Top 10 Largest Tundras

#1: Russian Arctic Tundra (1,800,000 sq mi)

The Russian Arctic tundra stretches some 1.8 million square miles from the Kola Peninsula eastward across Siberia to the Bering Strait, making it Earth’s largest continuous tundra. Underlain by permafrost up to 2,300 feet thick, its landscapes include vast river deltas—like the Lena and Yenisey—where braided channels sculpt sedimentary plains. Indigenous Nenets and Evenki communities have roamed these expanses for millennia, following reindeer migrations and harvesting lichen. During World War II, Allied lend‑lease convoys navigated the perilous Northern Sea Route alongside this coastline, their icebreakers braving pack ice to supply the USSR. Botanically, the tundra hosts dwarf birch and arctic willow, while summer’s brief thaw triggers explosive blooms of saxifrages and Arctic poppies, carpeting the ground in color. Wildlife includes musk oxen whose dense underwool inspired “qiviut” garments prized for warmth. Hidden beneath the soil, Ice Age remains—woolly mammoth carcasses preserved in permafrost—continue to emerge as the climate warms, offering insights into Pleistocene ecology. Despite its remoteness, seismic surveys have revealed vast subsea permafrost offshore, underscoring this region’s role in global carbon dynamics and in shaping the high‑latitude climate system.

#2: Canadian Arctic Tundra (800,000 sq mi)

Encompassing roughly 800,000 square miles across Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and northern Quebec and Labrador, the Canadian Arctic tundra is riddled with lakes, eskers, and glacial moraines. Thule ancestors—precursors to today’s Inuit—navigated these landscapes on dog sleds, hunting seals at polynyas where ocean currents keep openings in the sea ice. During the Franklin Expedition searches in the 19th century, Royal Navy crews discovered artifacts and graves on Victoria Island’s tundra, reshaping our understanding of human endurance in polar conditions. Botanists document hardy species like cotton grass and purple saxifrage, while snow buntings and gyrfalcons nest on rocky outcrops. Muskox herds have rebounded from near‑extinction in the 1960s to over 100,000 today, thanks to conservation programs. In summer, thousands of caribou traverse these plains in epic migrations, with droppings fertilizing tundra soils. Beneath the surface, continuous permafrost captures methane and ancient organic matter; drilling projects in the Mackenzie Delta probe these archives to reconstruct past climate shifts. Community‑led climate monitoring—blending Inuit knowledge with meteorological data—documents erosion of permafrost coastlines, highlighting the tundra’s front‑line role in revealing planetary change.

#3: Tibetan Plateau Alpine Tundra (540,000 sq mi)

The Tibetan Plateau’s alpine tundra spans about 540,000 square miles, earning the moniker “Roof of the World.” At average elevations exceeding 14,500 feet, its thin air and intense UV radiation shape hardy vegetation: cushion plants like Kobresia pygmaea and dwarf rhododendron. The plateau’s lakes—such as Qinghai and Namtso—reflect cobalt skies and regulate regional climate by absorbing solar radiation. Nomadic Tibetan herders have herded yak and sheep here for over 4,000 years, their seasonal migrations aligned with snowmelt patterns. The 20th century Sino‑Tibetan trade routes crossed this tundra, facilitating salt caravans and pilgrim journeys to sacred mountains. Wildlife includes the elusive snow leopard, which uses rocky crags as vantage points; recent camera‑trap studies have documented its hunting behaviors on hoofed bharal antelope. Hidden archaeological sites—stone circles and burial mounds—punctuate the grasslands, preserving Bronze Age pastoralist legacies. Rapid warming—1.5 °F increase over the past half‑century—has thinned permafrost by up to 10 feet in places, altering hydrology and triggering marsh expansion. Conservation initiatives now integrate nomadic grazing practices to maintain Kobresia turf, demonstrating how traditional stewardship can buffer climate impacts on alpine tundra.

#4: Greenland Coastal Tundra (290,000 sq mi)

Greenland’s coastal tundra, covering approximately 290,000 square miles along the ice sheet’s fringes, blossoms into life each summer with dwarf birch, arctic willow, and moss carpets. Inuit settlements date back over 4,000 years, with Thule ceramics and whale‑bone dwellings discovered in sites like Qeqertasussuk. Explorers like Knud Rasmussen chronicled this tundra in the early 20th century, noting how Inuit ice‑climbing techniques enabled seal hunting on offshore ice floes. Migratory snow geese and pink‑footed geese flock to coastal wetlands, while musk oxen graze sedges. Underlying permafrost—often discontinuous here—stores vast amounts of organic carbon; as it thaws, thermokarst lakes form, transforming grassy plains into marshy networks. Hidden botanical rarities such as Arctic poppy thrive in microclimates warmed by dark peat soils. In recent decades, melting permafrost has revealed centuries‑old artifacts: wooden kayaks and baleen tools that offer direct links to ancient maritime cultures. Infrastructure development—airstrips and mining roads—now contends with permafrost instability, challenging Greenland’s communities to adapt traditional livelihoods to a changing tundra.

