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23-538: The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic , north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska , Canada , Iceland , the north of Fennoscandia , Northwestern Russia , Siberia , and the Cairngorms . Generally, subarctic regions fall between 50°N and 70°N latitude , depending on local climates. Precipitation is usually low, and vegetation

46-632: A counterclockwise pattern. Hurricanes and tropical storms (massive low-pressure systems) spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The shadow of a sundial moves clockwise on latitudes north of the subsolar point and anticlockwise to the south. During the day at these latitudes, the Sun tends to rise to its maximum at a southerly position. Between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator,

69-530: A few parts of Europe where the winters are relatively mild due to prevailing wind and ocean current patterns, subarctic regions were not explored until the 18th and 19th centuries. Even then, the difficulty of transportation ensured that few settlements (most of them are created for mining ) lasted long—such as the abandoned, once-thriving cities of the Yukon , Northwest Territories and increasingly Siberia illustrate this. The Trans-Siberian Railway , which skirts

92-568: Is a seasonal variation in the lengths of the day and night. There is also a seasonal variation in temperatures, which lags the variation in day and night. Conventionally, winter in the Northern Hemisphere is taken as the period from the December solstice (typically December 21 UTC ) to the March equinox (typically March 20 UTC), while summer is taken as the period from the June solstice through to

115-561: Is characteristic of the taiga . Daylight at these latitudes is quite extreme between summer and winter due to its high latitude. Near the summer solstice for instance, subarctic regions can experience an all-night period of either civil, nautical, or astronomical twilight (or in the northern reaches full daylight), since the sun never dips more than 18 degrees below the horizon. Noctilucent clouds are best observed within this range of latitude. Subarctic temperatures are above 10 °C (50 °F) for at least one and at most three months of

138-570: The Coriolis effect . The currents then bend to the right, heading north. At about 30 degrees north latitude, a different set of winds, the westerlies , push the currents back to the east, producing a closed clockwise loop. Its surface is 60.7% water, compared with 80.9% water in the case of the Southern Hemisphere , and it contains 67.3% of Earth's land. The continents of North America and mainland Eurasia are located entirely in

161-489: The Grand Banks and Sea of Okhotsk are two of the richest fisheries in the world and provide support for many small towns. Except for those areas that are well-drained or adjacent to warm ocean currents , there is almost always continuous permafrost due to the very cold winters and short summers. This means that building in most subarctic regions is very difficult and expensive: cities are very few ( Murmansk being

184-465: The Northern temperate zone . The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather. Tropical regions (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, 0° latitude) are generally hot all year round and tend to experience a rainy season during the summer months, and a dry season during

207-547: The September equinox (typically on 23 September UTC). The dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the astronomical year . Within the Northern Hemisphere, oceanic currents can change the weather patterns that affect many factors within the north coast. Such events include El Niño–Southern Oscillation . Trade winds blow from east to west just above the equator. The winds pull surface water with them, creating currents, which flow westward due to

230-583: The last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. Earth is currently in an interglacial period of the Quaternary , called the Holocene . The glaciations that occurred during the glacial period covered many areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The Arctic is a region around the North Pole (90° latitude ). Its climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation mostly comes in

253-424: The 1950s and 1960s. Hydro-Quebec in particular has carried out many engineering works in regions of near-continuous permafrost, but these have never supported a significant population and have only mainly served densely populated southern Quebec . Tourism in recent years has become a major source of revenue for most countries of the subarctic due to the beautiful, generally glacial landscapes so characteristic of

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276-717: The Northern Hemisphere compared to the Southern Hemisphere, making the Northern Hemisphere more suitable for deep-space observation, as it is not "blinded" by the Milky Way. As of 2015, the Northern Hemisphere is home to approximately 6.4 billion people, which is around 87.0% of the Earth's total human population of 7.3 billion people. Bush airplane A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as

299-630: The Northern Hemisphere, together with about two-thirds of Africa and a small part of South America . During the 2.5 million years of the Pleistocene , numerous cold phases called glacials ( Quaternary ice age ), or significant advances of continental ice sheets, in Europe and North America , occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. The long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of

