Arctic

The Arctic environment is unique in many ways and offers the opportunity for a great many discoveries about how the physical and biologic environments function under the "extreme" conditions found in the Arctic. Several species of animals are unique to the Arctic (e.g., polar bear, walrus, musk ox) and many species of birds have their summer home there.

The Arctic, unlike the Antarctic is inhabited by humans, including diverse Native communities with a longer history than many of the southerly societies. Although European-derived culture is now dominant in the Arctic, study of the Native culture is important for its preservation, and for what it can teach others about long-term human survival in the Arctic. The Arctic has many natural resources that could be exploited for economic benefit. Crude oil, gold and industrial metals, and diamonds are presently being extracted now, yet much of the Arctic's potential for natural resources is unknown.

More recently, we have learned that the Arctic is not as isolated from more heavily populated areas as was once thought and our modern civilization is having an impact on the Arctic. For example, industrial activities are responsible for the presence in the Arctic of many persistent organic pollutants and toxic metals that are neither produced nor used there, but rather are transported there through the atmosphere and deposited to land and water surfaces. This is of great concern to the Native and other residents of the Arctic, many of whom survive on wild plants and animals that may be contaminated with these materials. Over the past two decades, a series of unusual changes have occurred in the Arctic that may be related to release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by industrialized nations. Sea ice and permafrost are decreasing, precipitation patterns are changing, the air is warmer, and the intensity of harmful UVB radiation is increasing. In addition to posing difficult challenges, and perhaps new opportunities, to people living in the Arctic, these changes may ultimately influence other parts of the Earth. Melting of Arctic sea ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet could increase sea level and change the strength of the global ocean circulation. Other changes in the Arctic, could alter the relative amount of the Sun's energy that is absorbed, reflected, or radiated in the Arctic. Thus, the Arctic has the potential of providing unexpected deviations in the rate of "global warming".

The Arctic is inhabited by several different groups of indigenous people, and also by relatively recent immigrants of mostly European background. In Alaska, for example, indigenous people account for about 70% or more of the total population in mainland areas bordering the Bering, Chukchi, or Beaufort Seas. In Russia, only 15% or fewer of the inhabitants along the north coast are indigenous people. There are three main groups of Alaska Natives, the Inuit, Aleut, and Indian, while in Russia, there are 16 recognized minority indigenous peoples. The total populations of indigenous people in the Alaskan and Russian Arctic are about 50,000 and 70,000 respectively. The Canadian Arctic has about 50,000 indigenous people, representing 50% of the total population of the area, from three recognized groups: Indian, Inuit, and Métis. Inuit people are also found in Greenland. Read more...

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