ETYM Old Eng. artik, Old Fren. artique, French arctique, Latin arcticus, from Greek, from arktos a bear, also a northern constellation so called.
1. Extremely cold; SYN. freezing, frigid, gelid, glacial, icy, polar.
2. Of or relating to the Arctic.

Pertaining to the Arctic.

Množina: Arctics

The regions north of the Arctic Circle centered on the North Pole; Also called: Arctic Zone, North Frigid Zone.
The, That part of the northern hemisphere surrounding the North Pole; arbitrarily defined as the region lying N of the Arctic Circle (66º 32´N) or N of the tree line. There is no Arctic continent; the greater part of the region comprises the Arctic Ocean, which is the world's smallest ocean. Arctic climate, fauna, and flora extend over the islands and northern edges of continental land masses that surround the Arctic Ocean (Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland, Siberia, Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada)
area 36,000,000 sq km/14,000,000 sq mi
physical pack-ice floating on the Arctic Ocean occupies almost the entire region between the North Pole and the coasts of North America and Eurasia, covering an area that ranges in diameter from 3,000 km/1,900 mi to 4,000 km/2,500 mi. The pack-ice reaches a maximum extent in Feb when its outer limit (influenced by the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream) varies from 50ºN along the coast of Labrador to 75ºN in the Barents Sea N of Scandinavia. In spring the pack-ice begins to break up into ice floes which are carried by the south-flowing Greenland Current to the Atlantic Ocean. Arctic ice is at its minimum area in Aug. The greatest concentration of icebergs in Arctic regions is found in Baffin Bay. They are derived from the glaciers of W Greenland, then carried along Baffin Bay and down into the N Atlantic where they melt off Labrador and Newfoundland.
The Bering Straits are icebound for more than six months each year, but the Barents Sea between Scandinavia and Svalbard is free of ice and is navigable throughout the year. Arctic coastlines, which have emerged from the sea since the last Ice Age, are characterized by deposits of gravel and disintegrated rock. The area covered by the Arctic icecap shrank 2% 1978–87
climate permanent ice sheets and year-round snow cover are found in regions where average monthly temperatures remain below 0ºC/32ºF, but on land areas where one or more summer months have average temperatures between freezing point and 10ºC/50ºF, a stunted, treeless tundra vegetation is found. Mean annual temperatures range from -23ºC at the North Pole to -12ºC on the coast of Alaska. In winter the Sun disappears below the horizon for a time, but the cold is less severe than in parts of inland Siberia or Antartica. During the short summer season there is a maximum of 24 hours of daylight at the summer solstice on the Arctic Circle and six months’ constant light at the North Pole. Countries with Arctic coastlines established the International Arctic Sciences Committee 1987 to study ozone depletion and climatic change
flora and fauna the plants of the relatively infertile Arctic tundra (lichens, mosses, grasses, cushion plants, and low shrubs) spring to life during the short summer season and remain dormant for the remaining ten months of the year. There are no annual plants, only perennials. Animal species include reindeer, caribou, musk ox, fox, hare, lemming, wolf, polar bear, seal, and walrus. There are few birds except in summer when insects, such as mosquitoes, are plentiful
natural resources the Arctic is rich in coal (Svalbard, Russia), oil and natural gas (Alaska, Canadian Arctic, Russia), and mineral resources including gold, silver, copper, uranium, lead, zinc, nickel, and bauxite. Because of climatic conditions, the Arctic is not suited to navigation and the exploitation of these resources. Murmansk naval base on the Kola Peninsula is the largest in the world
population there are about 1 million aboriginal people including the Aleuts of Alaska, Native Americans, the Lapps of Scandinavia and Russia, the Yakuts, Samoyeds, Komi, Chukchi, Tungus, and Dolgany of Russia, and the Inuit of Siberian Russia, the Canadian Arctic, and Greenland.

Množina: Arctic Archipelagos

Archipelago Canada in Nunavut and Northwest Territories in Arctic Ocean.

Množina: Arctic belts

Množina: arctic circles

A line of latitude south of the north pole. Imaginary line that encircles the North Pole at latitude 66º 32´ North. Within this line there is at least one day in the summer during which the Sun never sets, and at least one day in the winter during which the Sun never rises.

Množina: arctic climates

Singular of Arctic explorations is Arctic exploration.

Množina: arctic foxes

Thickly-furred fox of Arctic regions; brownish in summer and white in winter; SYN. white fox, Alopex lagopus.
A small migratory Holarctic fox (Alopex lagopus) especially of coastal arctic and alpine tundra.

Množina: Arctic Oceans

Ice covered waters surrounding the North Pole; mostly covered with solid ice or with ice floes and icebergs.
Ocean surrounding the North Pole; area 14,000,000 sq km/5,400,000 sq mi. Because of the Siberian and North American rivers flowing into it, it has comparatively low salinity and freezes readily.
The ocean comprises:
Beaufort Sea off Canada/Alaska coast, named for British admiral Francis Beaufort; oil drilling allowed only in winter because the sea is the breeding and migration route of the bowhead whales, staple diet of the local Inuit people
Greenland Sea between Greenland and Svalbard
Norwegian Sea between Greenland and Norway.
From W to E along the north coast of Russia:
Barents Sea named for Willem Barents, which has oil and gas reserves and was strategically significant as the meeting point of the nato and Warsaw Pact forces. The White Sea is its southernmost gulf
Kara Sea renowned for bad weather and known as the “great ice cellar”
Laptev Sea between Taimyr Peninsula and New Siberian Island
East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea between Russia and the us; the seminomadic Chukchi people of ne Siberia finally accepted Soviet rule in the 1930s.
The Arctic Ocean has the world's greatest concentration of nuclear submarines, but at the same time there is much scientific cooperation on exploration, especially since Russia needs Western aid to develop oil and gas in its areas.