TUNDRA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tundra mean? 

• TUNDRA (noun)
  The noun TUNDRA has 1 sense:

1. a vast treeless plain in the Arctic regions where the subsoil is permanently frozen

  Familiarity information: TUNDRA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TUNDRA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A vast treeless plain in the Arctic regions where the subsoil is permanently frozen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("tundra" is a kind of...):

champaign; field; plain (extensive tract of level open land)

 Context examples 

“I think tundra grass, will do, after all.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The results indicate that mercury has accumulated for thousands of years in tundra soils.

(Study finds mercury levels in Arctic soils 5 times higher than temperate regions, National Science Foundation)

The research took place in tundra in the interior of Alaska near Denali National Park.

(Rising tundra temperatures lead to changes in microbial communities, National Science Foundation)

The amount calculated in the study is similar to emissions from the Arctic tundra, or emissions from all oceans combined, or the total volume of methane emitted from wild animals and termites globally.

(Amazon trees are major source of methane emission, SciDev.Net)

As far-northern tundra gives way to low-growing shrubs and then to forests, the distribution of snowshoe hares is a factor in where spruce trees can successfully grow.

(Race across the tundra: White spruce vs. snowshoe hare, National Science Foundation)

“I think the tundra grass will make just as good a roof,” she said.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It's a process similar to the uptake of carbon dioxide, whereby plants absorb gaseous mercury from the atmosphere and as they shed their leaves or die off, this mercury deposits to the tundra.

(Study finds mercury levels in Arctic soils 5 times higher than temperate regions, National Science Foundation)

Rising temperatures in the tundra of northern latitudes could affect microbial communities in ways likely to increase their production of the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide, a new study of experimentally warmed Alaskan soil suggests.

(Rising tundra temperatures lead to changes in microbial communities, National Science Foundation)

“Let us gather tundra grass and thatch the roof,” Maud said.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Between one-third and one-half of all mercury stored in global soils — much of it likely from the burning of coal and other sources — is stored in tundra soils.

(Study finds mercury levels in Arctic soils 5 times higher than temperate regions, National Science Foundation)