The Arctic

The Arctic encompasses sea and land areas of the North Pole, and the Polar Circle. Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland/Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland are all countries within this Arctic frontier.

North of the mainland lies the Arctic Ocean that is covered with permanent ice. The outer edges are distributed with pack ice and/or drifting ice which varies considerably with the time of year.

The Norwegian region of the Arctic includes the Svalbard archipelago, which consists of several large and smaller islands that when combined total an area of 64,000 km2. The largest of these islands are Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet (North East Land), Barentsøya (Barents Island) and Edgeøya (Edge Island).…

What is an ecosystem?

Ecosystems are often described in terms of energy transfer between levels of the food chain. Behind the energy transfer, however, a life or death struggle between predators and prey is taking place. This struggle, in which every individual tries to make the most of itself by spreading its genes, results in what we call the “interplay of nature”. This interplay is fascinating, both as a field of study and as a management problem.

More about ecosystem