Arctic Regions

a term applied to that part of the world, both land and water, situated within, that is to say north of, the Arctic Circle. Instead of coming to a slight peak, as one might imagine from maps, the north pole at the center of this region is really the most flattened portion of the earth's surface, more so than the south pole, as there are no snowfields in the extreme north. The Arctic Circle is everywhere 23deg. 68' or 1,408 geographic miles from the north pole. The diameter of the Arctic region is, therefore, 2,816 miles, and its area, counting land and water, is 8,201,883 square miles, or more than twice that of the United States. The circle is 8,640 miles long, rather more than a third as long as the equator. About four-fifths of the Arctic Circle may be traced on land. Three passages of water lead into the Arctic Ocean. The widest separates Greenland from Norway; the second lies between Greenland and the continent of North America; the third, Bering Sea and Strait, separates Alaska from Asia. The Arctic coast is for the most part low and comparatively level. Dreary tundras, the most inhospitable regions in the world, stretch along the sea. The coasts of Norway and Lapland are important exceptions.

In Europe forests of pine trees and larch extend beyond the Arctic Circle. Dwarf birches and low, matted willows are found still farther north. The arctic poppy and other flowering plants are not without beauty. Vast tracts of land are frozen to a depth of two or three hundred feet. The surface thaws out a foot or two in the short summer and produces millions of acres of the lichen on which the reindeer and musk ox feed. The polar bear lives more on sea than on land. Fishing birds of many kinds, gulls, little auks, kittiwakes, guillemots, and fulmars, are found on rocky coasts. The eider duck and other swimming birds nest on the coast.

A belt of shallow water encircles the Arctic Ocean. It is thought that the northern coast of Europe, Asia, and America has sunk beneath the sea, and that the islands, such as Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land, are the tips of former elevations. Vast stretches of this submarine plateau are no more than 300 or 1,000 feet below the sea. During the greater part of the year, the larger part of these waters are ice bound. The width of the plateau has not been definitely determined, but it is known that the center of the Arctic Ocean about the north pole is deep and that it is warmer in midwinter than the shallow margin we have been describing.

Arctic waters are said to be of exceeding clearness, with beautiful ultramarine and olive green tints. The margin of the Arctic Ocean is inhabitated by numerous species of fishes, the food of various seals; the walrus is found on the banks, digging for clams. A species of codfish is pursued far into the interior ocean by the polar shark. The right whale, or Greenland whale, was formerly abundant in the shallow polar seas, but it has been sadly reduced in number by the persistent whalers of New Bedford.

The central deep Arctic Sea seems to contain but little life. It is so densely packed with broken ice that ships have not been able to penetrate it. It is said to be free from the violent storms of the tropics, yet changes of winds fling the floating ice into long windrows like ranges of hills. A strongly built ship, abandoned in one edge of the ice packs, has drifted through and emerged on the other side. For some account of the ship Fram and her crew, the reader is referred to an article on Captain Nansen.

Aside from its depth, one reason for the open polar sea is the constant circulation of waters. Along the east side of each of the three passages opening into southern waters, a stream of warm water runs in; and currents of cold water run out along the western sides, carrying floe ice and icebergs far to the southward. To the greatest of the warm streams, a continuation of the Gulf Stream, the moderate climate of Arctic Norway, and the vegetation of Lapland is due. In fact, the coldest parts of the Arctic regions are by no means the nearest the north pole. Central Greenland, Northeast Siberia, and the vicinity of the Perry Islands, north of North America, are considered the coldest localities. The greatest natural cold ever actually registered on a thermometer was ninety below zero, --90deg. F., north of Yakutsk, only fifty miles north of the Arctic Circle. The lowest temperature ever noted in the central polar sea was --63deg.F.

One railway enters the north frigid zone. It runs from a point on the Gulf of Bothnia in Sweden to Afoten fiord on the coast of Norway. It was built to reach the famous Swedish iron ores of Malmberg. In the summer there is a regular tourist service to the "Land of the Midnight Sun." The engineer blows his whistle as the train crosses the Arctic Circle.

During the past century, 200 ships and 4,000 lives have been lost in Arctic waters. It is estimated that the vast sum of $100,000,000 has been expended in Arctic voyages. Exploration of the Arctic Sea has been carried on largely by dog trains, traveling on the drifting, breaking fields of ice. In 1896 Nansen, a Norwegian explorer, reached a point in 86deg. 14', north of Franz Josef Land. In 1901, Abruzzi, an Italian, attained 86deg. 33'. In 1906 Robert Peary, an American, forced his way to 87deg. 6' north 201 miles from the pole.

In 1909 came the astonishing announcement that Dr. Frederic A. Cook, of Brooklyn, planted the American flag at the north pole April 21, 1908. Dr. Cook was received enthusiastically by the Royal Geographical Society of Copenhagen, which body undertook to pass upon the authenticity of his claim. A few days later, the world was again startled by a telegram from Commander Peary, announcing that he had reached the north pole April 6, 1909. Commander Peary charged Dr. Cook with imposture, and declared boldly that the latter had never reached the coveted goal. The American Geographical Society undertook to pass on Commander Peary's claim that he reached the north pole and awarded him a gold medal. He confirmed the theory of an open polar sea. Peary made the journey with dog trains in midwinter, over heaving and grinding fields of ice. The Copenhagen Society rejected Dr. Cook's claim on the score that his assertions were unsupported by evidence meriting confidence. The conditions that prevail in north polar waters still interest scientists, but the long search for the pole is considered at an end.

The following is a record of the principal polar quests:

See Antarctic Continent; Hudson; Kane; Nordenskjold; De Long; Franklin; Greely; Nansen; Peary