Wrangel Island: an oasis in the ice. Wrangel Island: nature reserve, location on the map of Russia, climate, coordinates. Fauna and flora of Wrangel Island Wrangel Island what's new
A bully Arctic fox drives a goose away from the nest: this clever distracting maneuver will allow him to steal the eggs. Snow geese arrive on the island in May to while away the North American winter.
An American journalist shares his impressions of Wrangel Island, a protected corner of the Russian Arctic.
Cutting through the icy waves of the Chukchi Sea, an inflatable powerboat The Zodiac deftly maneuvers between giant fragments of drifting ice. A thick curtain of chilly drizzle and fog covers the invisible shore.
Arctic foxes, the main rogues of the Far North, steal 40 eggs a day from white geese and hide them in hiding places to feed their young.
Although our guide assures us that there is a huge island right ahead, it’s hard to believe. But suddenly the fog clears, and the outlines of the island appear in the air before our eyes, as if by magic. In the cold northern light they seem unusually sharp and contrasting. In front of us is a piece of land 146 kilometers long, where mountain slopes rise high to the sky, shimmering gold in the sun’s rays and completely strewn with such bright flowers that only exist in the tundra.
Back in 1881, the same picture was revealed to the eyes of my compatriot, American naturalist of Scottish origin John Muir, who left the first description of the island. At the sight of its rugged beauty, Muir was indescribably delighted. “This vast desert in its pristine freshness”, “an impregnable citadel beyond the distant distances, by the will of the Creator, fell under the onslaught of a merciless cold” - admiration guided his pen.
Wrangel Island is a world champion in the number of polar bear dens: scientists estimate that in winter nearly four hundred female bears come to its shores to breed.
The coastal spit of alluvial rubble is a natural barrier blocking the path to Wrangel Island. It extends to Cape Blossom, the southwestern tip of the island. The mainland lies 141 kilometers south of the cape.
Today Wrangel Island is one of the most inaccessible nature reserves in the world. To visit it, you need several special government permits, and getting here is not easy: in winter you have to fly by helicopter, and in summer you have to sail on an icebreaker. Waiting for us at the pier in Rogers Bay is huntsman Anatoly Rodionov, a big guy in a soldier's padded jacket. In his hands he has a flare gun and pepper spray - to scare away bears. Rodionov lives here all year round like Robinson Crusoe desert island. However, he still has company: several colleagues and a community of polar bears, who are always not averse to profiting from something. "Hello! Welcome to Wrangel Island!” he exclaims with exaggerated enthusiasm. It’s not surprising - the guy is sad here. “For nine months, only three colors - white, black, gray. I don’t like the winter here!” admits Anatoly.
Contrary to its name, the musk ox has a very indirect relationship with bulls - it is connected with goats and sheep by much closer blood ties. Musk oxen were brought to Wrangel Island in 1975, and now their population numbers about 800 individuals. Recently, they are increasingly gathering in herds to repel the dangerous predators that have returned to the island - wolves.
Along a pebble shore strewn with the bones of whales and walruses, Rodionov leads us to Ushakovskoye, a tiny Soviet-era ghost village. There are mountains of rusty barrels everywhere. Two hundred meters away from us, a nimble little bear sniffs air with interest through his nostrils. Anatoly looks at him as if he were an old acquaintance. The ground is covered with a continuous carpet of moss and lichen, in which the foot is buried.
A polar bear in the company of two cubs is looking for something to profit from. It’s not for nothing that Wrangel Island is called the world’s maternity hospital for polar bears.
Wooden houses are piled on this carpet - some have already been almost completely torn down for firewood. Old, long-abandoned radar disks are about to capsize into the sea, and the howling wind, as if on strings, plays on the guys of the radio antennas. The barred windows of the Russian bathhouse bristle with sharp 120-mm nails: this is how uninvited guests - bears - are greeted here.
The long pebble shallows of Wrangel Island were chosen by Pacific walruses for rookeries, especially after climate change began to thin out the perennial drifting ice, the usual habitat of these pinnipeds. An adult healthy walrus - like this large female - will not be offended in a fight with a polar bear.
