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CANADA GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
The geography of Canada describes the geographic features of Canada, the world's second largest country in total area.Situated in northern North America (constituting 41% of the continent's area), Canada spans a vast, diverse territory between the North Pacific Ocean to the west and the North Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Arctic Ocean to the north (hence the country's motto "From sea to sea"), with the United States to the south (contiguous United States) and northwest (Alaska). Greenland is to the northeast; off the southern coast of Newfoundland lies Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas collectivity of France. Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W longitudeto the North Pole; however, this claim is contested.[1] While the magnetic North Pole lies within the Canadian Arctic territorial claim as of 2011, recent measurements indicate it is moving towardsSiberia.[2]
Covering 9,984,670 km2 or 3,855,100 sq mi (land: 9,093,507 km2 or 3,511,023 sq mi; water: 891,163 km2 or 344,080 sq mi), Canada is slightly less than three-fifths as large as Russia and slightly larger than Europe. In total area, Canada is slightly larger than both the U.S. and China; however, Canada ranks fourth in land area (i.e., total area minus the area of lakes and rivers)—China is 9,326,410 km2(3,600,950 sq mi) and the U.S. is 9,161,923 km2 (3,537,438 sq mi)[3]
The population of Canada, some 34,980,000 as of November 2012, is concentrated in the south in proximity to its border with the contiguous U.S.; with a population density of 3.5 people per square kilometre (9.1/sq mi), it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. The northernmost settlement in Canada—and in the world—is Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert (just north of Alert, Nunavut) on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island at 82°30′N 62°19′W, just 834 kilometres (518 mi) from the North Pole.
Canada has a diverse climate. The climate varies from temperate on the west coast of British Columbia[4] to a subarctic climate in the north.[5] Extreme northern Canada can have snow year round with a Polar climate.[6]Landlocked areas tend to have a warm summer continental climate zone[7] with the exception of Southern Ontario which has a hot summer humid continental climate.[8] Parts of Western Canada have a semi-arid climate, and parts of Vancouver Island can even be classified as cool summer Mediterranean climate.[6] Temperature extremes in Canadarange from 45.0°C (113°F) in Midale and Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan on July 5, 1937 to -63.0°C (-81.4°F) in Snag, Yukon on Monday, February 3, 1947.
Canada covers 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,103 sq. mi) and a panoply of various geoclimatic regions. There are 8 main regions.[11] Canada also encompasses vast maritime terrain, with the world's longest coastline of 202,080 kilometres (125,570 mi).[11] The physical geography of Canada is widely varied.Boreal forests prevail throughout the country, ice is prominent in northerly Arctic regions and through theRocky Mountains, and the relatively flat Canadian Prairies in the southwest facilitate productive agriculture.[11] The Great Lakes feed the St. Lawrence River (in the southeast) where lowlands host much of Canada's population. The Appalachian mountains (more specifically the Notre Dame and Long Range Mountains) are an old and eroded range of mountains, approximately 380 million years in age. Notable mountains in the Appalachians include Mount Jacques-Cartier (Quebec, 1,268 m or 4,160 ft and Mount Carleton (New Brunswick, 817 m or 2,680 ft). Parts of the Appalachians are home to a rich endemic flora and fauna and are considered to have been nunataks during the last glaciation era.
The southern parts of Quebec and Ontario, in the section of the Great Lakes (bordered entirely by Ontario on the Canadian side) and St. Lawrence basin (often called St. Lawrence Lowlands), is another particularly rich sedimentary plain.[14] Prior to its colonization and heavy urban sprawl of the 20th century, this Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests area was home to large mixed forests covering a mostly flat area of land between theAppalachian Mountains and the Canadian Shield.[15] Most of this forest has been cut down through agriculture and logging operations, but the remaining forests are for the most part heavily protected. In this part of Canada the Gulf of St. Lawrence is one of the world's largest estuary (see Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests).[16]
The Great Lakes from space
While the relief of these lowlands is particularly flat and regular, a group of batholites known as the Monteregian Hills are spread along a mostly regular line across the area.[17] The most notable are Montreal's Mount Royal and Mont Saint-Hilaire. These hills are known for a great richness in precious minerals.[17]
The northeastern part of Alberta, northern parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as most of Labrador (the mainland portions of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador), are located on a vast rock base known as the Canadian Shield. The Shield mostly consists of eroded hilly terrain and contains many lakes and important rivers used for hydroelectric production, particularly in northern Quebec and Ontario. The shield also encloses an area ofwetlands, the Hudson Bay lowlands. Some particular regions of the Shield are referred to as mountain ranges, including the Torngat and Laurentian Mountains.
The Shield cannot support intensive agriculture, although there is subsistence agriculture and small dairy farms in many of the river valleys and around the abundant lakes, particularly in the southern regions. Boreal forest covers much of the shield, with a mix of conifers that provide valuable timber resources in areas such as the Central Canadian Shield forests ecoregion that covers much of Northern Ontario. The region is known for its extensive mineral reserves.
The Canadian Shield is known for its vast minerals, such as emeralds, diamonds and copper. The Canadian shield is also called the mineral house.
Canadian Interior Plains
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