Location:
Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and North pacific Ocean, north of the conterminous US
Geographic Coordinates: 60 00 N, 95 00W
Map References: North America
Area: Comparative: Slightly Larger than US
Land Boundaries: Total: 8,893 sq. km
Border Countries: US 8,893 km (includes 2,477 km with Alaska)
Coastline: 243,791 km
Maritime Claims:
Continental Shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm Territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: varies from temperature in south to subarctic and arctic in north.
Terrain: mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in southeast.
Elevation Extremes:
Lowest Point: Atlantic Ocean 0m
Highest Point: Mount Logan 5,950 m
Natural Resources:
nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, molybdenum, potash, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas.
Land Use:
Arable Land: 5%
Permanent Crops: 0%
Permanent Pastures: 3%
Forests & Woodland: 54%
Other: 38% (1993 est.)
Irrigated Land: 7,100 sq. km (1993 est.)
Natural Hazards: Continuous permafrost in north is a serious obstacle to development, cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic, Pacific, and North American Interior, and produce most of the country's rain and snow.
Environment -:
Air Pollution - Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution - Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling.
Signed, But not Ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation.
Note: Second-largest country in world (after Russia), strategic location between Russia and US via north polar route, nearly 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km of the US/Canada border.
|
)
