Can you tell the facts from the fiction?
Let’s see how much you know about Arctic landscapes, animals, Indigenous communities, and (of course!) energy resources in the High North. Each category has two facts and one piece of fiction. Make your guess, then click on each item to learn more and reveal the answers. Share your score with us on social by tagging our social media accounts (X, LinkedIn, and Facebook) and use the hashtag #ArcticEarthDay.
Choose a quiz category in the green bar below to get started & make sure to try them all!
- Snow & Ice
- Animals
- Indigenous communities
- Energy resources
- Landscapes
Snow & Ice
Albedo is the term describing the reflection of light or radiation from a surface.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: If Earth’s climate is colder and there is more snow and ice, albedo increases, causing more sunlight to be reflected back to space and the climate gets colder. This phenomenon is known as ice-albedo feedback. Because ice has a very high albedo (meaning it reflects most of the sunlight it receives), environments with lots of snow and ice tend to be much colder. This is one of many reasons the Arctic is so cold! Source: University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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Sea ice extent reaches its maximum in March and its minimum in September in the Arctic.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: Water has a high specific heat, so it takes longer to warm up and cool down. Sea ice grows throughout fall and winter and hits its maximum in March. Then, it slowly melts during spring and summer, reaching a minimum in September before the cycle restarts. Source: NOAA
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Alaska is cold enough that it experiences snowfall during the summer.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FICTION: Though it varies by region, generally Alaska does not see snowfall during the summer. During the summer (July/August) precipitation falls as rain. Higher elevations, such as mountains, may see snowfall in the summer months, but most places only see snow in the winter. Source: Think Real State
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Animals
Polar bears are the largest living carnivore on land.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: On average, polar bears are 3.5 to 5 feet tall at the shoulder but can reach twice that height when standing on their hind legs. Male polar bears typically weigh between 770 and more than 1330 pounds, and females weigh half as much. They primarily eat seals! Source: Live Science
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Moose can be found in all 8 Arctic territories.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FICTION: Moose are present in all Arctic territories except for Greenland (Denmark). While moose are abundant in some territories, they are considered endangered in others, such as Nova Scotia. Sweden has the highest moose density out of all Arctic territories! Source: National Geographic
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Three whale species found in the Arctic remain year-round.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: Three whales inhabit the Arctic year-round, including the Bowhead whale, the Narwhal whale, and the Beluga whale. All of these whales rely on the sea ice formation cycle of the Arctic to survive in a challenging environment. Source: Arctic Kingdom
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Indigenous Communities
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) transferred only land to Indigenous people of Alaska.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FICTION: In addition to 44 million acres of land, ANCSA also transferred $962.5 million dollars to 12 regional corporations and over 200 for-profit village corporations within Alaska. This was the largest land settlement of its kind. Source: ANCSA Regional Association
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Alaska is home to over 200 federally recognized tribes.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: There are 229 federally recognized tribes living in Alaska! Alaska natives make up 15% of the population and many still practice traditional subsistence hunting and fishing. Source: U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management
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There are at least 40 different languages spoken by Indigenous people in the Arctic.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: Depending on the methods of classifying languages and dialects, there are between 40 and 90 Indigenous languages spoken in the Arctic. Although many of these languages are threatened, more Indigenous peoples are working to revitalize their language and culture. Source: Arctic Council
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Energy Resources
Hyrdoelectric power is Alaska’s largest source of renewable energy.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: Water power is Alaska’s most widely used source of renewable energy, being the source of 25% of all energy in the state with over 50 projects active in the state. Source: Hydroelectric : REAP (alaskarenewableenergy.org)
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All of Alaska is connected by one electrical power grid.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FICTION: Alaska’s main electrical grid, the Railbelt, only runs from Fairbanks to Anchorage, and southeast Alaska alone has over 150 individual grids serving isolated rural and island communities. Source: Alaska’s Energy Infrastructure : REAP (alaskarenewableenergy.org)
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Alaska has great potential for geothermal energy.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: Alaska is one of America’s few geothermically active states with 97 known thermal hot springs active in the region. Alaska’s first geothermal plant at Chena Hot Springs opened in 2006 with a capacity for generating 730 kilowatts of energy. Source: Energy Resources - Geothermal Energy | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys
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Landscapes
Glaciers can be found in all parts of Alaska.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FICTION: While parts of Southeastern Alaska are heavily glaciated, the formation of a glacier requires large amounts of annual snowfall that can compact into the glacier, and a large portion of the Alaskan landscape is too dry for glacier formation. This is why no glaciers are present on the North Slope of Alaska, as it is classified as a cold desert.
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Alaska is one of the few places on Earth that displays patterned ground formations.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: Patterned ground formations are only generated in permafrost areas that are only observed on Earth in Arctic regions like Alaska and are repeating patterns like stone circles and clusters of small circular lakes that form from years of repeating freeze and thaw in the top layer of the permafrost. Other places where these can be observed are Siberia and Mars.
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Alaska is volcanically active.Fact or Fiction? Click to Find Out.FACT: The collision of the North American and Pacific tectonic plates in the North Pacific creates a subduction zone just off the coast of Alaska along the Aleutian Island chain. This makes Alaska a region of active volcanism and a major component of the area of the Pacific Ring of Fire, or a collection of volcanically active locations around the Pacific Ocean.
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