lamps ( qulliq) made of soapstone, and burins. The Dorset were first identified as a separate culture in 1925. The Dorset appear to have been extinct by 1500 at the latest and perhaps as early as 1000. The Thule people, who began migrating east from Alaska in the 11th century, ended up spreading through the lands previously inhabited by the Dorset. It is not fully known whether the Inuit and Dorset ever met. Some modern genetic studies show the Dorset population were distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thick-billed Murre
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' is also called Pallas' murre after its describer. Taxonomy The thick-billed murre was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the other auks in the genus '' Alca'' and coined the binomial name ''Alca lomvia''. Linnaeus specified the type locality as boreal Europe but this was restricted in 1921 to Greenland by the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert. The thick-billed murre is now placed together with the common murre in the genus '' Uria'' that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''ouria'', a waterbird mentioned by Athenaeus. The specific epithet ''lomvia'' is a Swedish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Auk
The little auk (Europe) or dovekie (North America) ''Alle alle'' is a small auk, the only member of the genus ''Alle''. ''Alle'' is the Sami name of the long-tailed duck; it is onomatopoeic and imitates the call of the drake duck. Linnaeus was not particularly familiar with the winter plumages of either the auk or the duck, and appears to have confused the two species. Other old names include rotch, rotche, bullbird, and sea dove, although the latter sometimes refers to a relative, the black guillemot. They breed on islands in the high Arctic. There are two subspecies; ''A. a. alle'' breeds in Greenland, Novaya Zemlya and Svalbard; and ''A. a. polaris'' on Franz Josef Land. A small number of individuals Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait with additional breeding individuals thought to occur on King Island, St. Lawrence Island, St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. They also formerly bred on Grímsey just north of Iceland, but are extinct the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Bear
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land carnivore, with adult males weighing . The species is sexually dimorphic, as adult females are much smaller. The polar bear is white- or yellowish-furred with black skin and a thick layer of fat. It is more slender than the brown bear, with a narrower skull, longer neck and lower shoulder hump. Its teeth are sharper and more adapted to cutting meat. The paws are large and allow the bear to walk on ice and paddle in the water. Polar bears are both terrestrial and Pagophily, pagophilic (ice-living) and are considered marine mammals because of their dependence on marine ecosystems. They prefer the annual sea ice but live on land when the ice melts in the summer. They are mostly carnivorous and specialized for preying on pinniped, se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
