Kalaallit Nunaat Arctic tundra

• Category: Grassland, Tundra, and Human Biomes.
• Geographic Location: Arctic.
• Summary: A demanding ecosystem where only very rugged species can survive; the fragile equilibrium, close to the freezing point, makes it highly vulnerable to climate change.

Kalaallit Nunaat is the indigenous Kalaallistut name for Greenland, the world’s largest island. Greenland, politically an autonomous unit of Denmark, has a total area of 836,330 square miles (2.2 million square kilometers) and is bordered by the North Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, the Arctic Ocean to the north, Greenland Sea to the east, and Baffin Bay to the west. Greenland boasts the world’s largest national park: Northeast Greenland National Park, with an area of 375,291 square miles (972,000 square kilometers). It also has many hot springs distributed throughout the territory. The area around this habitat is highly vegetated, with willow scrubs and a wide variety of heath species.

Greenland’s climate is Arctic, with summer temperatures below 41 degrees F (5 degrees C). Only on the southwestern coast of the island do summer temperatures rise above 50 degrees F (10 degrees C), producing a small sub-Arctic region. The northern part of Greenland is subject to four months of semidarkness during winter, and midnight sun during summer. Close to Melville Bay here, the aurora borealis, often referred to as the northern lights—caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high-altitude atmosphere—can almost constantly be observed in the night sky.

The Kalaallit Nunaat Arctic tundra is a treeless biome with the lower soil layer permanently frozen; this is known as permafrost. Plants are adapted to extreme climate conditions, including dark winters, low precipitation, and low Arctic temperatures. The ice-free areas are restricted to the coastal fringes, while 80 percent of the land is beneath the second-largest ice cap in the world.

Low and High Arctic Tundra

Greenland is divided in two ecoregions: low and high Arctic tundra. The low Arctic region lies south 70 degrees north latitude, found particularly at the heavily sculpted inlet system known as Scoresby Sund on the east coast, and south of 75 degrees north at Melville Bay on the west coast—while the high Arctic tundra lies north of these latitudes.

The high Arctic tundra itself is divided into three latitudinal regions along the east coast: Peary Land from the northernmost point of Greenland to 79 degrees north, the midcoast at 72–79 degrees north, and Jameson Land at the transition from low Arctic to high Arctic. In Peary Land, as an example, precipitation is always in the form of snow, in a range of 1–8 inches (25–200 millimeters) per year.

Flora

Very little of any zone is covered with vegetation. Typical species that are present in Peary Land include snowbed varieties of mosses, heaths of Arctic bell heather, fellfield, and Carex stands. The midcoast region is characterized by halophytic, or salt-tolerant, vegetation; flora communities here include fellfields, wet fens, dwarf shrub heaths, grasslands, snowbeds, and Dryas heaths. Jameson Land has 75 percent vegetation cover; it is rich in mosses, fellfield, and dwarf shrubs, which together make it an important foraging area for musk oxen in both winter and summer.

In the low Arctic tundra ecoregion, vegetation is dominated by dwarf shrubs, Betula spp., and Dryas spp. at the coast, with various willows (Salix spp.) and sedges (Carex spp.) dominating inland. Along watercourses, thickets of willow grow 13–16 feet (4–5 meters) tall.

Fauna

Despite the challenging climatic conditions, many animal species have successfully adapted to the environment. Greenland is home to the Arctic fox, a predator that has white fur during the winter and brown fur during the summer; caribou; Arctic hare, a rabbit that can run up to 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour; Arctic wolf; the threatened polar bear, the world’s largest land carnivore, which spends most of its time at sea; musk ox; wolverine, a powerful predator able to kill prey many times its size; ermine; and collared lemming. Dwelling near the coast are a few marine mammals, including the harp seal, ringed seal, bearded seal, hooded seal, and Atlantic walrus.

Greenland’s avifauna is highly diverse; many of the migratory bird species come during the breeding season in summer. They feed mainly on mosquitoes and other insects. Among the bird species are the barnacle goose, king eider, pink-footed goose, common eider, snowy owl, gyrfalcon, rock ptarmigan, knot, sanderling, and common raven. As winter approaches, the migratory birds on the west coast migrate further southward across North America, while those on the east coast migrate to western Asia.

Conservation and Environmental Threats

Greenland has a human population of about 56,000 inhabitants. It is generally a land of subsistence fishing, herding, and small-scale farming. Northeast Greenland National Park was created in 1974 to preserve Greenland’s biodiversity from hunting pressure and to protect the vital habitats on which its fauna depend. In 1977, it was designated an international Biosphere Reserve. About 40 percent of the world’s population of musk oxen reside within the limits of the park, and many bird species have found a breeding ground there as well.

Other conservation efforts include the designation of 11 Ramsar Wetlands sites throughout Greenland: Aqajarua and Sullorsuaq, Qinnquata Marra and Kuussuaq, Kuannersuit Kuussuat, Kitsissunnguit, Naternaq, Eqalummiut Nuaat and Nassuttuup Nunaa, Ikkattoq, Kitsissut Avalliit, Heden, Hochstetter Forland, and Kilen. The latter two are located within Northeast Greenland National Park.

One of the major threats to Greenland is climate change. As temperatures increase, there will be a lengthening of the growing season, thawing of the permafrost, enhancement of soil microbial activity, and subsequent expansion of shrubs northward, all of which would alter the landscape. A few high-Arctic plants are expected to become extinct, such as the Ranunculus sabinei, which is limited to the narrow coastal zone. In 2024, for the twenty-eighth year in a row, the glaciers of Greenland retreated. Although the recent climatic history of Greenland shows a trend toward cooling, a warming trend is projected through 2100. Snowfall may increase under this warming scenario.

In the early twenty-first century, the musk ox and caribou populations have crashed in southern Greenland as a result of an altered freeze-thaw cycle of the upper permafrost layer, which resulted in ice crusting and decreased forage availability. This issue is of concern due to the high probability that such events will increase in frequency as a result of short-term fluctuations in temperature. Scientific projections based on actual air temperatures show that western Greenland’s goose population may decline as a result of initial cooling in their breeding grounds, accompanied by cooler summers, later snow melt, and less snow-free space for feeding and breeding.

Bibliography

Bliss, L. C., and N. V. Matveyeva. “Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation.” In Arctic Ecosystems in a Changing Climate: An Ecophysiological Perspective, edited by F. S. I. Chapin, et al. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1992.

Callaghan, Terry V., et al. “Arctic Tundra and Polar Desert Ecosystems.” In Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

"Climate Change: For 25th Year in a Row, Greenland Ice Sheet Shrinks." United Nations, 7 Jan. 2022, news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1109352. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.

Egevan, Carsten and David Boertmann. “The Greenland Ramsar Sites: A Status Report.” Ministry of Environment and Energy, National Environmental Research Institute, Denmark, Feb. 2001. . Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.

“NASA Study: More Greenland Ice Lost Than Previously Estimated.” NASA, 17 Jan. 2024, www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-study-more-greenland-ice-lost-than-previously-estimated/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.