322-606: The Sun can be seen to the north, directly overhead, or to the south at noon, depending on the time of year. In the Southern Hemisphere, the midday Sun is predominantly in the north. When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Moon appears inverted compared to a view from the Southern Hemisphere. The North Pole faces away from the Galactic Center of the Milky Way . This results in the Milky Way being sparser and dimmer in

345-497: The edge of the region, provided a major boost to Russian settlement in the subarctic, as did the intensive industrialization under Joseph Stalin that relied on the enormous mineral resources of the Central Siberian Plateau . Today, many towns in subarctic Russia are declining precipitously as mines close. In Canada, after the early minerals ran out, development stalled until hydroelectric development occurred in

368-652: The form of snow. Areas inside the Arctic Circle (66°34′ latitude) experience some days in summer when the Sun never sets, and some days during the winter when it never rises. The duration of these phases varies from one day for locations right on the Arctic Circle to several months near the Pole, which is the middle of the Northern Hemisphere. Between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer (23°26′ latitude) lies

391-711: The largest) and generally small, whilst roads are also few. Subarctic rail transport only exists in Europe (lines to Narvik and Murmansk) and the Norilsk – Dudinka line in northern Siberia , as well as the Alaska Railroad in Alaska and short sections of rail lines in Canada reaching northward into the lower subarctic. An important consequence is that transportation usually tends to be restricted to "bush" planes , helicopters and, in summer, riverboats . Except for

414-499: The lowest elevations. Soils of the subarctic are in which leaching of nutrients takes place even in the most heavily glaciated regions. The dominant soil orders are podsols and, further north, gelisols . Subarctic regions are often characterized by taiga forest vegetation as deciduous trees can't withstand the long winters, though where winters are relatively mild, as in northern Norway , broadleaf forest may occur—though in some cases soils remain too saturated almost throughout

437-608: The region. Most areas in the subarctic are among the most expensive places in the world to visit, due to both high costs of living and transportation inaccessibility. Nonetheless, the great opportunities for outdoor recreation lure an ever-increasing number of travelers. At the same time, the older industries of the subarctic (fishing, mining, hydroelectric power) are being threatened by both environmental opposition and overfishing leading to depleted stocks of commercially important species living in this region. Northern Hemisphere Due to Earth's axial tilt of 23.439281°, there

460-448: The weather patterns that affect many factors within the north coast. For the same reason, flows of air down toward the northern surface of the Earth tend to spread across the surface in a clockwise pattern. Thus, clockwise air circulation is characteristic of high pressure weather cells in the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, air rising from the northern surface of the Earth (creating a region of low pressure) tends to draw air toward it in

483-489: The winter months. In the Northern Hemisphere, objects moving across or above the surface of the Earth tend to turn to the right because of the Coriolis effect . As a result, large-scale horizontal flows of air or water tend to form clockwise-turning gyres . These are best seen in ocean circulation patterns in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. Within the Northern Hemisphere, oceanic currents can change

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506-611: The year to sustain any tree growth and the dominant vegetation is a peaty herbland dominated by grasses and sedges . Typically, there are only a few species of large terrestrial mammals in the subarctic regions, the most important being elk, moose ( Alces alces ), bears , reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ), and wolves ( Canis lupus ). Agriculture is mainly limited to animal husbandry as many crops can't be grown here, though in some areas barley can be grown. Canada and Siberia are very rich in minerals, notably nickel , molybdenum , cobalt , lead , zinc and uranium , whilst

529-620: The year. Precipitation tends to be low due to the low moisture content of the cold air but isn't to the point to semiarid regions. Precipitation is typically greater in warmer months, with a summer maximum ranging from moderate in North America to extreme in the Russian Far East . Except in the wettest areas glaciers are not large because of the lack of winter precipitation; in the wettest areas, however, glaciers tend to be very abundant and Pleistocene glaciation covered even

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