Back in 1976, Wrangel Island was declared state reserve- a specially protected natural area. It retains this status today. The island, with an area of 7,510 square kilometers, lying on both sides of the 180th meridian, is the northern twin of the Galapagos Islands: despite the harsh climate, and largely thanks to it, it remains an oasis wildlife. The island is a world champion in the number of polar bear dens: scientists estimate that in winter nearly four hundred female bears come to its shores to breed. And as the climate gradually changes and the ice cover becomes less durable, last years Polar bears often visit the island in the summer. In addition, it is home to the world's largest population of Pacific walruses and Asia's only breeding colony of snow geese. Neighboring them are snowy owls, musk oxen, arctic foxes, reindeer, as well as large populations of lemmings and seabirds.
A special dwarf subspecies of mammoth survived on Wrangel Island until the 18th century BC. - 6 thousand years after mammoths became extinct in all other parts of the planet.
Two musk oxen measure each other with an appraising gaze. In September, at the height of the mating season, males often organize butting tournaments.
Wrangel Island was lucky: during the last ice ages it was never completely covered with ice, and during global warming it was never completely flooded sea waters. That is why the local soil covers and plants give us a unique insight into what the tundra looked like during the Pleistocene era. Mikhail Stishov, a biologist and expert with the World Wildlife Fund, lived on the island for 18 years before moving to Moscow. “When you get to Wrangel Island,” he says, “it’s like you’re transported back in time hundreds of thousands of years. The biological diversity here remains as rich to this day as in ancient times. But this is a very fragile ecosystem.”
For most of the year, polar bears rarely gather together. But in the summer, walruses appear under the rocks of Cape Wareing. The spirit of collectivism awakens in the bears, and they willingly share the prey.
According to paleontologists, Wrangel Island was also the last stronghold of woolly mammoths. A special dwarf subspecies survived here until the 18th century BC. - 6 thousand years after mammoths became extinct in all other parts of the planet. The entire island is dotted with mammoth tusks twisted in a spiral: there are plenty of them on the pebble banks and in river beds - and in some places they even prop up the walls of the rangers’ homes, like hunting trophies. “When the pyramids were being built in Egypt, elephants roamed Wrangel Island,” says Alexander Gruzdev, director of the reserve. - The proximity of the territory to the continental natural complexes of Asia and North America and at the same time, isolation from them created excellent conditions for a unique ecosystem to form here. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world.”
In August, barely fledged snowy owl chicks learn to fly - sometimes with unpredictable consequences. This little owlet fearlessly dived into the river and is now struggling with its wings, trying to stay afloat.
The land, which lies 140 kilometers from the coast of North-Eastern Siberia, has haunted sailors for decades. Almost up late XIX centuries, the very existence of this island remained in question, and it had already changed several names: Tikegen Land, Plover Land, Kellett Land. Cartographers were at a loss - some suggested that this was an “offshoot” of Greenland, stretching straight across the pole.
Throughout the 19th century, almost every expedition that sought to get closer to the island was eventually awarded the epithet “ill-fated.” In the early 1820s, Chukchi hunters in the north east coast Siberia informed the Russian traveler Ferdinand Wrangel about a mysterious land in the north, which can only be seen in clear weather. Wrangel sailed in the indicated direction, but the ship’s path was blocked by ice: the shores were never opened to him. Almost 30 years later, the captain of an English ship that set out in search of John Franklin's expedition noticed ghostly shapes in the distance. Subsequently, captains of whaling ships repeatedly assured that they had also seen this island.
The American Arctic expedition of 1879, caught in ice, came so close to the treasured land that the head of the team, George Washington De Long, was able to establish for certain that this was an island and not a polar continent. He gave the island the name Wrangel. But, alas, De Long was never able to land on shore. His ship Jeanette drifted in the ice for almost two years and sank 1,290 kilometers northwest of the island.
Young Arctic foxes begin to explore the territory in the fall and return less and less to the hole where they were born and spent the first three months of their lives.
And only in August 1881 did a person set foot on Wrangel Island for the first time: the crew of the American ship Thomas Corwin, which was plowing the northern waters in search of the missing Jeannette, landed on it. Members of the search party, among whom was John Muir, hoisted the US flag on the island. The crew of the Corvina gave the island the name New Columbia - this name, however, did not stick. In the same year, the first description of the island, compiled by John Muir, was published.
