-THE ARCTIC OCEAN / NORTH POLAR ICE PACK- Along with it's Tundra, Permafrost, Isolated Large islands, Etc.

In ways this is a Cross between Oceanic and Antarctic Survival Conditions. As well as with all the well known, Standard Arctic, Mountain, and Cold Weather Survival Areas.

( Mountains of course Don't exist on the Arctic Ocean itself, -the Vast Majority of this Area. But they do exist on many of it's large islands, and surrounding Continental Land Masses. So even Mountain Survival Aspects figure in here.)

Here you have Not Only nearly Antarctic Cold, Wind, and Half Year Darkness, -but you've got to also Deal with Shifting Ice, Crevices, and Pressure Ridges as well! These can be Quite Large, -They are Nothing to just Pass Off or "Sneeze At".

For you *Are* on an Ocean now, though it's a Polar Desert type one as well. Unlike the Antarctic Continent literally on the Other Side of the World, from here. The Altitude effect is thus World's Apart as well. Sea Level here, some 10,000 Feet ASL down there. But this is Small Consolation, in this Other Polar, End of the World.

Though perhaps a Tad "Warmer" than Antarctica, -It's still well Colder than Siberia, -and it's only All Too Well known how Cold that Gets! Our Arctic North Pole is even Worse.

The Cold as it Is!, the Ice Block Filled Frozen ocean surface!, the Howling Winds!, the Months upon Months of Total Arctic Darkness!, -No Wonder it is Totally Uninhabited!, -No Wonder it is One of the Earth's Foremost Wild Places!

And it's just as Large and Extensive, as it's Great Frigid Partner to the Earth's South. This is No "Sneezeoff" either!

And it's All just Above us!, -Not Really all that Far Away! ( At least for one's as me, here in the U.S. and North America. As well as Forum Mates in Russia, Siberia, Northern Japan, Iceland, Greenland, and the Scandanavian Countries.)

It's of course the Source, of our Frigid Winters. This Vast, Empty, Forgotten Area, certainly Does have it's Direct Effects on U.S.!

I now type from ruffly Halfway between it's Central, Northern Pole, (Hint,-certainly Not it's Edge!), and our Earth's Equator. In fact, I'm a Little Closer to our Equator, - 5 Degrees Closer.

Where I once Lived in SW Pa's Washington County, -I was Not too far above the 40 Degree Parrellel. Now I'm at ruffly 40 and a 1/2 North. Taking the more Southerly Figure, ( Home is Where the Heart Is!, and Mine's certainly Back There in the Country! ), -We'll go with the 40.

This is a Whole 9th of the way Closer to the Equator! ( An 18th, if you're considering the Entire Pole to Equator Distance.)

And still our PA Winters get a Lot of that Arctic Ocean Cold coming Right Down upon us! Somewhat Warmed relative to Where it's From!, Yet often Cold as a Son of a Gun, as Far as we're concerned.

We Don't have to go too much further South, before much of these Arctic Effects disappears. But you often wouldn't know it up here! ( I know Quebec and the Area below James Bay gets Plenty Worse! )

I'm a Bit Substantially *Closer* to the Equator!, -yet this Arctic Wild Area of our World Effects me so!

And there's Much More Land and Sea Surface Area in our Equator and Tropics, than there is in Both of our Polar Areas combined. Still the Cold North Winds Blow further South, than from these one might Logically Think!

It's uniquely Interesting in it's Own Way, to actually Live nearly Half Way exact between one of our Planet's Poles, and it's Equator, -come to Think of it! I mean, for much of the World's Population, -What are the Chances?

Point here though is, is that I'm literally in Arctic Climatic and Survival Conditions, in our Winters, -even this Far South! As well as Tropical and Subtropical Ones of our Mid-Latitude Summers. Such is Another Characteristic of our Temperate Zone and Climate, when you really Think about it a Bit. ( I mean we're Not a British or Pacific Northwest Marine West Coast Climate.)

The Arctic is a Quite Near and Very Effecting, Typically Totally Forgotten Wild Area!, in other words! Such is our Arctic Polar Zone and Ocean.

