A biome of the far north and the highest mountains, too cold for trees to grow at all, characterized by a short summer growing season and, across most of the Arctic tundra, a layer of permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost that keeps meltwater from draining away and produces the biome's characteristic wet, hummocky ground. Vegetation is limited to low shrubs, grasses, mosses and lichens close to the ground, and the animals that live here year-round, such as the gray wolf's northern populations, carry heavy insulation and, often, seasonal coat color change. Antarctica's ice-free coastal fringe, where species such as the emperor penguin breed, shares the tundra biome's cold, low-precipitation character even though it is formally its own polar desert.
Facts
Climate
Annual Precipitation (mm) Typical Low Temperature (C) Typical High Temperature (C) Connections
Demonstrates
The tundra biome sits mainly within the high-latitude auroral oval, the band where aurora is visible on the greatest number of nights per year, making it the biome most closely associated with regularly observing the phenomenon.
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Home To
Source Wikidata: American Crow
Source Antarctic Peninsula (Wikipedia)
Source Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source Brant (goose) (Wikidata)
Source Common snipe (Wikipedia)
Antarctica's ice-free coastal fringe, where emperor penguins breed, is formally its own polar desert rather than tundra proper, but shares the tundra biome's cold, low-precipitation character; the atlas's founding seven biomes do not yet include a dedicated polar-ice type.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Koslov's Pika (Wikipedia)
Source Muskox (Wikipedia)
Source Red knot (Wikipedia)
Source Reindeer (Wikipedia)
Source Cladonia rangiferina, Wikipedia
Source Wikidata: Silene Stenophylla
Source Wikipedia: Snowy Owl
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source Tundra swan (Wikidata)
Source Wikipedia: Racomitrium lanuginosum
Sources
1. Tundra Biome (National Geographic Education)
National Geographic EducationTundra Biome - PrecipitationQuote, Tundra Biome - Precipitation
Tundra regions typically get less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation annually.
2. Tundra Climate (Blue Planet Biomes)
Blue Planet BiomesTundra Climate - Summer Temperatures
It never gets any warmer than 45 or 50 F.
Tundra Climate - Winter Temperatures
Winter temperatures don't reach above 20 F and average -20 to -30F.
View the Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/science/tundra, opening definition
tundra, a major zone of treeless level or rolling ground found in cold regions, mostly north of the Arctic Circle (Arctic tundra) or above the timberline on high mountains (alpine tundra). Tundra is known for large stretches of bare ground and rock and for patchy mantles of low vegetation such as mosses, lichens, herbs, and small shrubs. This surface supports a meagre but unique variety of animals. The Finns called their treeless northern reaches the tunturi, but the concept of a vast frozen plain as a special ecological realm called tundra was developed by the Russians.
- Home To: Emperor Penguin
- Home To: Arctic Tern
View the Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Antarctic Peninsula (Wikipedia)
World Wildlife Fund
Reindeer (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Reindeer, Wikipedia intro: "Rangifer tarandus) is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe,..."View the Source Wikipedia: Snowy Owl
WikipediaHome To: Snowy Owl, Wikipedia intro: "s are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mostly on the tundra. It has a number of unique adaptations to its habitat..."View the Source Wikipedia: Racomitrium lanuginosum
WikipediaHome To: Woolly Fringe-moss, Wikipedia intro: "Racomitrium lanuginosum is a widespread species of moss found in montane and arctic tundra, the genus Racomitrium is found across the Northern and Southern hemi..."View the Source Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) (Wikipedia)
Home To: Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus), Wikipedia intro: "ies of fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra. It is well adapted to living in cold environments, a..."View the Source Common snipe (Wikipedia)
Home To: Common snipe, Wikipedia intro: "inago c?lestis) is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World, where it breeds in marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows. It is usually shy and well-camouflag..."View the Source Koslov's Pika (Wikipedia)
Home To: Koslov's Pika, Wikipedia intro: ") is a species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae. It is endemic to China. Its natural habitat is tundra. It is threatened by habitat loss. Kozlov's pika are h..."View the Source Wolverine
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Wolverine, Wikipedia 'Wolverine': found primarily in remote reaches of the northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundraView the Source Muskox (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Muskox, Wikipedia 'Muskox': native to the Arctic (Greenland, Canadian Arctic, Alaska)View the Source Cladonia rangiferina, Wikipedia
Home To: Reindeer Lichen, Wikipedia 'Cladonia rangiferina': found primarily in areas of alpine tundraView the Source Wikidata: American Crow
Red knot (Wikipedia)
Wikidata: Silene Stenophylla
Tundra swan (Wikidata)
Brant (goose) (Wikidata)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Description
The Koppen climate classification, the standard reference scheme this entry's own hedge implicitly gestures toward, draws a firm line this entry does not fully draw: ET (tundra) requires at least one month averaging above freezing, while EF (ice cap, sometimes called polar desert) has no month above freezing at all. By Koppen's own criteria the two are separate climate classes, not one biome with a footnote; this entry's inclusion of Antarctica's ice-free coastal fringe under Tundra, while noting in its own prose that the area is "formally its own polar desert," is the simplified convention, not the only one a foundational climate classification supports.
A dissenting reading, from Wladimir KoppenEncyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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