However, soon everyone forgot about this land at the end of the world again - no one visited the island for more than thirty years. And then the next wave of doomed expeditions rolled in. The first in their series was the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913. To get to the island, the crew of the brigantine Karluk, crushed by ice, traveled 130 kilometers along drifting ice. They waited eight months for rescue, and during this time 11 of the 25 unfortunates died. In 1921, another Canadian expedition, raising the British flag over the island, attempted to colonize it. But this attempt was not crowned with success - it only claimed the lives of four more people. In 1924, Boris Davydov's expedition raised the USSR flag over the island, and two years later a permanent settlement was founded here.
Island map:
Recently, it has become easier to get to the protected area. Ministry natural resources and Ecology of Russia even announced plans to develop ecotourism in the reserve, but this is a matter for the future. In the meantime, the island remains a natural laboratory for Arctic researchers, who unanimously insist that this relict tundra of the Pleistocene era beckons with irresistible force. “It feels like you’re at the end of the world and there’s nothing further,” admits Daniel Fisher, a mammoth specialist at the University of Michigan.
“This is a virgin environment,” says Irina Menyushina, who has been studying snowy owls and arctic foxes on the island for 32 seasons. - Here you feel close to the fundamental processes that govern the life of the Universe - birth, death, natural selection, the ebb and flow of population waves. I come to Wrangel Island from year to year, but its witchcraft spells do not lose their power.”
Text: Hampton Sides Photos: Sergey Gorshkov
Today we will talk about the land of Wrangel. This island is very interesting. A Russian traveler searched for it unsuccessfully, but it was discovered by a Briton and a German. Then the deserted island became a “bone of discord” between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. This land is surrounded by legends. There is even an opinion that one of the colonies of the sinister Gulag was located here. But even without repressive camps, this land was deadly for humans. More than one polar explorer died here. And today the island continues to surprise scientists with new sensational discoveries. How was the island formed, what is the relief, climate, animals and vegetable world- read in this article.
Wrangel Island on the map
This is a fairly large piece of land. Its area is approximately seven and a half thousand square kilometers, and most of it is occupied by mountains. The island itself is located in the Arctic Ocean. Even in simple geographical location Wrangel's land is already hiding its uniqueness. It is a watershed between two large ocean areas, a natural border between Chukotka and East Siberian seas. And along Wrangel Island there is a junction between the Eastern and Western hemispheres of our planet. The one hundred and eightieth meridian, the so-called “date line,” divides the land area into almost equal parts. From north coast separated by at least 140 kilometers of water - the Long Strait. Since 1976, this land has been declared a nature reserve. The last permanent resident died in 2003. Since then, only polar scientists have lived here. Administratively, the island belongs to the district (Iultinsky district).
History of discovery
It is safe to say that the Paleo-Eskimos were the first to discover Wrangel Land. As archaeological excavations carried out in a ravine called Devil prove, people stopped here for camps three and a half thousand years ago. Russian pioneers were told about the existence of the distant land of Umkilir (“islands of polar bears”) by the Chukchi. But two hundred years passed before a European set foot on the deserted and unkind shore. For a long time, the island was considered just a beautiful Chukchi legend. The Russian navigator and statesman Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel unsuccessfully searched for it in 1820-1824. In 1849, British explorer and traveler Henry Kellett observed two pieces of land in the Chukchi Sea through a telescope. The discoverer named them after himself and his ship Herald. This is how “Kellett Land” and Herald Island (later Wrangel Island) appeared on the world map. But this is not all the adventures of our part of the land, surrounded by the sea.
Why was the discovery named after Wrangel?
The island was considered unknown to Europeans (the Chukchi opinion about Umkilir was not taken into account). The right of discoverer belonged to the one who not only saw the distant shore with the help of a telescope, but set his foot on it. It was a German merchant Eduard Dallmann, who carried out merchant transactions with residents of Chukotka and Alaska. But he was far from thinking of giving any name to the lands he visited. A year later, in 1867, American whaler Thomas Long landed on the island. This brave man was a researcher by vocation and knew a lot about the search for F.P. Wrangel. That’s why he named the island he discovered in his honor. The territory was no man's land for about 14 years. In 1881, an American ship approached Harold and Wrangel Islands. It was looking for members of the De Long polar expedition, which set off to conquer the North Pole in 1879 on the ship Jeanette and went missing. Captain Calvin Hooper landed part of the crew on the island. While the sailors were looking for traces of the missing, the captain planted a US flag on the shore. He named the island New Columbia.
