Alpine tundra is found on every continent except Antarctica, occurring on mountain peaks and ridges above the treeline. It exists wherever mountains rise high enough for temperatures to prevent tree growth, typically where the growing season soil temperature drops below about 6.7°C (44°F). This creates a distinct belt of low, hardy vegetation between the upper edge of forest and the permanent snow and ice above.
What Defines the Alpine Tundra Zone
The key boundary is the treeline: the elevation above which upright woody plants taller than 2 to 3 meters can no longer survive. Above this line, trees give way to grasses, cushion plants, sedges, mosses, and lichens. The exact elevation where this transition happens varies enormously depending on latitude. Near the equator, alpine tundra may not begin until 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) or higher. In northern New England, it can start as low as 830 meters (2,700 feet) on isolated summits.
Temperatures in tundra environments range from roughly -40°C (-40°F) in winter to about 18°C (64°F) on the warmest summer days. Precipitation is low, typically 150 to 250 millimeters (6 to 10 inches) per year including melted snow. High winds, intense ultraviolet radiation, and a very short growing season all shape the landscape. The result is vegetation that hugs the ground: compact cushion plants, dense mats of sedge, and patches of lichen on exposed rock.
The Rocky Mountains and Western North America
The Rocky Mountains contain some of the most extensive alpine tundra in North America. As you climb a peak in the Rockies, you pass through desert, grassland, and conifer forest before reaching the alpine zone, usually above 3,000 to 3,500 meters (10,000 to 11,500 feet) depending on latitude. Colorado’s Front Range, Montana’s Beaverhead Mountains, and Wyoming’s Wind River Range all support well-studied alpine tundra communities. The Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada in the western U.S. also have alpine zones on their highest peaks.
Plant communities here include turf dominated by sedges like elk sedge and single-spike sedge, cushion plant communities anchored by species like alpine phlox and mountain avens, and wet meadows near snowmelt areas where black alpine sedge thrives. On the most exposed ridgetops and saddles, vegetation grows in scattered clumps separated by bare gravel and rock.
Eastern North America’s Scattered Alpine Islands
Most people associate alpine tundra with massive western ranges, but small patches survive on peaks across the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada. The Presidential Range and Franconia Ridge in New Hampshire, Mount Katahdin in Maine, and the Adirondack Mountains in New York all support alpine tundra. Further north, the Chic-Chocs and McGerrigle Mountains in Québec, the Long Range Mountains in Newfoundland, and summits extending into Labrador’s Mealy Mountains carry similar vegetation.
These eastern alpine zones are small and isolated, sitting like ecological islands within a sea of temperate and boreal forest. On New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, the alpine zone begins around 1,510 meters (4,900 feet), while on lower, isolated summits like Mount Monadnock, alpine-like conditions can appear as low as 830 meters (2,700 feet). The small size of these patches makes them especially vulnerable to environmental change.
The Andes and South American Páramo
South America’s alpine tundra takes several distinct forms along the length of the Andes. In the northern Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru, the high-elevation grasslands above the treeline are called páramo. These ecosystems sit above roughly 3,500 to 4,000 meters and were shaped by a long history of glacial and volcanic activity. In Ecuador’s páramo, lower elevations support a mix of shrubs and grasses, while higher zones are dominated by ground-hugging cushion plants that form dense mats resembling firm, spongy turf.
Further south, in the central Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina, the equivalent zone is called puna. Wet areas at these elevations, known as bofedales, support similar cushion plant communities. The Andes are notable for having alpine tundra across an enormous range of latitudes, from the tropics in Colombia all the way to Patagonia, where treeline drops much lower and alpine conditions begin at considerably more modest elevations.
The Himalayas and Central Asian Ranges
The Himalayan range contains the world’s highest alpine tundra. Because these mountains sit at relatively low latitudes, treeline reaches up to about 4,000 to 4,500 meters on south-facing slopes, and the alpine zone extends from there toward the permanent snowline. The Tibetan Plateau, sometimes called “the roof of the world,” supports vast areas of alpine steppe and tundra-like vegetation at elevations above 4,500 meters. Other Central Asian ranges with alpine tundra include the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Tien Shan, and Altai Mountains.
European Alpine Zones
The Alps, the range that gave alpine tundra its name, support well-studied alpine ecosystems above roughly 2,000 to 2,500 meters. The Scandinavian Mountains (Scandes) running through Norway and Sweden have alpine zones beginning at much lower elevations, sometimes below 1,000 meters in northern Norway due to the high latitude. The Pyrenees, Carpathians, Caucasus, and Scotland’s Cairngorms also support alpine or near-alpine vegetation on their highest ground. In the Ural Mountains of Russia, cold-adapted shrubs like Siberian juniper dominate treeless areas, with recruitment patterns closely tied to winter precipitation and temperature.
Africa’s High-Elevation Moorlands
Africa’s alpine tundra is limited to a handful of volcanic peaks near the equator. On Mount Kenya, a transition zone at about 3,400 to 3,700 meters (11,000 to 12,000 feet) gives way to Afro-Alpine moorland, a striking landscape of tussock grasses, giant groundsel, and towering lobelias. Mosses and lichens grow up to about 4,600 meters (15,000 feet), above which only bare rock and remnant glaciers remain. Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Rwenzori Mountains on the Uganda-Congo border support similar Afro-Alpine zones, as do the Simien and Bale mountains in Ethiopia.
These tropical alpine environments experience freezing temperatures nearly every night of the year while warming significantly during the day. This daily freeze-thaw cycle, rather than distinct seasons, is what defines the growing conditions.
Oceania and Other Locations
New Zealand’s Southern Alps support alpine tundra above roughly 1,200 to 1,500 meters, with extensive areas of tussock grassland, herb fields, and cushion bogs. Papua New Guinea’s highest peaks, including Mount Wilhelm, also carry alpine vegetation above about 3,800 meters. Even some subantarctic islands, such as the Kerguelen Islands and Macquarie Island, support tundra-like plant communities at relatively low elevations due to the harsh maritime climate.
How Climate Change Is Shifting These Boundaries
Alpine tundra is shrinking. A global analysis of treeline positions between 2000 and 2020 found that 42% of observed treelines shifted upslope, meaning forests are climbing higher and replacing tundra from below. Only 25% shifted downslope, and 38% of those downslope shifts were linked to fire events rather than cooling temperatures. Just 47% of observed treelines had reached the highest elevation that climate alone would allow, suggesting that many treelines are still catching up to warming that has already occurred.
Even where treelines lag behind current temperatures, the trajectory is clear: alpine tundra is being squeezed from below by advancing forest and from above by the fixed ceiling of the mountain summit. On lower peaks, the alpine zone could eventually disappear entirely as trees colonize the remaining ground. The isolated patches in eastern North America and on African volcanoes are particularly at risk because there is simply nowhere higher for tundra species to go.