Arctic Basin

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The Arctic Basin Ecosystem

Wildlife

There's only so many animals that live in the Arctic Basin because of the lack of vegetation, land forms and the cold climate.

Crustaceans are in the water surrounding, and under, the ice.

There's over 130 species of fish in the waters that surround the Arctic Basin. Some of those species are trout, salmon and whitefishes.

Migratory birds pass through the area, but they don't nest or habitat the land because of the climate, and the fact that there's basically only ice.

There's bearded, harp, ringed and harbor seals.

Narwhals also pass through the water.

Beluga whales pass through the water.

Walrus hunt in the water, and rest on the ice.

- Polar bears

Affects of Humans

Solutions:

Contact an agency related to protecting this area and express your concerns about the affects that these things are causing in the arctic basin's vegetation, wildlife and climate. Then, further action can be taken, and the government can be involved. A law can be stated related to over harvesting, which will lead to a balance in food chains. The hyperlink here provides background information about how they're currently trying to make plans to turn the Arctic Basin into a protected area. The article was created in 2018.

Some animals possess chemicals due to industrial centres which are passed on by ocean currents and the weather cycle. The chemicals are then transferred through animals when they consume each other.

Commercial over harvesting has picked up recently around that area, which causes a shift food chains. For example, if fisherman remove a lot of fish from a certain area, then predators that consume fish won't have a food source.

It's mostly unexplored by humans, although more tourists and scientists have been arriving there recently by boat.

- Exploration/Science

Plants and Vegetation

Overall, there isn't a lot of diverse vegetation in the Arctic Basin. Like the wildlife, this is caused by the extreme climate and lack of landforms. There are flowering plants that can be found there, but they aren't that common. In the Arctic Basin, there are about 60 different species of flowering plants that occupy the land there.

There's not a lot of different plants due to the cold climate.

Phytoplankton can be found in the water throughout summer and spring. Phytoplankton is plankton that consists of microscopic plants.

Algae grows in the water under the ice.

- Ice barrens

Climate and Landforms

Due to the cold climate, there isn't a wide variety of different landforms. There's basically only ice. The two main landforms are icebergs and icesheets, but that's about all that you can find there. There isn't many landforms because it's an oceanic ecozone. Most of the undersea geography there is taken up by the Canadian Basin, which has an average depth of 3 600 meters.

The climate in the Arctic Basin is cold and dry. The average temperature usually ranges from -30°C to -35°C. In the summertime, it has a high of 5°C, but it won't get any warmer than that. The annual level of precipitation only ranges from one hundred millimetres to two hundred millimetres. This is because of the temperature and weather. The Arctic Basin runs in between North Greenland and the New Siberian Islands.

- Icesheets

- Icebergs