Tundra
Tundra | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Area | 11,563,300[1] km2 (4,464,600 sq mi) |
Climate type | ET |
In physical geography, tundra (/ˈtʌndrə, ˈtʊn-/) is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term is a Russian word adapted from Sámi languages.[2] There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra,[3] alpine tundra,[3] and Antarctic tundra.[4]
Tundra vegetation is composed of dwarf
Arctic
Arctic tundra occurs in the far
Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year.
There are two main seasons, winter and summer, in the polar tundra areas. During the winter it is very cold, dark, and windy with the average temperature around −28 °C (−18 °F), sometimes dipping as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). However, extreme cold temperatures on the tundra do not drop as low as those experienced in taiga areas further south (for example, Russia's, Canada's, and Alaska's lowest temperatures were recorded in locations south of the tree line). During the summer, temperatures rise somewhat, and the top layer of seasonally-frozen soil melts, leaving the ground very soggy. The tundra is covered in marshes, lakes, bogs, and streams during the warm months. Generally daytime temperatures during the summer rise to about 12 °C (54 °F) but can often drop to 3 °C (37 °F) or even below freezing. Arctic tundras are sometimes the subject of
Tundra tends to be windy, with winds often blowing upwards of 50–100 km/h (30–60 mph). However, it is desert-like, with only about 150–250 mm (6–10 in) of precipitation falling per year (the summer is typically the season of maximum precipitation). Although precipitation is light, evaporation is also relatively minimal. During the summer, the permafrost thaws just enough to let plants grow and reproduce, but because the ground below this is frozen, the water cannot sink any lower, so the water forms the lakes and marshes found during the summer months. There is a natural pattern of accumulation of fuel and wildfire which varies depending on the nature of vegetation and terrain. Research in Alaska has shown fire-event return intervals (FRIs) that typically vary from 150 to 200 years, with dryer lowland areas burning more frequently than wetter highland areas.[8]
The
Due to the harsh climate of Arctic tundra, regions of this kind have seen little human activity, even though they are sometimes rich in natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, and uranium. In recent times this has begun to change in Alaska, Russia, and some other parts of the world: for example, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug produces 90% of Russia's natural gas.
Relationship to climate change
A severe threat to tundra is
In locations where dead vegetation and peat have accumulated, there is a risk of wildfire, such as the 1,039 km2 (401 sq mi) of tundra which burned in 2007 on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska.[14] Such events may both result from and contribute to global warming.[15]
Greenhouse gas emissions
Carbon emissions from permafrost thaw contribute to the same warming which facilitates the thaw, making it a
In 2011, preliminary computer analyses suggested that permafrost emissions could be equivalent to around 15% of anthropogenic emissions.[23]
A 2018 perspectives article discussing
In 2020, a study of the northern permafrost peatlands (a smaller subset of the entire permafrost area, covering 3.7 million km2 out of the estimated 18 million km2[26]) would amount to ~1% of anthropogenic radiative forcing by 2100, and that this proportion remains the same in all warming scenarios considered, from 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) to 6 °C (11 °F). It had further suggested that after 200 more years, those peatlands would have absorbed more carbon than what they had emitted into the atmosphere.[27]
The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report estimates that carbon dioxide and methane released from permafrost could amount to the equivalent of 14–175 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per 1 °C (1.8 °F) of warming.[28]: 1237 For comparison, by 2019, annual anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide alone stood around 40 billion tonnes.[28]: 1237
A 2021 assessment of the economic impact of climate tipping points estimated that permafrost carbon emissions would increase the
In 2021, a group of prominent permafrost researchers like
