The treeless frozen north around the North Pole, where an ocean sits ringed by land and eight countries meet. Home to polar bears, narwhals and Arctic foxes — and to peoples who have thrived here for thousands of years.
The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land — the opposite of Antarctica — with sea ice, treeless tundra, midnight sun and polar night. Eight Arctic states hold territory around it.
Permafrost holds the ground frozen for thousands of years, so the tundra grows mosses, lichens and dwarf shrubs rather than tall trees. Its animals include polar bears, narwhals, Arctic foxes and migratory Arctic terns.
The tundra is not static: repeat photographs record taller shrubs at some sites, while lemming cycles and caribou timing move energy through the landscape on different clocks.
The Arctic is really an ocean surrounded by land, the exact opposite of Antarctica, which is land surrounded by ocean.
A polar bear's fur is not truly white — each hair is see-through and hollow, and the skin beneath it is jet black.
The Arctic tern flies a round trip of around 70,000 km between the Arctic and the Antarctic each year — the longest migration of any animal.
Beneath the tundra lies permafrost, ground that has stayed frozen for thousands of years.
In midsummer the sun never sets here, and in deep winter it never climbs above the horizon.
The narwhal's long spiral tusk is really a single giant tooth that can grow to about 3 metres.
Field Notes
The Land of the Midnight Sun
Because the Earth is tilted, the very top of the world leans towards the Sun in summer and away from it in winter. So near the North Pole the sun can stay up for weeks without setting — a bright night people call the Midnight Sun.
Half a year later it does the opposite and hides for weeks, and the long, dark winter begins. In that darkness a magical light show appears: the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, glowing green and purple as tiny particles from the Sun crash into the air high above.
The word 'Arctic' comes from an old Greek word for 'the bear' — after the Great Bear star pattern that circles the northern sky.
Research Report
Why There Are No Trees
The Arctic tundra is a frozen desert without a single tall tree. Just below the surface lies permafrost, ground that has stayed frozen solid for thousands of years, so roots cannot dig down deep.
The summer is short and cool — often only a month or two warm enough for plants to grow — and the winds are strong. So instead of trees, the tundra grows a tough carpet of mosses, lichens, cotton grass and tiny dwarf shrubs that hug the ground to stay out of the wind.
When the brief summer comes, the top layer thaws and the tundra bursts into flower, drawing insects, birds and grazing herds north to feast.
Expert Dossier
People of the Frozen North
The Arctic is not empty — about four million people live there, and around one in ten belong to Indigenous peoples whose families have called the North home for thousands of years. Among them are the Inuit of Canada, Greenland and Alaska, and the Sámi of northern Scandinavia, who have long herded reindeer across the tundra.
These communities are expert readers of ice, weather and animals, and their deep knowledge of creatures like the narwhal often reaches back long before outside scientists arrived. Today that traditional know-how works side by side with modern science to help everyone understand and care for a fast-changing Arctic.