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This
ecozone is inhospitable to human beings. The mean annual
temperature in the mountains of Ellesmere Island, in the
very far north, is -20°C, dropping to a mean of -35°C
during the long, dark winters. The warmest it gets is
6°C, in northern Labrador, during the very short summer,
when there is light for almost 24 hours each day. The
intense cold, high winds, and lack of soil cover on the
ancient bedrock keep vegetation to a minimum. No food
crops can grow on this landscape, which is 75 percent
ice or exposed, hard bedrock. The very small permanent
human population of about 1000 (predominantly Inuit) subsist
on hunting, trapping, and fishing, or make a living in
ecotourism or jobs in gas and oil exploration. |
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National
Parks in the Arctic Cordillera ecozone include Auyuittuq,
Quttinirpaaq and Sirmilik; the landforms in these parks
include mountains, ice-fields and glaciers. |
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| Image © Good Earth Productions Inc. |
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