Arctic data

People usually say that the scope of the Arctic is not limited to the Arctic, but refers to the vast area north of 66 34' north latitude (Arctic Circle), also known as the Arctic region. The arctic region includes the polar arctic ocean, marginal land coastal zones and islands, arctic tundra and the outermost coniferous forest belt. If the Arctic Circle is the boundary of the Arctic, the total area of the Arctic region is 2 1 10,000 square kilometers, of which the land part accounts for 8 million square kilometers. Some scientists, from the phenological point of view, take the average isotherm in July10 C (5 C in the ocean) as the southern boundary of the Arctic region. In this way, the total area of the Arctic region has expanded to 27 million square kilometers, of which the land area is about120,000 square kilometers. However, if the Arctic is defined by the distribution of plant species and all the Taiga forest belts are included in the Arctic, the area of the Arctic region will exceed 40 million square kilometers. What is the boundary of the Arctic region? The standards of countries around the Arctic are not uniform, but most people are used to taking the Arctic Circle as the boundary of the Arctic region from a geographical perspective.

Polar time, for the pole, all the meridians of the earth converge to one point, regardless of the division of time zones, which means that the standard of time is lost. This is really a very troublesome thing. Due to the lack of the same standards, the members of the national expedition working in the polar regions have to keep their own local time. Therefore, when scientists meet foreigners in the Antarctic, they generally don't ask "what time is it" because their answers are often confusing. An American player once described their softball game in Antarctica as follows: "Little softball flies from today to yesterday, and then from yesterday to today."

The climate of the Arctic, the winter in the Arctic Ocean lasts for six months from 1 1 to April of the following year. May, June and September 10 belong to spring and autumn, while summer is only July and August. In June+10/October, 5438, the average temperature was between -20 ~-40℃, and in August, the warmest month, the average temperature only reached -8℃, and the lowest temperature measured by drifting stations near the North Pole was -59℃. Due to the influence of ocean currents and arctic anticyclones, the coldest place in the North Pole was not in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. The lowest temperature of -70℃ was recorded in Yansk, Vilho, Siberia, and the lowest temperature of -62℃ was also recorded by prospectors in Alaska.

Generally speaking, the average wind speed in the Arctic is much less than that in the Antarctic. Even in winter, the average wind speed along the coast of the Arctic Ocean is only 65,438+00 m/s ... Especially in northern Europe, it is mainly controlled by the warm current in the North Point, and the water surface temperature keeps between 2 ~ 12℃ throughout the year. Even Murmansk, located at 69 north latitude, is a famous ice-free port. In that area, even in winter, strong winds above 15m/s are rare. However, due to the cold high pressure in Greenland, North America and northern Eurasia in winter, violent snowstorms often occur in the Arctic Ocean. The precipitation in the Arctic is generally much higher than that in the Antarctic inland. Generally, the annual precipitation is between100 and 250 mm, and the annual precipitation in Greenland reaches 500 mm

Life in the Arctic

Unlike the Antarctic continent, life in the Arctic is very active. There are 900 species of flowering plants, millions of reindeer, tens of thousands of musk oxen and thousands of arctic rabbits. There are as many as 1500 lemmings per hectare at the peak. 1/6 of all birds in the northern hemisphere breed in the Arctic, and at least 12 species of birds overwinter in the Arctic. In river deltas, tundra lakes and pond grass, we can see long-tailed pheasants, red-necked pheasants, short-necked wild ducks, spotted-backed diving ducks, magpie ducks, merganser ducks, blackbirds and snow geese. There are Arctic Thunderbirds, owls and so on. On the hillside heights. Ravens, puffins, arctic terns and black crested herons fly in the sky, grizzly bears, arctic foxes and arctic wolves cruise on tundra meadows, and fennel fish, northern pike, gray trout, herring, courgette fish, long-body cod, white fish and arctic salmon play in rivers and lakes. There are millions of seals, 200,000 walruses, thousands of narwhals and beluga whales, and 20,000 polar bears in the vast waters of the Arctic Ocean. In addition, most importantly, there are local residents who have lived in the Arctic for at least tens of thousands of years-Inuit, Chukchi, Yakutia, Ewenki and Lapp.

In the long process of evolution, life in the Arctic, like life in the Antarctic, has learned the ability to adapt to the white environment. Musk oxen leisurely searched for plant stalks buried under the snow of MINUS 40 degrees. The reindeer herd escaped the severe winter on the north side of the coniferous forest belt and returned to the tundra in spring. On the tundra, the soil layer thawed in summer is less than 50 cm, but larch and softwood can grow smoothly because their roots can be deeply embedded in the frozen soil. In order to resist strong winds, they are all short, and some even crawl completely, such as creeping willow (Arctic willow) and black scale pine. Trees in the cold Arctic grow very slowly. In the junction of Taijialin and tundra, a 2-meter-high tree may be over 300 years old. Many lichens, mosses and even flowering plants in tundra can still carry out effective photosynthesis (dry matter accumulation) in the environment below 0℃. Scientists have found that some lichens can still grow at -20℃, some lichens can continue to grow at-10℃, and even flowering plants such as Rumex amurensis, Parthenocissus tricuspidata and Ranunculus Glacier can keep at -5℃.

Arctic oil resources and natural resources are extremely rich, including non-renewable mineral resources and chemical energy, renewable biological resources, and constant resources such as hydropower and wind power. If resources are defined in a broad sense, they should also include military resources, scientific and technological resources, human resources, tourism resources and so on.

