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Jökulland

Geography

This is the northern continent, separated from the Dõng continent by the Rivëar Ocean.

Climate

The climate on this tiny continent is very cold: there is only inlandsis with a bit of tundra on some of the coasts.

Ice cap climate, or inlandsis, is the world's coldest climate, and includes the coldest places on Earth. Since the temperature never exceeds the melting point of ice, any snow or ice that accumulates remains there permanently, over time forming a large ice sheet. The constant freezing temperatures cause the formation of large ice sheets in ice cap climates.

These ice sheets, however, are not static, but slowly move off the continents into the surrounding waters. New snow and ice accumulation then replaces the ice that is lost. Precipitation is quite rare in ice cap climates. It is never warm enough for rain, and usually too cold to generate snow. However, wind can blow snow onto the ice sheets from nearby tundras.

On the contrary, a tundra climate has a summer season with temperatures consistently above freezing for several months but no month with an average temperature in excess of 10 °C. This summer is enough to melt the winter ice cover, which prevents the formation of ice sheets. Because of this, tundras have vegetation, while ice caps do not.

Fauna & Flora

The flora and fauna is very limited and only found in the tundra part of the continent.   The plants are mainly low shrubs, lichen, moss and sedges. The flora that grows here is extremely resilient to the cold weather. Their roots grow close to the surface of the hard soil, so that they can suck up the small amount of water that falls on the ground. In summer, when the ice and top layer of soil thaws, many plants are given the opportunity to grow and reproduce. The melted ice produces pools of water – lakes, bogs, marshes and swamps - which attracts many insects and animals such as birds to the biome.   Other animals that live in the tundra include polar bears, polar foxes, caribous and reindeers, penguins, grey wolves, snow geese and musk oxen. All these animals have adapted to the cold weather, with extra layers of fat, which helps them keep warm.
Type
Continent
Location under
Included Organizations

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