What physical factors are unique to the tundra?

Answer 1

The tundra has more than one type of biome. An Alpine tundra, like the Rocky Mountains, is incredibly cold. Trees are unable to survive the severe winter weather- frozen soil, ice winds and UV radiation. There are shrubs that grow in these biomes though.

The tundra is the farthest north of all the world's biomes.

The winter temperatures average about -30 F throughout most of the true Arctic including the North Pole. The coldest weather occurs in northeastern Siberia. There January temperatures average -40 F, and have reached -93 F. Most other parts of Siberia and the sub arctic sections of Central Asia, Canada, and central Alaska have an average winter temperatures of about -20 F. The mildest winters occur in the coastal regions of the Pacific Oceans, where January temperatures average about 30 F.

These same regions have mild summers, with average temperatures of about 45 F. The warmest summers occur in the inland regions of Siberia, Alaska, and Canada. July temperatures there average around 60 F. Weather stations have recorded temperatures of 90 F and above in these regions.

Winter storms develop chiefly in two areas where the barometric pressures remains low. One of these areas, called the Aleutian low, extends from eastern Siberia to the Gulf of Alaska. The other, the Icelandic low, covers central Canada, half of the Arctic Ocean, and parts of the North Atlantic Ocean and northern Europe. Storms beginning in these areas tend to travel from northwest to southwest.

Rainfall in many arctic regions totals six to ten inches a year, including melted snow. This is less rain than falls on some of the world's greatest deserts! Much of the arctic has rain and fog in the summer. In spite of the low annual rainfall, arctic lands may be very wet underfoot because the moisture evaporates slowly and drainage conditions are poor. There is also a lot of permafrost, ice that never goes away in the ground that is usually about five feet deep.