Speaking of the significance of Arctic resources to modern society, of course, the most important and direct resources are oil and natural gas resources in energy. According to conservative estimates, the potential recoverable oil reserves in this area are 1 billion to 200 billion barrels, and natural gas is between 50 trillion and 80 trillion cubic meters. It can be seen that when the oil and gas resources in other parts of the world tend to be exhausted, the Arctic will become the last energy base for mankind.

Arctic coal resources are abundant in northern Alaska, which is one of the undeveloped areas. Geologists estimate that 400 billion tons of coal are stored here, accounting for 9% of the world's total coal resources, which is no less than Datong, the world-famous coal capital of China. The theoretical coal reserve in the western Arctic is 3 billion tons, which is the best coal field in northern Alaska and can be mined by the simplest conventional open-pit mining technology. The coal reserves in Siberia are larger than those in Datong, China and Alaska, North America. Some people estimate that it is 700 billion tons or more, and may even exceed half of the global coal reserves.

The Arctic is not only rich in coal resources, but also excellent in coal quality. The coal in the west has experienced the paleogeological formation process of 65438+ billion years, and it is a kind of high volatile bituminous coal. Its average calorific value is over 0/2 000 joules per kilogram/kloc, and its sulfur content is low (0. 1% ~ 0.3%), ash content is low (10%) and temperature is low (water content is 5%). Arctic coal is almost the cleanest coal in the world, with high steam and coking quality, which can be directly used as energy and industrial raw materials.

Arctic mineral resources, mineral resources other than Arctic energy are also very rich. For example, kola peninsula's world-class iron ore is well known. More interestingly, however, if you go south along the longitude line (60 ~ 75 E) passing through the iron ore, you will reach the symmetrical place in the southern hemisphere (66 ~ 73 S), which happens to be Prince Charles Mountain in the Antarctic continent. The world-class iron mine in Prince Charles Mountain is also world-famous. World-class large iron mines have appeared in places where the north and south poles are symmetrical. At present, it is not clear whether this interesting distribution pattern is purely accidental, related to the position of the south and north magnetic poles, or related to continental drift.

In addition to iron ore, the Arctic also has a large number of other mineral resources. Norilsk is one of the largest copper-nickel-plutonium composite mine bases in the world. Precious metals (such as gold) and diamond minerals also played an important role in the development of the far east of the former Soviet Union, especially in the famous Kolema area. In Alaska, it is estimated that the Red Dog Mine in the north of Kuzbu has 85 million tons of ore, including zinc 17%, lead 5% and silver 75 grams per ton. Become a world-class mine, with a value of11$0/billion (1983 price). Kominke Multinational Mining Company and Nana Company are jointly developing the Red Dog Mine.

In the Juneau gold mine in Alaska, 65,438+0880 to 65,438+0943 have produced 65,438+008.5 tons of gold, and it is estimated that there are still 65,438+03.2 tons to be mined. Chichagov mine near Sitka once produced 24.8 tons of gold, and there are still 9.3 tons to be mined. The development of precious metal mines on both sides of the Bering Strait is one after another. In addition, the Green Creek Silver Mine is the largest potential silver mine in the United States. After the development of 1988, the production capacity is 1 000 tons of ore/day, and it is estimated that 10 ~ 30 years can be mined.

In addition to the above mineral resources, there are radioactive elements such as uranium and plutonium, which are called strategic mineral resources. For example, the salt mine on Prince of Wales Island contains 285,000 tons of plutonium ore.

The marine mammals in the Arctic and the marine mammals in the Arctic waters have had tragic experiences in history. The docile Arctic walrus, whose male weight can reach 65,438+0,360 kg, often gathers dozens or even hundreds of them on the beach to snore loudly and sit back and relax. Because their ivory can be used as carving crafts, their meat can be eaten and their skin can be tanned, they have become the target of hunting. In the past 200 years, their number has dropped from 500,000 to the brink of extinction. Since the 1970s, it has been able to continue to breed because people have taken protective measures.

The living habits of Arctic seals and Antarctic fur seals are somewhat similar. They live together as a family, and their parents are usually a male seal weighing 300 kilograms, ruling about 50 female seals weighing only 30-50 kilograms and their children. Because their fur is very popular in the market, almost all the original millions have been cut off. Fortunately, they were protected together with the Arctic walrus, so that the number of Arctic seals began to increase in recent years.

There are only six species of whales in the Arctic waters, which are far less than those in the Southern Ocean, but narwhals and beluga whales in the Arctic Ocean are the most precious whale species in the world.

The strong productivity of aquatic animals in the Arctic Ocean and some adjacent waters has led to the development of world-class commercial fishing industry. The economic fish in Arctic waters mainly include Arctic salmon, Arctic squid, butterfly fish and hairy scale fish. Compared with other marine living resources, fish resources are still rich. Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea and Greenland Sea are all world-famous fishing grounds, accounting for about 8% ~ 10% of the world catch in recent years.

However, despite the abundant aquatic resources in Arctic waters, we still need to be cautious. People will never forget the tragedy of Steller manatee. This is a large marine mammal once widely distributed in the shallow waters of the Arctic, with a body length of 10 m and delicious meat. The Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering was first discovered in the Bering Island of kamchatka peninsula in 174 1. However, only 27 years later, the last Steller manatee was killed by humans, and this species disappeared from the earth forever.