Formation of the archipelago
Until the twentieth century, the governments of Russia and the United States had little interest in who owned two pieces of land lost in the Arctic Ocean. This attitude was facilitated by their “distant” geographical coordinates. Wrangel Island, for example, is the westernmost in the small archipelago, located between 70° and 71° north latitude. The length along the meridian of this place is simply unique: from 179° W. long to 177° east. d. The archipelago is located very close not only to North America, but also to Asia. This is all that remains of the once existing bridge between the two continents, when the Bering Strait had not yet separated them. Thus, these are islands of mainland origin. And that is why they are also called Beringia. This area was spared by ice ages, and during global warming the islands did not go under water. This circumstance preserved the amazing flora and fauna on Wrangel’s land.
Arctic apple of discord
With the advent of the twentieth century, and at the same time the century of industry, both claimants laid claim to the archipelago. After all, it doesn’t matter where Wrangel Island is located, whether anyone lives there and whether it is possible to conduct economic activity. The borders of adjacent states shift to the east or west, respectively, if someone takes possession of the archipelago. In the fall of 1911, a Russian hydrographic expedition on the ship “Vaigach” landed on Wrangel Island and raised the Russian flag on it. And in the summer of 1913, the Canadian brigantine Karluk was trapped in ice and was forced to drift towards the Bering Strait. Part of the team landed on Herald Island, and the other - a large party - on Wrangel. Two members of this expedition reached big land(Alaska), but the rescue expedition reached those in distress only in September 1914.
Development of the archipelago
In 1921, the Canadians decided to “stake out” an archipelago in the Chukchi Sea. After all, this gave the state the opportunity to fish and whaling off their coasts. But the first settlers, consisting of four polar explorers and one Eskimo woman, did not survive the winter (only Ada Blackjack survived). Then the Canadians formed a second colony in 1923. Geologist C. Wells and twelve Eskimos, among them women and children, came to Wrangel Island. Since professional hunters were engaged in food production, the colonists successfully survived the winter. But the USSR government sent the icebreaker “Red October”, equipped with cannons, to the shores of the island. His crew forcibly boarded the settlers and took them to Vladivostok, from where they later extradited them to their homeland. As a result of this trip, two children died.
Wrangel Island is ours!
How did it finally become “domestic”? Although the Wrangel Islands appeared on the map of Russia, the government did not calm down until Russian colonists established themselves there. In 1926, a polar station was founded, headed by researcher G. Ya. Ushakov. Another 59 Chukchi from the villages of Chaplino and Providence settled with him. In 1928, Ukrainian journalist Nikolai Trublaini came there on the icebreaker Litke. He repeatedly described Wrangel Island and its harsh beauty in his books (in particular, “The Path to the Arctic through the Tropics”). Collective farms were supposed to be everywhere in the Land of Soviets, and the Far North was no exception. In 1948, a collective reindeer herding farm was founded - for this purpose, a small herd was brought from the mainland. And in the 70s, musk oxen were introduced from the island of Nunivak. Although evil tongues claim that one of the Gulag camps was based on the archipelago, this is not true. The villages of Ushakovskoye, Perkatkun, Zvezdny and the town. Cape Schmidt was inhabited either by polar explorers or by Chukchi tribes.
Reserved land
Back in 1953, the authorities decided to protect walruses and their rookeries on two islands in the Chukchi Sea. Seven years later, the Regional Executive Committee of Magadan, by its resolution, created a reserve on Wrangel Island. Later (1968) he was upgraded in status. But the Soviet government did not stop there. The reserve of state significance was transformed into nature reserve"Wrangel Islands". The zone is still protected according to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 189 of March 23, 1976. The plural in the name of the reserve is not a typo. Came under protection and neighboring island Herald, as well as about 1,430,000 hectares of water area. Ironically, the crisis of the late 1990s greatly contributed to the conservation of nature. Most of the residents were taken to mainland, since there was no means to supply them with fuel and food. The last inhabitant Vasilina Alpaun was killed polar bear in 2003. And in 2004, both islands were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Relief
A map of Wrangel Island shows that this landmass is quite mountainous. Three almost parallel chains - Northern, Middle and Southern Ranges- ends with coastal cliffs. The highest point - Mount Sovetskaya - reaches 1096 meters above sea level. It is located almost in the center of the island. The Low Northern Range extends into a swampy plain called the Academy Tundra. The low-lying shores of the island are dissected by lagoons. There are a lot of lakes and rivers here. But there are no fish in them. Due to the harsh climate, these reservoirs freeze through in winter. However, global warming is noticeable here too. In recent years, schools of pink salmon have begun to actively enter river mouths to spawn. The rugged terrain and polar location created a number of non-melting glaciers on the island.
