Northern Arctic

Average temperatures: from -1.5 C to 4 C in summer and -31 C to -20 C in winter Landscape: rolling plains and the occasional exposed rock with shallow soils; permafrost is continuous and may extend to several hundred metres in depth; plant life is sparse Wildlife: Peary and barren ground caribou, muskox, wolf, Arctic fox, polar bear, Arctic hare, and brown and collared lemming; this ecozone is a major breeding habitat for migratory birds such as the Canada goose Population: 16,000 people, about 80 per cent of whom are Inuit