ARCTIC REGION, the name given to the region of land and water surrounding the North Pole, reaching on all sides to lat. 32' N. The Arctic or North Polar Circle touches the northern headlands of Iceland; cuts off the southern and narrowest portion of Greenland; crosses Fox Strait north of Hud son Bay, whence it goes over the American continent to Bering Strait. Thence it runs to Obdorsk at the mouth of the Obi; then, cross ing northern Russia, the White Sea and the Scandinavian peninsula, returns to Iceland.
The most important facts now ascertained respecting the climate of the Arctic regions are, that the main line of extreme cold extends across the Polar Sea from the meridian of 90° W. to that of 130° E., reaching much farther on the Asiatic than on the American side, so that the winter temperature of Yakutsk (lat. 62° 2') is 7° F. lower than that of Rens selaer harbor, in Smith Sound (lat. 78° 37'). But the American limit of cold oscillates much less than the Asiatic, the summer temperature at Rensselaer harbor being but 62°, while at Yakutsk it is 95° F. above that of winter. This difference is due to the absorption of summer heat by the comparatively dry plains of Siberia, while on the North American continent the numerous lakes and inlets moderate the climate throughout the year. To this it may perhaps be added that Greenland, owing to its peculiar constitution and position, is to North America a source of refrigeration which has no counter part in the eastern continent. This circum stance, and the humid atmosphere maintained by the numerous lakes, somewhat moderates the severity of the cold, but at the same time renders it somewhat more constant.
Arctic Ocean.— In its widest sense that portion of the ocean which extends from the Arctic Circle (lat. 66° 32' N.) to the North Pole, or more restrictedly from about lat. 70° N. Assuming the former limit, the Arctic Ocean is found entering deeply, in the form of gulfs, bays, etc., into the northern parts of the continents of Europe, Asia and America. The principal of these indentations are the White Sea in Europe; Kara Sea, Gulfs of Obi and Yenisei in Siberia; and Baffin Bay in North America. It is united to the Pacific by
Bering Strait, and to the Atlantic by a wide stretch of sea extending from Greenland to Norway. Among the principal islands of the Arctic Ocean are Greenland (at last proved to be an island) and east of Greenland the extensive group known under the name of Spitzbergen, the small island of Jan Mayen, and Iceland. West of Greenland and divided from it by Davis Strait and Baffin Bay there are a considerable number of islands of great size but little interest. North of Europe are the islands of Nova Zembla; and north from these Franz Josef Land, an archipelago as yet imperfectly known. The water of the Arctic Ocean is extremely pure, shells being distinctly visible at a great depth; it also presents rapid transitions of color, chiefly from ultramarine to olive-green, the latter variations of color being produced by myriads of minute animals belong ing for the most part to the Ccelenterata and Mollusca classes. Many have adopted the be lief in the existence of an open polar sea about the North Pole. But this belief is not sup ported by any positive evidence. Ice is nearly constant everywhere between Spitzbergen and the southern point of Greenland. This is called the main north ice. East of Spitzbergen and near Nova Zembla the sea is always beset, if not completely barred, by ice. In Baffin Bay and thence west to Bering Strait numerous expeditions have had a perpetual struggle with ice. The expedition of 1875-76 under Captain Nares, members of which reached a point 30 miles farther north than had ever previously been attained, proceeding by way of Baffin Bay and Smith Sound, found no indications of O an open polar sea. On the contrary the ex plorers found north of 82° 27' a sea consisting of one unbroken sheet of old ice of immense thickness, which effectually barred the further progress of the vessels, while the ruggedness of the ice rendered it impossible to reach the pole by sledge. Nansen more recently found abundance of ice in the tract of sea crossed by him.