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Cold & High Altitude Environments

Cold & High Altitude Environments. Characteristics & Challenges. High Altitude. Periglacial. Glacial. Polar. Extreme environments – cold or hot – have extreme temperatures, landforms, erosional processes, little vegetation, poor soil quality and scarcity of water.

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Cold & High Altitude Environments

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  1. Cold & High Altitude Environments Characteristics & Challenges

  2. High Altitude Periglacial Glacial Polar

  3. Extreme environments – cold or hot – have extreme temperatures, landforms, erosional processes, little vegetation, poor soil quality and scarcity of water. • Considered “extreme” because they are inhospitable to humans in terms of major challenges to habitation and resource development • They are often remote environments – continent centre or high elevation - therefore difficult to access • Cold environments are confined to high latitudes, meaning 66 degrees North and South respectively OR at non-tropical high altitudes. Extreme Environments

  4. Areas surrounding the South and North Poles (Circle) • Circles found at 66.5 degrees latitude and above • Have temperatures of less than 10 degrees all year • Receive least amount of sunlight (24h dark in winter) • Cover more than 20% of earth’s surface. • Dominated by polar ice caps Ex: Antarctica’s Polar Ice Sheet (contains 70% earth’s fresh water) • Southern polar region has no permanent human habitation • Countries with settlements in northern polar region: USA Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland Polar

  5. Found at either polar OR high altitude environments where solid compacted snow has become ice. • Need high snowfall in winter to survive, so found above the snow line – snow line height depends on latitude… Washington State: 5,500feet Central Africa: 16, 700 feet Antarctica: sea level • Most glaciers are located within Antarctica or Greenland • Almost no glaciers or glaciation in Siberia.. Why? • Ice is the major transport process, followed by wind and water (due to melting ice in summer months). Glacial

  6. Perimeans ‘marginal’ or ’surrounding’ – these regions are those bordering glacial environments • Intense cycles of freezing & thawing (temperature rises above freezing for few summer months) • Permafrost in these environments: permanently frozen ground usually hundreds of metres deep • Has three types: • ARCTIC CONTINENTAL – areas on arctic region • ARCTIC MARITIME – areas along coastal arctic • ALPINE – areas in mountains not located in arctic Periglacial

  7. Can be located in polar and non-polar environments. • Characterized by high levels of elevation (mountains) At least 109 mountains with elevations above 23, 600 feet • Formed through movement of earth’s tectonic plates (fold/thrust, strike slip, fault/block) • For every 3200feet (1000metres) ascended, 6.5degrees C is lost b/c low air pressure… the environmental lapse rate Everest temp: -20C in July and -60C in January • Unpredictable weather: heavy snowfall, extreme temp lows, high windspeeds = high rates of physical weathering High Altitude

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