Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is the invisible circle of latitude on the earth's surface at 66°33' north, marking the southern limit of the area where the sun does not rise on the winter solstice or set on the summer solstice - a geographic ring crowning the globe. It is approximately 1,650 miles from the North Pole. In Alaska, the Arctic Circle is approximately 125 miles north of Fairbanks (and there are tours to take you there, so you can say that you crossed the line!).
















Midnight Sun
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 those events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June and December solstices, respectively. Continuous day or night ranges from one day at the Arctic Circle to six months at the North Pole.

Locations such as Fairbanks have a special "festival" on the summer solstices (June 21) to celebrate 24 hours of daylight

• "Celebrating the longest day of the year with music, shopping, crafts, special entertainment, and a downtown street fair. Many stores stay open until midnight. "

• " One of the most popular solstice activities on June 21 is the Midnight Sun Baseball Game played by Fairbanks own semi-pro team, the Goldpanners. Beginning at 10:30 p.m. with no artificial lights, the game is a long-standing tradition from the gold-rush days. In 93 years, the game has never been postponed or delayed due to darkness. It draws the largest crowd of the season as fans cheer on their team well past midnight."

Geography

The Arctic Circle passes through the Arctic Ocean, the Scandinavian Peninsula, North Asia, Northern America and Greenland.

One third of Alaska is north of the Arctic Circle!




















Relatively few people live north of the Arctic Circle due to the Arctic climate. The three largest communities above the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia: Murmansk (population 325,100), Norilsk (135,000), and Vorkuta (85,000). In contrast, the largest North American community north of the circle, Barrow, Alaska, has approximately 4,000 inhabitants.

Arctic Weather
Many people believe that the Arctic is so cold nothing can survive there, but explorers and scientists have discovered that, except for Greenland, nine tenths of all arctic lands have little snow and ice during the summer. Trees may be missing, but berries, flowers, and even vegetables, grow there. While the sun doesn't shine much during the winter, it shines on the entire region for part of the day from March to September.

There is more snowfall in the lower 49 states than there is in the Arctic Regions. The reason is that the air is very dry and that there isn't enough moisture for there to be much snow.

It has been said that if Alaska did not have snow, it would be a desert!