#5: Alaskan Arctic Tundra (200,000 sq mi)

Alaska’s Arctic tundra spans about 200,000 square miles across the North Slope, punctuated by the Beaufort Sea coast, Brooks Range foothills, and vast floodplains of rivers like the Colville and Kuparuk. Iñupiat whalers village in Nuiqsut have harvested bowhead whales for over a millennium, using seasonal migrations through leads in pack ice. Colonel Frederick Schwatka’s 1883–84 expedition mapped inland tundra lakes, discovering ancient ivory from mammoths exposed along riverbanks. Vegetation remains low‑lying: sedges, sedge tussocks, and cotton grass dominate, with summer’s 24‑hour daylight driving a burst of insect life—black flies so dense they can temporarily blind hikers. Caribou herds numbering over 200,000 migrate here each summer, trampling trails that shape tundra hydrology. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge protects significant tracts, though debates over oil drilling on the coastal plain—home to the Porcupine caribou herd—continue. Permafrost thaw has formed thousands of thermokarst lakes, altering waterfowl nesting habitats and requiring community monitoring of changing subsistence resources. Hidden gas seeps—“pingo scars”—mark sites where buried ice mounds collapsed, revealing dynamic interactions among permafrost, gas, and surface ecology.

#6: Canadian High Arctic Archipelago Tundra (100,000 sq mi)

The High Arctic Archipelago’s tundra, covering roughly 100,000 square miles across islands like Baffin, Ellesmere, and Axel Heiberg, features polar deserts and narrow vegetated corridors along fjords. Ellesmere Island’s Fosheim Peninsula preserves ancient camel and horse fossils from interglacial periods when the tundra was forested. Thule and Dorset cultures thrived here, leaving stone caches and inuksuit (stone guideposts) still used by Inuit hunters. Ice shelves—such as the disintegrating Ward Hunt Ice Shelf—once grounded sea ice, preserving multi‑year floes; their collapse in recent decades reflects rapid warming. Despite sparse vegetation—mosses, liverworts, and saxifrages—the tundra supports endemic insects adapted to subzero winters. Hidden microbial mats colonize permafrost ponds, offering analogs for extraterrestrial life studies. Modern research stations monitor cosmic radiation levels and permafrost health, making this tundra both ecological frontier and scientific outpost.

#7: Scandinavian Arctic Tundra (90,000 sq mi)

Spanning Norway, Sweden, and Finland’s northern reaches, the Scandinavian Arctic tundra covers about 90,000 square miles of fell landscapes above the tree line. Sámi reindeer herders maintain migratory routes across these moorlands, their joik songs echoing through the barren valleys. Viking sagas recount journeys to these highlands to gather birch and moss for livestock bedding. Late 19th century naturalists like Axel Hamberg cataloged glacial cirques and periglacial features, establishing the field of Nordic geology. Vegetation clusters in wind‑sheltered hollows: mountain avens, Arctic willow, and lichens that nourish reindeer. Hidden beneath the tundra, permafrost pockets up to 30 feet deep preserve artifacts from centuries‑old Sámi campsites. Climate research here documents rapid snowmelt and altered insect emergence, with implications for reindeer forage timing and herder livelihoods.

#8: Patagonian Alpine Tundra (80,000 sq mi)

The Patagonian alpine tundra of southern Argentina and Chile spans roughly 80,000 square miles across the Andes’ rain‑shadow east slopes. Tehuelche peoples used these windswept grasslands for guanaco hunts, their harpoons crafted from bone and obsidian. Charles Darwin traversed this tundra in 1834, describing its “barren grandeur” in Voyage of the Beagle. Vegetation—a mix of cushion plants, grasses, and hardy shrubs—colonizes volcanic soils, while endemic birds like the Darwin’s rhea forage for seeds. Hidden geothermal springs create oases where mosses and ferns thrive despite frosts. Despite annual precipitation below 12 inches, glacier‑fed rivers carve canyons that funnel meltwater to distant steppes. Modern park systems—Los Glaciares and Torres del Paine—preserve key habitats, though tourism infrastructure must balance ecological integrity with visitor access.

#9: Icelandic Tundra (40,000 sq mi)

Iceland’s tundra blanket covers about 40,000 square miles, from subarctic heathlands in the north to highland plateaus in the interior. Viking settlers in the 9th century burned woodlands—now gone—to create pasture for sheep, shaping the modern tundra mosaic. Lichen‑covered lava fields support Arctic fox dens, and moss carpets insulate permafrost beneath volcanic soils. Hidden glacial outburst flood channels—jökulhlaups—woven into the landscape record catastrophic eruptions under ice caps. Botanists document 475 vascular plant species, many flourishing in geothermal zones where soil temperatures permit extended growing seasons. Recent rewilding efforts aim to restore birch woodland patches, revealing how vegetation feedbacks can modulate soil temperature and permafrost stability.

#10: Antarctic Tundra (13,000 sq mi)

Antarctica’s tundra—limited to ice‑free coastal oases in the Antarctic Peninsula and sub-Antarctic islands—covers roughly 13,000 square miles. Here, mosses, lichens, and two vascular plants (Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis) eke out an existence under frigid, windy conditions. Early 20th century explorers like Shackleton probed these nunataks—rocky outcrops—collecting specimens that formed the basis of polar botany. Hidden geothermal sites on Deception Island foster verdant moss beds amid volcanic ash. As climate warms, tundra patches expand upslope, altering habitats for native invertebrates like the Antarctic midge—the continent’s only true insect. Conservation under the Antarctic Treaty prevents introduced species from disrupting these fragile tundra ecosystems.

From Russia’s immense Arctic plains to the tiny moss‑clad oases of Antarctica, tundra ecosystems embody extremes of cold, ingenuity, and endurance. Each tundra—whether polar or alpine—reveals stories of adaptation, human history, and geological forces sculpting the land. As global temperatures climb, these northern and high‑altitude frontiers stand at the forefront of ecological change, reminding us that preserving tundra resilience is essential for maintaining planetary balance.