Recently, among Russians more and more growing interest in their homeland. Many prefer vacationing in the country, and these are not only the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, but also the mountains of the Urals and Altai, the taiga in Siberia, Lake Baikal, etc. And more recently, lovers of travel to hard-to-reach areas of Russia, for example, in the Arctic North, have appeared . In this regard, in this article we will tell the reader about where the Novosibirsk Islands are located, we will introduce them to their features and significance for our homeland. So let's get started.
Novosibirsk islands on the map
This archipelago is located in the Arctic Ocean. It serves as the border of the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea. Administratively belongs to Yakutia. Novosibirsk islands consist of three groups. The first of them is the most southern - Lyakhovsky. By D. Laptev Strait they are separated from Eurasia, and by Sannikov Strait - from Anji Island. Boiler room (the archipelago of the Novosibirsk Islands) and New Siberia make up the second group. Last, third - De Long. They are located northeast of the Anjou group and are small islands. Everyone can find the Novosibirsk Islands on a map of Russia. Their coordinates: 75 degrees 16 minutes north latitude and 145 degrees 15 minutes east longitude.
Features
Novosibirsk islands used to be part of the continent. They lie in the zone of the continental plume. The relief of the islands is flat. The climate is arctic, it is characterized by cold winters, the duration of which is nine months. Summer is very cold, windy. On the archipelago there are large wetlands, a huge number of glacial lakes and small rivers, due to this a relatively diverse ecosystem has formed here under permafrost conditions. Kotelny Island differs from the rest in that it houses Bunge Land - a unique sandy Arctic desert. It is noteworthy that earlier (several millennia ago) the climatic conditions on the Novosibirsk islands were completely different - much milder than modern ones. This is evidenced by the numerous finds of paleontologists: the remains of mammoths, woolly rhinos and ancient horses.
Discovery story
The Novosibirsk Islands archipelago was discovered by Cossack Y. Permyakov in 1712 during his expedition from the mouth of the Lena River to the mouth of Kolyma. He discovered an island that today bears the name of Big Lyakhovsky. Subsequent research of the archipelago was carried out by traveler I. Lyakhov in 1772-1773 and Y. Sannikov in 1805. After almost 16 years, Peter Anjou (1821-1823) described in detail the group of islands of this archipelago, which were later named after him. And in 1879-1891, the American De Long opened the third group. And already in the twentieth century, several remote islands of this archipelago were discovered.
What is there?
The Novosibirsk islands are under the patronage of the Ust-Lensky reserve. In the days of the Soviet Union, there were scientific settlements, but with the collapse of the USSR, there were none. Only the polar station operates. Today, for those wishing to get acquainted with this remote corner of our country, travel agencies offer tours to the islands, where you will have the opportunity to explore the sights of the archipelago.
Why does the interest in the Arctic not fade away?
Here is a very stable winter, snow lies almost all year round, there are swamps, lakes and rivers. There are minerals: coal, natural gas and others. What can attract a person’s gaze to this harsh land? Once upon a time, the Novosibirsk Islands interested people as a source of bones of various fossil animals - mainly mammoths. For more than two hundred years, tons were taken from the archipelago. According to the recollections of one of the merchants who came to Bolshaya Lyakhovsky in search of this product, the island consisted of mammoth bones mixed with sand and ice. The tusks were simply melted out of the ice that formed the archipelago.
The attention of modern man to these islands is caused to a greater extent by geopolitical situations - after all, the Arctic is included in the circle of strategic plans of the Russian Federation. Now, the views of not only political figures, but also geologists and other scientists are riveted to its shelf. This is due to the geopolitical tasks set - the need to separate the shelf. The problem of its division and the continental slope includes environmental, economic and political aspects. This is explained by the fact that the expansion of the borders of the countries of the Arctic zone, including the Russian Federation, will make it possible in the near future to more confidently invest in geological surveys for new oil and gas fields.
Research problems
The Novosibirsk islands for Russia are the most remote and inaccessible in any respect: both geologically and geographically. Of course, they cannot be called a white spot on the map of our country, but there are areas with white spots there. For example, in the De Long group there is Jeannette Island - it does not have any geological descriptions. The fact is that it has very steep banks, most likely of volcanic origin - very steep. In addition, there is no suitable platform for landing a helicopter. So for now, research scientists have not been able to get to it. In August 2012, a scientific expedition was conducted on the archipelago under a grant from the Russian Geographical Society. In particular, zoological studies were carried out on the islands. As a result of the expedition, valuable data were collected on the distribution and species composition of marine mammals. In addition to visual observations, scientists collected biomaterial samples for subsequent laboratory studies. In addition, information was collected on the life cycle of walruses and polar bears living on the Novosibirsk islands. An important discovery was a meeting with gray whales. This is the first recorded fact of the appearance of these animals in the waters of this archipelago.