Q 01/05

Which bear did the ancient Greeks have in mind when they named the Arctic after their word for bear?

A) The polar bear

B) The brown bear

C) The Great Bear

D) The cave bear

Answer · why

C) The Great Bear

The Great Bear is the constellation Ursa Major, which circles the pole without ever setting, so the Greeks called the north arktikos, of the Bear. Som...

Q 02/05

The Arctic Circle marks the southern limit of what?

A) Permanent snow cover

B) The midnight sun

C) Winter sea ice

D) Treeless tundra

Answer · why

B) The midnight sun

The midnight sun lasts a single day on the circle itself, at the June solstice. The run of unbroken daylight lengthens the farther north you go, until...

Q 03/05

Ecologists draw the Arctic's edge where July averages 10 °C, which closely matches which other boundary?

A) The northern tree line

B) The permafrost limit

C) The Arctic coastline

D) The Arctic Circle

Answer · why

A) The northern tree line

The northern tree line is where summers turn too cold for trees and tundra takes over. It pays little heed to the Arctic Circle: in some regions fores...

Q 04/05

What Arctic record did Verkhoyansk, a Siberian town famous for its brutal winters, set in June 2020?

A) Highest temperature

B) Deepest snowfall

C) Strongest wind gust

D) Heaviest rainfall

Answer · why

A) Highest temperature

Highest temperature: 38 °C, a swing of nearly 106 degrees from the same town's record low. It came in a long Siberian heatwave that fed vast Arctic wi...

Q 05/05

Which city near the Arctic Circle bills itself as the official hometown of Santa Claus?

A) Rovaniemi

B) Jokkmokk

C) Tromsø

D) Hammerfest

Answer · why

A) Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi, in Finnish Lapland, began its Arctic Circle trade with a cabin built in 1950 for a visit by Eleanor Roosevelt. Today a line marked across S...