{"id":31888,"date":"2025-04-10T11:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31888"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:36:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T11:06:03","slug":"arctic-biome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/arctic-biome\/","title":{"rendered":"Arctic Biome"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Arctic Biome Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>The 2024 Arctic Report Card by the US NOAA confirms this trend, noting that frequent fires and fossil fuel pollution are turning the Arctic tundra into a carbon source.<\/p>\n<h2>The Arctic Biome<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Arctic Biome <\/strong>is a <strong>treeless plain<\/strong> with <strong>permafrost<\/strong> within a meter of the soil surface. <strong>Summers<\/strong> cause only the top layer to thaw, limiting <strong>plant growth<\/strong> and <strong>root penetration<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Despite its <strong>rocky, nutrient-poor soil<\/strong>, the tundra holds <strong>large amounts of carbon<\/strong> in <strong>peat (decayed moss)<\/strong> and <strong>humus (organic matter)<\/strong>, making it a <strong>critical carbon sink<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Arctic tundra biome<\/strong> spans <strong>11.5 million km\u00b2<\/strong>, covering land <strong>north of the Arctic Circle<\/strong>, including <strong>parts of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Eurasia<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>climate<\/strong> here is <strong>extremely cold<\/strong>, with <strong>temperatures ranging from -60\u00b0C in winter to 15.5\u00b0C in summer<\/strong>. <strong>Annual precipitation<\/strong> is low (150\u2013250 mm), mostly in <strong>snow and sleet form<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Vegetation is <strong>herbaceous<\/strong>, including <strong>grasses, lichens, mosses<\/strong>, and <strong>low shrubs<\/strong> like <strong>dwarf willows<\/strong>, adapted to <strong>cold, wind, and poor soil<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Animal life<\/strong> includes <strong>caribou, polar bears, arctic foxes, musk ox<\/strong>, and <strong>migratory birds<\/strong> like <strong>loons and snow geese<\/strong>. <strong>Insects<\/strong> like mosquitoes flourish in the summer due to melting snow.<\/li>\n<li>Human habitation is limited, mainly to <strong>coastal areas<\/strong>, with indigenous communities like the <strong>Eskimos<\/strong> living <strong>semi-nomadic lives<\/strong> and relying on <strong>fishing and hunting<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Resource extraction<\/strong> has increased in recent decades. Examples include <strong>gold mining in Alaska<\/strong>, <strong>petroleum in Kenai Peninsula<\/strong>, and <strong>iron ore in Labrador, Canada, and Kiruna, Sweden<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Infrastructure like <strong>railways and Arctic ports<\/strong> have enabled the <strong>transport of minerals, timber, and furs<\/strong>, especially from <strong>Siberia<\/strong>, assisted by <strong>modern icebreakers<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Arctic Boreal Zone (ABZ): From Carbon Sink to Carbon Source<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Arctic Boreal Zone (ABZ)<\/strong> \u2014 comprising <strong>tundra, coniferous forests, and wetlands<\/strong> \u2014 has historically acted as a <strong>major carbon sink<\/strong>, storing vast amounts of <strong>organic matter in permafrost<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>A study in <strong>Nature Climate Change<\/strong> (2025) found that <strong>over 30% of the ABZ<\/strong> has <strong>stopped sequestering carbon<\/strong> and is now <strong>releasing it<\/strong>, reversing <strong>centuries of carbon absorption<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Permafrost Thaw: Permafrost<\/strong> is <strong>permanently frozen ground<\/strong> rich in <strong>organic material<\/strong>. As <strong>global warming raises topsoil temperatures<\/strong>, this material <strong>decomposes<\/strong>, releasing <strong>carbon dioxide and methane<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>This triggers a <strong>feedback loop<\/strong>: <strong>Wildfires release carbon<\/strong>, increasing <strong>global warming<\/strong>, which in turn <strong>thaws more permafrost<\/strong>, leading to <strong>more fires and emissions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Arctic Biome FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What defines the Arctic biome?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The Arctic biome comprises tundra ecosystems with permafrost, low biodiversity, and extreme cold. It spans northern latitudes (66.5\u00b0N+) and hosts species like polar bears, Arctic foxes, and migratory birds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>Why is the Arctic ecologically significant?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> It regulates global climate via ice-albedo feedback, stores methane in permafrost, and serves as a breeding ground for marine species critical to fisheries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>What threats does climate change pose to the Arctic?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Warming at 3x the global rate melts sea ice (13% loss\/decade), disrupts Indigenous communities, and risks releasing 1,400 gigatons of trapped carbon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>How is India involved in Arctic governance?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> India\u2019s Himadri research station (Svalbard) studies climate impacts. It holds observer status in the Arctic Council and collaborates on sustainable development.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5. <\/strong>Name a key treaty protecting the Arctic.<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The Svalbard Treaty (1920) grants signatories non-discriminatory resource access while mandating environmental preservation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/wildfires-arctic-boreal-zone-carbon-sink-emissions\/article69360974.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Arctic Biome is a treeless plain with permafrost within a meter of the soil surface. Summers cause only the top layer to thaw, limiting plant growth and root penetration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}