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Bolshevik island, Russia, Landsat-7 near natural image, 30 m resolution (Landsat-7 1999-07-29).
A Terra MODIS image of Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, Arctic Ocean in 6 July 2001. Severnaya Zemlya (Russian: Се́верная Земля́, Literaly: Northern Land).
Solnechnaya Bay (Southern coast of Bolshevik Island, Severnaya Semlya, Russia; 78°11’N, 103°7’E). View of the shore of Solnechny Bay with the abandoned polar station buildings.
Location[]
Bolshevik Island (Russian: о́стров Большеви́к, Transliteration: óstrov Bol'shevík, pronounced [ˈostrəf bəlʲʂɨˈvʲik/OH-struhf buhl'-sheh-VEEK]) is the southern most and second largest island iSevernaya Zemlya group in the Russian Arctic at the very Northern end of the coastal Taymyria Peninsula across the Vilkitsky Strait.
Discovery[]
The island was discovered by Boris Vilkitsky in 1913, but its insularity wasn’t proven until 1931, when Georgy Ushakov and Nikolay Urvantsev charted the archipelago during their 1930–32 expedition and found out it was not attached to northern Siberia by a iced over peninsular.
Name sake[]
Bolshevik Island was named after the Russian-come-Soviet Bolshevik Party.
The island it's self[]
- The annual average temperature is −16 °C (3 °F)
- The area of this island has been estimated at 11,270 km²/(4,350 sq mi).
- The island is mountainous reaching a height of 935 m.
- About 30% of the island is covered by glaciers.
- It has at least three glacier systems: Leningrad and Semenov-Tyan Shansky glaciers, as well as a smaller glacier, Kropotkin.
- Its north-western shore has some fjords; the most important being: Fiord Tel'mana, Fiord Spartak and Fiord Partizan.
Ostrov Tash is a small island located on Bolshevik Island's southern shore. Lavrov Island is located off the north-eastern shore and Ostrov Lishniy off it's northern tip.
There is an abandoned Soviet-come-Russian polar station on the eastern side of Solnechny Bay, near Cape Antsev, as well as a probably now inactive astronomic observatory 4 km to the west.
Wildlife[]
It is almost exclusively coastal in nature. Polar bears, some sea birds, a few seals and some cold water fish visit the island at times. There are occasional concealed inland patches and larger coastal areas of sparse grass, heather, moss and lichen.
Tourism[]
It is a common starting point for trips to the North Pole. It houses a small Arctic base named Prima.
Also see[]
- October Revolution Island in Siberia, Russia
- Komsomolets Island in Siberia, Russia
- Pioneer Island in Siberia, Russia
- Schmidt Island in Siberia, Russia
- Sakhalin Island