Climate of Wrangel Island
The polar night here begins in the second ten days of November, and the long-awaited sun appears at the end of January. The luminary does not set beyond the horizon from mid-May to the third ten days of July. But even the fact that the sun constantly illuminates Wrangel Island does not add warmth to the local summer. The temperature even in July does not exceed +3 °C. Snowfall, drizzle and fog are common. Only in the abnormally hot summer of 2007 did the thermometer jump to +14.8 °C (in August). Winters are very frosty, with frequent snowstorms. February and March are especially brutal. The temperature during this period does not rise above -30 °C for many weeks. Cold air masses from the Arctic carry little moisture with them. But in the summer from the northern part Pacific Ocean humid winds blow.
Flora
B. N. Gorodkov, who studied the vegetation cover on the eastern coast of Wrangel Land in 1938, mistakenly classified the island as a zone. Further study of the flora led scientists to the idea that its territory lies in the polar tundra belt. And to be very precise, the classification is as follows: Wrangel subprovince of the Western American zone of the Arctic tundra. The flora has an ancient species composition. Three percent of plants are subendemic. These are Gorodkov's poppy, bestilnitsa, Wrangel's grasshopper and others. It has now been revealed that in terms of the number of endemics, Wrangel Island has no equal in the polar zone. In addition to these plants, which are found only here and nowhere else in the world, more than a hundred rare species grow in the reserve.
Fauna
Severe climatic conditions do not favor particular species diversity. There are absolutely no amphibians, reptiles or freshwater fish on the island. But Wrangel Island, a photo of which is hardly ever complete without a polar bear in the foreground, holds the record for the density of these animals. Judge for yourself: four hundred bears live on an area of about seven and a half thousand square kilometers. And that's not counting the males and cubs! This justifies the Chukchi name of the island - Umkilir. Moreover, the population of this animal is increasing year by year. The polar bear is the main owner of the island. In addition to it, there are introduced reindeer and musk ox. In summer, the wind blows bumblebees, butterflies, mosquitoes and flies from the mainland. The world of birds has about 40 species on the island. Among rodents, Vinogradov's lemming is endemic. In addition to bears, there are other predators: polar fox, wolf, fox, wolverine, ermine. The local walrus rookery is the largest in Russia.
Unique discovery
In the mid-1990s, the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve made the front pages of scientific journals. And all because paleontologists discovered the remains of mammoths here. But what was important was not the find itself, but its age. It turned out that on the island these elephants covered with thick hair lived and thrived three and a half thousand years ago. But it is known that mammoths became extinct more than ten thousand years ago. What happens? When the Crete-Mycenaean civilization was at its peak in Greece, and in Egypt a living mammoth was walking around Wrangel Island! True, the local subspecies was also distinguished by its small stature - the size of a modern African elephant.
The island received its name in honor of the Russian navigator and statesman Ferdinand Wrangel.
Russian military and statesman, navigator and polar explorer, admiral (1856), manager of the Naval Ministry.
He came from an ancient family of Baltic Germans.
On this moment Wrangel Island is part of the reserve of the same name and is included in the list of objects world heritage UNESCO.
The surprising thing is that Wrangel Island is located exactly at the junction of the Western and Eastern hemispheres of our planet. It stretches 150 km wide, 125 km long, and has an area of 7,600 square kilometers. Its central and southern parts are predominantly mountainous. The largest peak is located here, namely Mount Sovetskaya with a height of 1096 meters. The flat tundra with numerous small rivers and lakes predominates mainly in the north.
A polar station was created on the island in 1926, and it was permanently operating, and a village called Ushakovskoye was created, which existed until 1994. As of this year, there is now no permanent population on the island. After all, times were not easy then. Perestroika, lack of funding, the collapse of the USSR, as well as the country’s complete loss of interest in the study and development of such northern villages and regions. But, by the way, this still had the best effect on the well-being of the island. After all, now there is a unique reserve, included in the UNESCO list in 2004.
