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$\mathbb{THE}$  $\mathbb{ARCTIC}$  $\mathbb{PORTAL}$ Main page   Statistics   WikiProjects Geography of the Arctic The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word arktos (άρκτος) , which means bear. The name refers to the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", which dominates the northern region of the celestial sphere. There are numerous definitions of the Arctic region. The boundary is generally considered to be north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N), which is the approximate limit of the midnight sun and the polar night. Other definitions are based on climate and ecology, such as the 10°C (50°F) July isotherm, which roughly corresponds to the tree line in most of the Arctic. Socially and politically, the Arctic region includes the northern territories of the eight Arctic states, including Lapland, although by natural science definitions much of this territory is considered subarctic. The Arctic region consists of a vast ice-covered ocean (which is sometimes considered to be a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean) surrounded by treeless, frozen ground. In recent years the extent of the sea ice has declined, and there is some evidence suggesting Arctic water may be ice-free in summer. According to the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat and polar scientists, this ice cap may disappear over the summer of 2008. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, and human societies. The Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding colonially in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts). The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates from its northern breeding grounds to the oceans around Antarctica and back (about 24,000 miles) each year. This is the longest regular migration by any known animal. Arctic Terns are medium-sized birds. They have a length of 33–39 centimetres (13–15 in) and a wingspan of 76–85 centimetres (30–33 in). They are mainly grey and white plumaged, with a red beak (as long as the head, straight, with pronounced gonys) and feet, white forehead, a black nape and crown (streaked white), and white cheeks. The grey mantle is 305 mm, and the scapulars are fringed brown, some tipped white. The upper wing is grey with a white leading edge, and the collar is completely white, as is the rump. The deeply forked tail is whitish, with grey outer webs. The hindcrown to the ear-coverts is black. Uriel Sebree (February 20, 1848 – August 6, 1922) was a career officer in the United States Navy. He entered the Naval Academy during the Civil War and served until 1910, retiring as a rear admiral. He is best remembered for his two expeditions into the Arctic and for serving as the second acting governor of American Samoa. He was also commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1867, Sebree was posted to a number of vessels before being assigned to a rescue mission to find the remaining crew of the missing Polaris in the Navy's first mission to the Arctic. This attempt was only a partial success—the Polaris crew was rescued by a Scottish ship rather than the US Navy—but this led to Sebree's selection eleven years later for a second expedition to the Arctic. That mission to rescue Adolphus Greely and the survivors of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition was a success. Sebree was subsequently appointed as the second acting governor of American Samoa. Wikinews Arctic portal April 25: UK announces £200 million polar research ship September 4: Wikinews Shorts: September 2, 2010 September 3: Wikinews Shorts: September 3, 2010/Fuel tanker aground in Northwest Passage June 21: Greenland assumes self rule Sunday January 10: Canadian trio claim South Pole record for trans-Antarctic trip December 10: Wikinews Shorts: December 10, 2008 October 28: Arctic ice thickness decreasing, suggests satellite data study August 28: 73M-year-old fossilized fish found in Canada August 27: Canadian military exercise NANOOK 2008 travels through uncharted waters June 28: The North Pole may possibly be ice free by summer Description:A Polar bear cub in Churchill is nursing Author: Original Cub_polar_bear_is_nursing.wmv.OGG by Mila Zinkova This derivative work by Dhatfield (talk) Featured picture ...Archive/Nominations File:Tookoolito.jpg Tookoolito, from an 1862 engraving ...that Tookoolito (pictured) and her companion were advertised as "Esquimaux Indians... from the arctic regions" and exhibited at Barnum's American Museum in 1862? Read More... ...that Charles R. Stelck proved that ancient coral reefs had once existed in the Arctic and that oil could be found there? Read More... File:1871 Whaling Disaster.jpg The Whaling Disaster of 1871. ...that seven whaling ships escaped the Whaling Disaster of 1871, but were forced to abandon their catch in order to accommodate 1,219 people from 33 other ships trapped in ice off the Alaskan coast? Read More... ... that the Clarence Islands were discovered and charted as a group of three Arctic islands by James Clark Ross, then re-charted with fictional additions totaling nine islands by his uncle, John Ross, who never saw them? ''Read more... Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header Template:/Categories Template:/box-footer Even in our day, science suspects beyond the Polar seas, at the very circle of the Arctic Pole, the existence of a sea which never freezes and a continent which is ever green. Source: The Secret Doctrine -- Vol. 2 Theosophical University Press Online Edition by H. P. Blavatsky Featured articles: S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 · Arctic Tern · Bob Marshall · Uriel Sebree · Jake Gyllenhaal · Peregrine Falcon · Common Raven · Orca · Right whale Good articles: Franklin's lost expedition · Walrus · Muskrat Template:/box-footer Panoramic view of 'Vesterålen islands, Norway More information... The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:

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