Cryosols of the Circumarctic Region - Cryopedology - page 78

Chapter 8
Cryosols of the Circumarctic Region

8.1 Introduction

As seen in the previous chapter, the circumarctic region contains 11.4 million km 2 ,
or 83 % of the cryosols worldwide. These soils are divided on the basis of various
physiographic schemes developed by country. The Russian Arctic is commonly
divided into the Arctic archipelagos, northeastern Eurasia, the European North,
western Siberia, and central Siberia (Kimble 2004 ). Canada is often divided into the
High Arctic, the Mid-Arctic, and the Low Arctic (Tarnocai 2004 ). Arctic Alaska
contains the Arctic Coastal Plain, the Arctic Foothills, western Alaska, and interior
Alaska (Ping et al. 2004 ). Cryosols fringe the coast in Greenland from about 69°N
to the tip at Cape Morris Jesup at 83°38 S). Soils of the mountains within the cir-

cumarctic region are considered in Chap. 10 .

′

8.2 Soil-Forming Factors

8.2.1 Climate, Permafrost, and Active-Layer Thickness

The climate of the circumarctic is determined by proximity to oceans, elevation, and
latitude. The mean annual air temperature ranges from −0.5° to about −8 °C in the
Low Arctic of Eurasia, North America and Greenland, from −8 to −16 °C in the
Mid-Arctic, and from −16 to −18 °C in the High Arctic (Table 8.1 ). The mean tem-
perature of July, the warmest month, ranges from 5.7 to 17 °C in the Low Arctic,
from 4.5 to 12 °C in the Mid-Arctic, and from 1 to 7.6 °C in the High Arctic. The
mean annual precipitation ranges from 150 to 1,200 mm in the Low Arctic, from
100 to 400 mm in the Mid-Arctic, and from 100 to 200 mm in the High Arctic.
Most of the high-latitude areas with cryosols have continuous permafrost, but
discontinuous permafrost is present in the Russian European North and central