The winter period on the island lasts 8 months. From November to January itself there is a polar night. During this period, the island is dark, frosty and relatively quiet, except for the various howls of strong arctic local winds. True, by spring and summer this wonderful island begins to come to life. In the tundra you can see carpets of poppies, of which there are more than 7 different species, variegated and beautiful colors. Thousands of birds can be observed along the coastal cliffs, and at this time polar bears with wonderful babies emerge from numerous dens. By the way, Wrangel Island serves as a home for polar bears in the Arctic. In addition, it is home to the unique nesting territory of the last remaining Asian white geese on Earth and, among other things, the largest population of the unique Pacific walrus, approximately 100,000 individuals.
By the way, from Anadyr in July or August there is a great opportunity to take a cruise on a small but comfortable and cozy icebreaker. amazing island, moreover, with disembarkation and even accommodation for 3 days. But most often the tourists you see here are Americans or Canadians. There are practically no Russians.
Since the mid-17th century, Russian explorers heard from the inhabitants of Chukotka about a certain island in the Arctic Ocean, but it appeared on maps only 200 years later. In 1911, the island was declared Russian territory, although even after that there were several attempts by Britain to annex it to its lands. But the great remoteness, ice hummocks and nature itself protected this region from the encroachment of foreigners on this primordially Russian northern land.
In 1976, a nature reserve was created on Wrangel Island, which included, in addition to the island itself, the territory of nearby Herald Island and the adjacent 12-mile sea area. The main task of this reserve is to preserve and study the fauna of the island part of the Arctic.
Marine hydrometeorological station of Wrangel.
The climate of the Wrangel Island reserve is quite harsh. From February to March, temperatures rarely rise above -30 degrees, and the wind accompanying snowstorms reaches speeds of 40 meters per hour and above. Even in summer there are frosts and snowfalls. Ice masses on the islands remain almost all year round.
The topography of Wrangel Island is mountainous; mountains occupy more than half of the island's territory. Near the sea they end in cliffs. In places where the banks are flatter, there are sand and pebble spits. In addition, there are streams on the island - more than one and a half thousand, and about 900 lakes.
Herald Island is a high outlier that falls into the sea on all sides with rocky, steep ledges.
Most of the flora and fauna protected by the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve are unique. The reason for this is the exceptional combination of historical and landscape-climatic conditions, as well as the inaccessibility of the island. Even relict species of animals can be found here. On the islands, which are part of the ancient landmass that united the Eurasian and North American continents in ancient times, American and Euro-Asian species of flora and fauna are still preserved. Most of the flora of Wrangel Island belongs to the arctic tundra subzone. In some places of the island there is a real polar desert. Flowering plants grow quite happily in the southwest and center of the island. Here you can see real relict steppes.
There are absolutely no amphibians or reptiles on the territory of the reserve, but 169 species of different birds nest here, for example, the common eider and combed eider, the Icelandic sandpiper, the peregrine falcon and the gyrfalcon.
By the way, on Wrangel Island there is the largest colony of white goose in Eurasia.
Siberian and ungulate lemmings, common to this region, as well as arctic foxes make up the bulk of terrestrial mammals. Occasionally a wolverine, fox or wolf appears. Walruses often appear on the island - the largest rookery of these animals is located here. The island serves as a kind of “maternity hospital” for them. Polar bears are frequent guests at such rookeries.
The island is home to quite a large number of musk oxen. These huge animals, covered with thick fur, don’t mind the local frosts. This is their home and they feel great on the island.
Domestic reindeer were brought here specifically. They took root well, over time they became somewhat wild and now make up some of the fauna of the island.
Gray whales, fin whales, and beluga whales are not uncommon in these waters. Sometimes whales swim from Greenland.
The island is also of geological value - sites of ancient humans were found here, as well as traces of a population of small mammoths that outlived their mainland relatives by almost 6 thousand years. By the way, mammoths lived on Wrangel Island relatively recently - only 3.6 thousand years ago.
Map of Wrangel Island.
Wrangel Island is a fairly large island, located almost at the junction of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas of the North Arctic Ocean, located to the north-west of the Chukotka Peninsula by the Long Strait, noticeably 150 kilometers away. The island received its name from the American whaler Thomas Long in honor of the Russian statesman and traveler Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich. The locals, the Chukchi, called the island Umkilir, which in Russian means “island of polar bears.”
The total area of the island exceeds 7,600 square kilometers.
Wrangel Island is territorially part of the Iultinsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and is subject to the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
Photo of Wrangel Island from space.
Story.
