Tundra Landscape

The tundra zone is a cool forestless landscape type, developed almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere. The tundra vegetation consists of moss and lichen formations with various grasses, dwarf shrubs and, sometimes, large shrubs. Its southern boundary approximately coincides with the warmest monthly isotherm 10-12°C and to a certain extent follows the configuration of northern borders of the circum-Arctic continents. The northern boundary, dividing it from the Arctic desert zone, coincides with the warmest monthly isotherm + 5°C. Essentially it occupies nearly all the northern coasts of Eurasia and America and the coasts of Greenland except for the northern parts of Taimyr and Boothia peninsulas which belong to the Arctic desert zone. Only the southern parts of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, however, belong to the tundra zone. In Labrador, it penetrates southward as far as 55°N latitude.

FIG. 2 Coastal tundra at