Cold environments

Cold environments

1. BLOCK 1

   • characteristics
     • polar regions have temperatures that fall below -50
     • tundra regions are around -20 but are above 0 in the summer in many cases
     • both tundra and polar have low precipitation levels
   • animals
     • caribou
       • thick snouts and wide hooves
       • can find the lichen under snow and can live on poor nutrients for a long time
     • snowy owl
       • thick white coats
     • arctic wolves
       • 2 layers of fur, outer layer thick, inner waterproof
     • emperor penguin
       • can loose 50% of bodyweight and eat 1/3 of bodyweight in one sitting, layesr of fat, waterproof and thick fur
     • polar bear
       • fur on feat and fat and fur on body, large feet, small ears, sharp teeth, strong legs
   • plants
     • some have hairs to keep warm
     • have a large surface area in summer to get maximum photosynthesis and in winter they shed it all and become very compact and almost shut down
     • roots are shallow to pick up water and to be compact
     • the bearberry bush
     • arctic poppy
     • arctic willow
       • dwarf shrub
     • many mosses and lichens
   • issues with biodiversity
     • unique arctic environments are decreasing
     • population of species are going down
     • the extent of protected areas is growing
     • changes in the arctic could have global repercussions due to the productive waters

2. Block 2- case study Svalbard Norway

   • The town is called long year byen and it is 78 degrees north, 800 miles from the north pole and has 50 km of road
   • anyone leaving the town must take a gun for polar bears
   • more registered snow mobiles than people
   • from October to February the sun doesn't rise at all
   • they get their money from: coal, research, tourism and education
   • flights going to Svalbard's modern airport , takes cards for payment, there is wifi, many tour companies, cruise ships bring in some money as well
   • more than 300 people ( 10% of population ) are employed in the coal mining
   • The Lunckefjell coal mine contains 120 million tons of coal and sells 2 million each year, largest industry but is seeing job losses
   • has potential for geothermal energy
   • the cold waters of the Barents sea south of Svalbard are one of the richest fishing grounds in he world
   • 150 species of fish exist in the ecosystem
   • the waters are important breeding and nursery grounds so they must be fished sustainably and protected from pollution
   • by people walking on the tundra they can kill the plants and damage the ecosystem severely
   • litter can be dropped
   • an oil spill could happen due to a shipwreck of a cruise
   • over 120 bears have been shot in self defence
   • buildings can be prone to flooding so houses are built on stilts and can be moved
   • roads and pipes are insulated to stop permafrost melting

3. Block 3

   • The vegetation can be damaged by oil spills, trampling, mineral extractions or other things like melting permafrost
   • off road vehicles break up plants, melt the permafrost, any pollution changes air quality a lot as it is very clean air
   • OIL DEVELOPMENT IN SIBERIA can cause trees to die, risks of fire, rivers become polluted and vegetation may never recover from an oil spill
   • cold environments must be protected as many indigenous people such as the Inuit live there
   • many animals that live in arctic waters are at the bottom of the food chain for most of the world such as fish or krill
   • the ice and permafrost contain a lot of methane and carbon dioxide and also when the ice goes dark water or brown plants replace it absorbing more heat
   • oil exploration has made life more difficult for the komi people of Siberia due to oil spills, it stoips their nomadic herding but gives them jobs and creates a PMA
   • Alaska
     • The trans- alantic pipeline crosses rivers and a mountain range, the hot oil could melt the permafrost and it could break in an earthquake
     • pumping stations occur along the line to keep the oil moving and the pipeline goes under rivers rather than over them
     • the pipeline is normally raised to prevent the oil freezing or the permafrost melting
     • the pipeline being raised means animals can migrate under it
     • the pipeline is supported and can slide if earthquakes happen. the flow of oil stops automatically if there is a leak
     • The oil spill exxon valdez caused many conflicts due to it being the largest oil spill in us history and it was in such a remote area. 42 million litres of crude was spilled and the clean up cost was around 2 billion us dollars
     • the Antarctic treaty is that nobody owns the Antarctic and we will work together to protect it
     • shell has abandoned arctic drilling due to greenpeace and big companies such as lego have stopped working with shell

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