Arctic Ocean
How can we save it?
Climate
Winters in the Arctic are long and cold and summers are short and cool. The Arctic has an average temperature of 32°F/0°C. Precipitation ,almost always in the form of snow, is a yearly average of 20 inches or less (51 cm). The Arctic is mostly covered by ice all year.
Animals of the region
Some animals of the region include the walrus, harp seal, ermine, polar bears, and Arctic fox.
Walrus
Adaptation: The walrus has to eat thousand of shellfish and krill each day. Its thick whiskers allow it feel the bottom of the ocean floor for shellfish and feel the water for krill.
Harp seal
Adaptation: Their white coats help them blend in with the snow. When the ice melts the swim north following schools of fish.
Ermine (weasel)
Adaptation: Lives wherever it can make a den , which is made out of rocks and loose earth, to raise young and store food.
Polar bear
Adaptation: They have a thick oily fur coat and layer of blubber under their skin. Before summer comes they eat as much as they can and then live off their fat bodies because the seals that they eat are hard to catch in the summer.
Arctic fox
Adaptation: They are hard to see in the snow because of their white fur coat. In the winter they have a white fur coat and in the summer it is a brownish- grey.
Arctic Ocean
Plants in the region.
Some Arctic plants include the frost flower, Arctic moss, seaweed.
Major threats
One of the major threats that affect the Arctic is global warming. Global warming is gradual increase in the overall temperature of the Earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. The greenhouse effect traps the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface.
How does global warming affect the Arctic?
The Arctic average temperatures are rising twice as fast, causing the ice to get thinner, and to melt. Polar bears, whales, walrus and seals are changing their feeding and migration patterns, and entire villages will be up rooted because they're in danger of being swamped. Animals who need the ice to survive are slowly dying off.
Can this be prevented?
Global warming can not be stopped, but it can be slowed down. If stop using fossil fuels, and instead of driving ride bikes or carpool, we can slow it down a couple hundred years.