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spectacular
vertical drop of almost 50 metres, just seven metres less
than Horseshoe Falls, at Niagara. And the mighty Mackenzie
River ends its journey in this ecozone, discharging an
enormous volume of water into the Beaufort Sea after fanning
through one of the largest deltas in the world.
Like the other two Arctic ecozones, the Southern Arctic
has a severe climate, with the mean annual winter temperature
reaching no higher than -17.5°C in Quebec. Mean summer
temperatures range between from 4°C and 6°C, and
there is permafrost throughout the region. Annual precipitation
in the northwest is similar to that in the Northern Arctic,
about 200 millimetres, but rises in the east, in Quebec,
to 500 millimetres. Farther south than the other two Arctic
zones, the Southern Arctic has a slightly longer growing
season and supports more species of wildlife. The vegetation
here is transitional between that of the totally |
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tundra to the north and the taiga forest to the south.
Stunted trees – black spruce, white spruce and
tamarack – can even grow to about three metres
in some areas, such as the Mackenzie Delta – the
absolute northerly limit of where any trees can grow
in Canada.
The Southern Arctic has a human population of just over
10,000, the vast majority of whom are Inuit. Close to
2000 people live in Rankin Inlet, the largest settlement,
on the west side of Hudson Bay. Most of the small population
of this ecozone lead a subsistence life, hunting, fishing,
trapping, with some involved in ecotourism and government
jobs, and in gas and oil exploration. |
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Though its
watershed, 1.8 million square kilometres in size, drains
one-fifth of the country of Canada, few Canadians have
ever seen the Mackenzie River. It remains one of the most
undeveloped, sparsely populated, and endlessly intriguing
river valleys in the nation. |
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| Image © Good
Earth Productions Inc. |
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