An updated 2022 assessment of climate tipping points concluded that abrupt permafrost thaw would add 50% to gradual thaw rates, and would add 14 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2100 and 35 billion tons by 2300 per every degree of warming. This would have a warming impact of 0.04 °C (0.072 °F) per every full degree of warming by 2100, and 0.11 °C (0.20 °F) per every full degree of warming by 2300. It also suggested that at between 3 °C (5.4 °F) and 6 °C (11 °F) degrees of warming (with the most likely figure around 4 °C (7.2 °F) degrees) a large-scale collapse of permafrost areas could become irreversible, adding between 175 and 350 billion tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, or 0.2–0.4 °C (0.36–0.72 °F) degrees, over about 50 years (with a range between 10 and 300 years).[35][36]
A major review published in the year 2022 concluded that if the goal of preventing 2 °C (3.6 °F) of warming was realized, then the average annual permafrost emissions throughout the 21st century would be equivalent to the year 2019 annual emissions of Russia. Under RCP4.5, a scenario considered close to the current trajectory and where the warming stays slightly below 3 °C (5.4 °F), annual permafrost emissions would be comparable to year 2019 emissions of Western Europe or the United States, while under the scenario of high global warming and worst-case permafrost feedback response, they would nearly match year 2019 emissions of China.[29]Antarctic
Antarctic tundra occurs on Antarctica and on several Antarctic and subantarctic islands, including
There is some ambiguity on whether Magellanic moorland, on the west coast of Patagonia, should be considered tundra or not.[39] Phytogeographer Edmundo Pisano called it tundra (Spanish: tundra Magallánica) since he considered the low temperatures key to restrict plant growth.[39]
The flora and fauna of Antarctica and the Antarctic Islands (south of 60° south latitude) are protected by the
Alpine
Alpine tundra does not contain trees because the climate and soils at high altitude block tree growth.
Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. The flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by plants that grow close to the ground, including
The flora is adapted to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season.Climatic classification
Tundra climates ordinarily fit the Köppen climate classification ET, signifying a local climate in which at least one month has an average temperature high enough to melt snow (0 °C (32 °F)), but no month with an average temperature in excess of 10 °C (50 °F).[44] The cold limit generally meets the EF climates of permanent ice and snows; the warm-summer limit generally corresponds with the poleward or altitudinal limit of trees,[45] where they grade into the subarctic climates designated Dfd, Dwd and Dsd (extreme winters as in parts of Siberia), Dfc typical in Alaska, Canada, mountain areas of Scandinavia, European Russia, and Western Siberia (cold winters with months of freezing).[46]
Despite the potential diversity of climates in the ET category involving precipitation, extreme temperatures, and relative wet and dry seasons, this category is rarely subdivided. Rainfall and snowfall are generally slight due to the low vapor pressure of water in the chilly atmosphere, but as a rule potential evapotranspiration is extremely low, allowing soggy terrain of swamps and bogs even in places that get precipitation typical of deserts of lower and middle latitudes.[47] The amount of native tundra biomass depends more on the local temperature than the amount of precipitation.[48]
Places featuring a tundra climate
- Alpine tundra
- Gavia Pass, Italy [49]
- Mount Fuji, Japan[50]
- Cerro de Pasco, Peru[51]
- Apartaderos, Venezuela
- Puno, Peru
- Kasprowy Wierch, Poland
- High Tatras, Slovakia
- Murghob, Tajikistan
- Mount Wellington, Australia
- Cairn Gorm, United Kingdom
- Putre, Chile
- Coranzuli, Argentina
- Yu Shan, Taiwan
- Juf, Switzerland
- Finse, Norway
- Sêrxü, China
- Polar tundra
- Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway[52]
- Yamal Peninsula, Russia
- Iqaluit, Canada[53]
- Utqiagvik, United States[54]
- Hooper Bay, United States
- Kerguelen Islands, French Southern Lands (France)[55]
- Nuuk, Greenland (Denmark) [56]
- Grytviken, South Georgia (United Kingdom)
- Tiksi, Russia
- Mykines, Faroe Islands (Denmark)
- Hveravellir, Iceland
- Tolhuin, Argentina
- Campbell Island, New Zealand
See also
References
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Further reading
- Allaby, Michael; Moore, Peter D.; Day, Trevor; Garratt, Richard (2008). Tundra. Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-5934-8.
Tundra.
- Bliss, L. C; ISBN 978-0-521-22776-6.
- Warhol, Tom (2007). Tundra. Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. ISBN 978-0-7614-2193-1.
- Yu I, Chernov (1998). The Living Tundra;Studies in Polar Research. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-35754-8.