Being an Ocean, and a usually Frozen One at that, -It may even be a Bit "Easier" to Extricate yourself from the Midst of Antarctica! (See such Post in this Thread), -Than from Here! At least Down There, -You're often on an Icy Plain or Plateau! Here in the North Polar Zone, though, -Foot by Foot, Mile by Mile!, -You've got Major Ice Blocks, Pressure Ridges, Crevices suddenly Opening Up on you!, Etc! On Top of Everything Else! Much More Difficult Going and Footing! As Bad as the Opposite Antarctic Footing too, can be!

For Survival and Extrication Aspects, -See what I,ve mentioned earlier under the Antarctic. Much of it's Quite the Same.

A Major Difference, is that you've got to Climb over Many Major Ice Blocks, and Avoid / Cross / and Round Crevices and the Like, the Whole Way Down!

And you're once again on an Ocean, -Not Ice Clad Continental Land! As with our More Familiar Freshwater Lakes, -One can always Crash or Slip thru Thin Ice, into this Very Frigid, Saline, Hypothermic Drink!

And you can Always Find yourself Cut Loose, on a Drifting Ice Floe too! And it can Drift North!, -Not South, where you'd Prefer to Go!

This and Pressure Ridges, -There's Nothing like this in the Antarctic South! With the Notable Exception of it's Great, Surrounding, Ice Filled Seas. Just Recall what happened to Shackleton, and his Ice Trapped Ship! But the Great Southern Ice Continent, and the Great Southern Ice *Ocean*!, -Are so Not the Same!

And That's just the Great Northern Ocean. The Arctic also has many Major, Bare, Bleak, Cold, Windswept, Mountainous, Utterly or Nearly Uninhabited Islands. As well as it's great Tundra Coasts.

Svalbard or Spitzbergen. Novaya Zemyla and it's Matochkin Shar. Canada's Baffin, Ellesmere, and Other Queen Elizabeth Islands. Wrangell. Franz Josef and the New Siberian Islands. Jan Mayen with it's Active Volcano. The Siberian Taimyr and Chuckchi. The Kola and Norway's North Cape. Alaska's North Slope. The Rocky,Wind Swept Faeroes. Iceland's "Fire and Ice" just "Below the Circle". And the Greenland Icecap Itself. The Kara, Barents, Beaufort, Laptev, and Bering Seas. Great Rivers by the Names of McKenzie, Yukon, Ob, Lena, and Yenesei,-Flowing On into It! Ptarmign and Permafrost. The Arctic is Far More than just it's Ocean Alone!

Survivalwise, You Face here a Frozen, Muddy, Treeless Tundra!,-Depending on Season. Which is of course Far More Winter, than Anything Else! You'd want to work your way South, into the Taiga and Boreal Forests! And so more often be working your way *Up* Rivers, rather than Down, here in these Arctic Parts. And Watch Out for that Spring and Summer Blackfly and Mosquito Seasons!

Nearly Last but Not Least, -When your in the Water and Not Contending with Ice, -You're in the Ocean!, on the High Seas! All Normal Ocean Survival Aspects Apply. On Top of All Else. Add Superfrigid Hypothermic Waters to that Too! Unlike many of the World's Oceans, You often may have Plenty of Ice Chunks to Grab On to for Flotation. But that is Both Literally and Figureatively, -"Cold Comfort"!

The Little Thought Of Arctic! Such a Topmost Earth's Wild Place! At Once Oceanic and Polar. Lucky to Rank an Afterthought!, If and When it even gets That Much at All! Yet it Really and Directly Affects us so Much! And Along with it's Great Antarctic Sister to the South, -It Counts as one of our Greatest Survival Sun of a Gun!, Sorts of Challenges! See it's Antarctic Sister, once again, -for Much of That!


P.S.--And Finally, on Places like the Former Soviet's Novaya Zemyla Islands, -You've got some Real Manmade Mess to Have to Contend With!, even Up Here! The Soviets tested a Lot of Nuclear Weaponry up there, including by Far the Largest such Explosion ever, (Around 60 or 61).! The Place is as Radioactive as All Heck!

My Regrets and Apology on my Unintended Length once again. I Did happen to do it in 4 (Viewing Frames) this time, rather than earlier " 5 ish " ones. I'll Shoot more towards 3 - 3 1/2, in Future Longer ones. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]