Top of the World
This map is projected to look straight down 0n the North Pole, the point from which everything else radiates southward. I chose 30 degrees west as the central meridian to focus attention on the most prominent place in the Arctic, Greenland, which has a familiar north orientation. But things flip as the map circles around to 150 degree east. The Russian Far East is south oriented. Such is the nature of polar projections.
Natural Earth v. 6.0 was the source of vector map data, including bathymetry, coastlines, rivers, lakes, peaks, country borders, and populated places. Land cover derives from 2022 MODIS at 500 meter resolution. ArcticDEM and SRTM (for areas south of 60 degrees north) provided the shaded relief source data. Physical feature name references included Wikipedia, numerous online maps, and print atlases. The 1967 Soviet World Atlas accessed on davidrumsey.com was helpful for identifying features in arctic Russia. North magnetic pole locations derive from NOAA data.
Average sea ice extents are not shown. With so much variability in recent years, any represenation of ice would soon be out of date.
Tom Patterson
May 13, 2025
Map downloads - Pick the version best for you
Physical Map of the Circumpolar North
Online viewing
Terms of use
The Physical Features of the Circumpolar North map is in the public domain. Use it any way that you want. You are not required to cite the map.
Modifying and repurposing the map
Layered Adobe Illustrator file with MAPublisher georeferencing and terrain art, 189.2 MB
Terrain art without type and type halos
Georeferenced terrain with hydrography, GeoTIFF, 350 DPI, 248.3 MB
Contact me
I will periodically update the map. Please let me know about major features to include or any problems that you find.
Thanks!
Tom Patterson Bio
Online viewing and printing
The map measures 106 x 111 centimeters (41.8 x 43.8 inches) at 1:7,000,000-scale.
Version 1.0, May 13, 2025 Change Log