World map showing the Arctic Circle in red

A sign along the Dalton Highway marking the location of the Arctic Circle in Alaska.

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that (as of 2000) runs 66° 33′ 39″ (or 66.56083°) north of the Equator. The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone. The equivalent latitude in the southern hemisphere is called the Antarctic Circle. Arctic Circle Restaurants is a chain of burger and shake restaurants based in Midvale, Utah. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3630x1870, 1365 KB) The original is a GIMP native XCF format (16 MB) which contains the base map with lines contained on separate layers. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3630x1870, 1365 KB) The original is a GIMP native XCF format (16 MB) which contains the base map with lines contained on separate layers. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1410 KB) This is a sign marking the location of the Arctic Circle along the Dalton Highway. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1410 KB) This is a sign marking the location of the Arctic Circle along the Dalton Highway. ... The highway and pipeline run generally parallel to each other; this segment is between the Arctic Circle and Coldfoot. ... On the Earth, a circle of latitude is an imaginary east-west circle that connects all locations with a given latitude. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... This article is about the geographical term. ... This article describes the unit of angle. ... This article describes the unit of angle. ... World map showing the equator in red In tourist areas, the equator is often marked on the sides of roads The equator marked as it crosses Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe. ... The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border Satellite image of the Arctic surface The Arctic is the region around the Earths North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. ... For the usage in virology, see temperate (virology). ... Zoomable PDF of the map this is based on The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. ...

The Arctic Circle marks the southern extremity of the polar day (24 hour sunlit day, often referred to as the "midnight sun") and polar night (24 hour sunless night). North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year, and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year. On the Arctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June solstice and December solstice respectively. The midnight sun at Nordkapp, Norway The midnight sun is a phenomenon, occurring in latitudes north of the arctic circle and south of the antarctic circle, where the sun is visible during at least 24 hours. ... The midnight sun at Nordkapp, Norway. ... The polar night is the night lasting more than 24 hours, usually inside the polar circles. ... Sol redirects here. ... Horizon. ... The hour (symbol: h) is a unit of time. ... A year (from Old English gēr) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... The June solstice occurs on June 21 or June 22 of most years, and is known by different names in different hemispheres of Earth: Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest day of the year. ... The December solstice occurs on December 21 or December 22 of most years, and is known by different names in different hemispheres of Earth: Winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the shortest day of the year. ...

In fact, because of atmospheric refraction and because the sun appears as a disk and not a point, part of the midnight sun may be seen on the night of the summer solstice up to about 50′ (90 km) south of the Arctic Circle; similarly, on the day of the winter solstice part of the sun may be seen up to about 50′ north of the Arctic Circle. This is true at sea level; these limits increase with elevation above sea level, although in mountainous regions there is often no direct view of the horizon. Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of altitude. ... A minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour and to 60 seconds. ...

The position of the Arctic Circle is not fixed, but varies in a complex manner over time; see circles of latitude for information. On the Earth, a circle of latitude is an imaginary east-west circle that connects all locations with a given latitude. ...

Geography and demographics

The geography north of the Arctic Circle is predominantly ocean, mostly ice-covered, but a great deal of land falls within the Circle as well. The Circle itself in fact passes through eight countries. From the Prime Meridian heading eastwards these are: The Arctic Ocean, located in the northern hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest of the worlds five major oceanic divisions and the shallowest. ... An icebreaker navigates through young (1 year old) sea ice Nilas Sea Ice in arctic Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. ... Location of the Prime Meridian Prime Meridian in Greenwich A GPS receiver at the Greenwich Meridian Laser projected from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich marking the Prime Meridian The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (today a museum) The 24-hour clock at Greenwich The Prime Meridian, also known as the International Meridian...

• Norway
• Sweden
• Finland
• Russia
• United States – Alaska
• Canada
• Greenland, a territory of Denmark
• Iceland – crosses the island of Grímsey

Very few people live north of the Arctic Circle due to the cold conditions. The three largest towns above the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia; Murmansk (population 325,100), Norilsk (135,000) and Vorkuta (85,000). Tromsø in Norway has about 62,000 inhabitants, whereas Rovaniemi in Finland — which lies slightly south of the line — has slightly fewer than 58,000. Official language(s) None[1] Spoken language(s) English 85. ... Grímsey north of Iceland Grímsey is a small island 40 km north off the northern coast of Iceland, situated directly on the arctic circle, at 66°3317N, 018°0103W, with a highest elevation of 105 meters. ... Murmansk coin Murmansk (Russian: ; Finnish: (archaic); Northern Sami: ; Skolt Sami: ) is a city in the extreme northwest part of Russia with a seaport on the Kola Bay, 12 km from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russias borders with Norway and... Norilsk downtown was designed in a typical Stalinist style. ... Vorkuta (Russian: ) is a coal mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic circle in the Pechora coal basin, at 67°30′N 64°00′E. It had its origin in one of the more notorious concentration camps of the Gulag which was established in... County Troms District Municipality NO-1902 Administrative centre Tromsø Mayor (2004) Herman Kristoffersen (Ap) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 18 2,566 km² 2,519 km² 0. ... City Rovaniemi (1960) Administrative Province Province of Lapland Historical Province Lappland Area  - Total  - Land  - Water Ranked 5th (municipalities), and 1st (cities) 8,016 km² 7,601 km² 415 km² Population  - Total (01/2006)  - Density Ranked 13th 58,500 7. ...

Recently the region north of the Arctic Circle has gained significant international attention due primarily to global warming. Initial attention came as a result of the fact that the earth's poles are the points at which the planet tends to warm the fastest thereby acting as harbingers of what is to come. At a more practical level, though, the melting of the ice in the Circle is making the so-called northwest passage, the shipping routes through the northern-most latitudes, more navigable raising the possibility that some day the Arctic region could become a prime trade route.^[1] In addition it is believed that the Arctic seabed may contain substantial oil fields which may become accessible if the ice covering them melts.^[2] These factors have led to recent international debates as to which nations can claim sovereignty or ownership over the waters north of the Circle.^[3] Global mean surface temperatures 1850 to 2006 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades and the projected... A geographical pole is either of two fixed points on the surface of a spinning body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body spins. ... An icebreaker navigates through young (1 year old) sea ice Nilas Sea Ice in arctic Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. ... For other uses, see Northwest Passage (disambiguation). ... Drilling rig in a small oil field Near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 An oil field is an area with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum (oil) from below ground. ...

See also

• Antarctic Circle
• Arctic haze
• Arctic Ocean
• Axial tilt
• Equator
• Solstice
• Tropic of Cancer
• Tropic of Capricorn

Zoomable PDF of the map this is based on The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. ... Arctic Haze describes the phenomena of a visible reddish-brown haze in the atmosphere at high latitudes in the Arctic due to air pollution. ... In astronomy, axial tilt is the inclination angle of a planets rotational axis in relation to a perpendicular to its orbital plane. ... World map showing the equator in red In tourist areas, the equator is often marked on the sides of roads The equator marked as it crosses Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe. ... “Summer solstice” redirects here. ... For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Cancer (novel). ... World map showing the Tropic of Capricorn For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Capricorn (novel). ...

References

External links

Look up Arctic Circle in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Topographical map of Arctic Circle, centered about North Pole
• Map of Arctic Circle (dotted line), showing major population areas
• Terra Incognita: Exploration of the Canadian Arctic — Historical essay about early expeditions to the Canadian Arctic, illustrated with maps, photographs and drawings
• Collection of Arctic Circle borders