IB Geography Polar and Periglacial Regions

Polar Characteristics

• Climate → long, cold winters, freezing, windy, little precipitation, ice caps

• Soil → little soil, frozen through year

• Plants → moss, algae, lichen, few other plants

• Animals → polar bears in Arctic, penguins in Antarctic, whales, seals, snowy owls

Tundra/Periglacial Characteristics

• Climate → cold, windy, dry, temperature -12° to -6°, summer lasts 60-80 days

• Permafrost → as deep as 450m, active layer

• Soil → high in organic matter, too cold to decompose

• Plants → trees don’t grow, small plants when snow melts, cushion plants

• Animals → foxes, polar bears, caribou, gray wolves, goats + sheep + marmots in alpine areas, shallows lakes and bogs appear in the summer

Polar

Relating to the North or South Pole

Tundra

A vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen, periglacial conditions

Periglacial: relating to a area adjacent to a glacier or ice sheet or otherwise subject to repeated freezing and thawing

Angle of Incidence

Solar footprint, same energy over a larger area, higher angle of incidence → colder

Arctic

• Ocean surrounded by countries: US, Russia, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark

• Taiga and tundra(most extensive ecosystems) + alpine, marshes

• Specially adapted flora and fauna

Antarctica

• Frozen continent surrounded by ocean

• No countries(1961 Antarctic Treaty), only claims

• Generally much colder(continentality), average of -55°, -87° lowest recorded

• Winds of up to 250kmph

• 97.7% ice → 14 million km2

Antarctic Treaty 1961

• No military use

• Scientific investigation

• Free exchange of data

• Territorial claims put on hold

• Nuclear-free zone

• Applies to land not seas

• Stations open to inspection

• National laws apply to citizens, not areas

• May be modified unanimously

• All nations ensure no-one violates

Tourism to Antarctica

• Diseases

• Climate change

• Organic waste doesn’t decompose

• Organic contaminants

Barrow, Alaska

• Northernmost town in the USA

• Dark/light

• Light for 65 days a year

• No paved roads

• No roads out

• Supplies flown in → massive prices

• Native Alaskans

• 5,000 population

Human Challenges

Cold:

• <-10° intolerable for long-term

• frostbite, hypothermia, extremities

• Oymyakon → coldest inhabited place on earth

Resource Development:

• inavailability of water, food, fuel

• infrastructure → roads and rail lines buckle from melting and refreezing

• topography → unstable ground

• no running water, pipes freeze

• price of goods high

Ice Age

• 100,000 years between them on average

• last one 12,000 years ago

• -6° than average temperature today

Snow to Ice

• Snow

• Névé → young, granular snow that is partially melted, refrozen and compacted

• Firn → névé that survives a full year

• Glacial Ice → becomes blue over time as air is compressed out

Ice Sheet

Covers a landmass(50,000km2+), Antarctica, Greenland

Ice Cap

Smaller than an ice sheet, Vatnajökull

Valley Glacier

Glaciers confined to an ancient river valley, Morteratsch

Accumulation, Ablation, Equilibrium

Accumulation → snow builds up

Ablation → ice melts, evaporates, sublimates

Equilibrium → line between zones

Effects of Glacial Loss

• Global → sea level rise, surface energy balance, ocean circulation

• Regional → water availability for drinking, agriculture, fisheries, HEP, recreation

• Local → water availability for plants, animals, recreation, runoff issues and hazards

GLOF and GOF

Glacial Lake Outburst Flood and Glacial Outburst Flood