Description:
The land mass in the Arctic - Greenland and parts of Canada, Alaska, Russia and the Nordic countries - surrounds the Arctic Ocean. In the low Arctic, down to the temperate regions, the taiga coniferous forests represents a vast band of deep forests. North of the taiga, the tundra of the Arctic - with low vegetation, shrubs and various degrees of permafrosts spreads out. Beyond the tundra, there might be barren regions with only rock and few plants. Greenland, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and the northern islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are covered in ice - glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet.