<P> Tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere, north of the taiga belt, including vast areas of northern Russia and Canada . </P> <P> A polar ice cap, or polar ice sheet, is a high - latitude region of a planet or moon that is covered in ice . Ice caps form because high - latitude regions receive less energy as solar radiation from the sun than equatorial regions, resulting in lower surface temperatures . </P> <P> A desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation . Deserts usually have a large diurnal and seasonal temperature range, with high or low, depending on location daytime temperatures (in summer up to 45 ° C or 113 ° F), and low nighttime temperatures (in winter down to 0 ° C or 32 ° F) due to extremely low humidity . Many deserts are formed by rain shadows, as mountains block the path of moisture and precipitation to the desert . </P> <P> Devised by the American climatologist and geographer C.W. Thornthwaite, this climate classification method monitors the soil water budget using evapotranspiration . It monitors the portion of total precipitation used to nourish vegetation over a certain area . It uses indices such as a humidity index and an aridity index to determine an area's moisture regime based upon its average temperature, average rainfall, and average vegetation type . The lower the value of the index in any given area, the drier the area is . </P>

The climate of canada can best be described as __