The Northern Arctic Ecozone, as defined by the

Commission for Environmental Cooperation The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC; ; ) is an intergovernmental organization established by Canada, Mexico, and the United States to implement the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the environmental si ...

(CEC), is a Canadian terrestrial

ecozone An ecozone may refer to: * Biogeographic realm, the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface (referred to as ''ecozone'' by BBC) * Biome, a large collection of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat * Bioregion, an ecologically ...

which includes most of the

Canadian Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...

, the Boothia and Melville Peninsulas of

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, and the northwestern tip of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Its marine borders are with the Arctic Archipelago Marine Ecozone, and it is adjacent to the mainland Southern Arctic Ecozone. Sparsely populated, it is home to 15,000 inhabitants, approximately 80% of whom are

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 Northwe ...

. The largest settlement is

Iqaluit Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is the territory's largest community and its only city, and the northernmost city in Canada. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on ...

. The cold winters are very dark, typically having no daylight for weeks or even months north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

Geography

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

and

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

forms the western portion of the ecozone, whereas

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

is the dominant feature in the east. Broad flat plains are common on the coastlines, and extend inland up to in some parts. In the east, plateaus and rocky hills merge into the foothills of the

Arctic Cordillera The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northe ...

. The west is characterised by glacial deposits and "frost-shattered limestone" and sandstone. A permanent layer of

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

may be up to one kilometre thick, and lies under a shallow stratum of waterlogged active soils that cyclically freeze and thaw, creating

patterned ground Patterned ground is the distinct and often symmetrical natural pattern of geometric shapes formed by the deformation of ground material in periglacial regions. It is typically found in remote regions of the Arctic, Antarctica, and the Outback ...

. Its features are similar to the

badland Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes ...

s found in the southwestern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Ecoprovinces

This ecozone can be further subdivided into seven ecoprovinces: * Baffin Uplands * Boothia-Foxe Shield * Ellesmere Basin * Foxe-Boothia Lowlands * Parry Channel Plateau * Sverdrup Island * Victoria Lowlands

Climate

The region is extremely cold, with temperatures rising above the

freezing point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state of matter, state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase (matter), phase exist in Thermodynamic equilib ...

only in July and August. Short, cold summers give way to bitterly cold, dark winters with mean January temperatures less than −30 °C in the northern islands. Little

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

falls here, with a typical annual total of 250 mm, but may exceed 500 mm in its extreme southeastern extent.

Snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

fall may occur at any time, and snow cover persists from September to June. Despite the low precipitation, the permafrost's ability to prevent water from draining through the soil, and the abundant snow and ice cover throughout the zone ensure that the climate is usually moist. The northern waters are permanently frozen, but coastal areas in the south may open in the summer, though numerous large

ice floes An ice floe () is a segment of floating ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud obje ...

persist.

Conservation

A number of

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s have been established to protect representative and/or significant portions of this ecozone. These include

Aulavik National Park Aulavik National Park ( ); from the Inuvialuktun for "place where people travel") is a national park located on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is known for its access to the Thomsen River, one of the most northerly navig ...

Auyuittuq National Park Auyuittuq National Park (, , "the land that never melts") is a national park located on Baffin Island's Cumberland Peninsula, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, the largest political subdivision of Canada. The park was initially known as ''Ba ...

Sirmilik National Park Sirmilik National Park (; Inuktitut: "the place of glaciers") is a National Parks of Canada, national park located in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada, established in 1999. Situated within the Arctic Cordillera, the park is comp ...

, Qausuittuq National Park,

Quttinirpaaq National Park Quttinirpaaq National Park is located on the northeastern corner of Ellesmere Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the second most northerly park on Earth after Northeast Greenland National Park. In Inuktitut, Quttinirpaaq m ...

, and

Ukkusiksalik National Park Ukkusiksalik National Park () is a national park in Nunavut, Canada. It covers of tundra and coastal mudflats south of the Arctic Circle and the hamlet of Naujaat (formerly Repulse Bay), from Hudson Bay's Roes Welcome Sound towards the western ...

References

{{Reflist Ecozones and ecoregions of Nunavut Ecozones and ecoregions of the Northwest Territories Ecozones and ecoregions of Quebec Geography of the Arctic