According to archaeologists, ancient people, namely the Paleo-Eskimo tribes, appeared on the island more than 1700 BC. Most likely, they did not have settled settlements on the island, but visited it only for the purpose of hunting.
At the beginning of 1849, the British explorer Henry Kellett, who had previously discovered, discovered an island previously unknown to Europeans in the Chukchi Sea, which he named Kellett's Land.
In the middle of 1866, the first European landed on this island - the German captain Eduard Dallmann, who traded with the inhabitants of Chukotka and Alaska.
In August 1867, the captain of the American whaling expedition, Thomas Long, having no information about Kellett's discovery, named it in honor of Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, who had been looking for this island for a long time, but never found it.
In the summer of 1879, not far from Wrangel Island, the route of the American polar expedition of George Washington De Long, who tried to reach the North Pole on the schooner Jeannette, lay. Naturally, this expedition ended unsuccessfully and in June 1881, the steam cutter Thomas Corwin was sent to search for it under the command of Calvin Hooper, who landed on Wrangel Island and, raising the US national flag over it, proclaimed it the territory of this state.
At the beginning of September 1911, crew members of the Russian icebreaker Vaygach landed on Wrangel Island, carried out a hydrographic survey of the island and raised the Russian flag over it.
Typical landscape of Wrangel Island.
In the fall of 1913, members of the Canadian Arctic expedition landed on Wrangel Island, traveling on the brigantine Karluk, which was sandwiched by ice near the island. Several members of the expedition died; the survivors were rescued only in September 1914 by the Canadian schooner King and Wing.
Canadian polar explorer Vilhjalmur Stefanson founded settlements on the island in 1921, and declared it territorial property of Great Britain. The settlement existed on the island with varying success until July 20, 1924. It was on this day that it was practically forcibly evacuated by the Soviet gunboat "Red October", whose task was to liquidate the settler camp and establish the jurisdiction of the USSR on the island.
In August 1926, a polar station was founded on Wrangel Island under the leadership of the Soviet polar explorer G. A. Ushakov, where 59 people lived at that time.
In September 1928, an expedition from the Soviet icebreaker Litke landed on Wrangel Island. The expedition at that time included the outstanding Ukrainian prose writer and journalist Nikolai Trublaini (Mikola Trublaini), who colorfully described Wrangel Island in several of his works, in particular “To the Arctic - through the Tropics.”
In 1960, according to the decision of the Magadan Regional Executive Committee, a long-term reserve was founded on Wrangel Island, which in 1968 was transformed into a reserve of republican significance.
At the beginning of 1992, the radar station on Wrangel Island was liquidated, leaving only one on the island. locality- the village of Ushakovsky, which was also deserted by the end of 2003.
Western coast of Wrangel Island in spring.
Origin and geography of the island.
Wrangel Island is significant in area, so its geographic coordinates are usually determined by its geographic center, namely: 71°14′ N. w. 179°24′W d.
The coastline of Wrangel Island in the south is quite flat, but forms several bays and bays, the largest of which include Yuzhny and Krasina bays. In the north, the coastline forms several spits and peninsulas. The Adrianova and Bruch spits are considered the largest, and the Mushtakov spit with Nakhodka Island form the largest bay in the north of the island - Pestsovaya Bay.
The relief of Wrangel Island is quite diverse. In the north of the island lies the Tundra Academy lowland. Low is also South coast islands. But closer to the center, the low-lying terrain turns into small mountains and plateaus. Among mountain ranges Wrangel Islands should be noted: the Central Mountains, the Evsifeev Mountains, the Nameless and Northern Mountains, as well as the Eastern and Western Plateau. Highest point The island is Mount Sovetskaya, located in the group of Central Mountains, reaching a height of 1096 meters above sea level.
Controversy still rages regarding the origin of the island. According to one version, the island should be classified as tectonic, according to the second - as an island of continental origin.
The geological structure of Wrangel Island consists for the most part from basalts and granites interspersed with quartzites. Among the mineral resources, small deposits of coal and marble have been explored here, the development of which is extremely unprofitable due to the distance of the island and climatic conditions.
There are quite a lot of rivers and lakes on Wrangel Island. The largest rivers of the island in terms of their length are the Mammoth and Kler. The lakes of Wrangel Island are mostly classified as glacial in origin; the largest of them are lakes Kmo, Gagachye, Komsomol and Zapovednoye.
Mountain areas of Wrangel Island in winter.
Climate.
The climate on Wrangel Island is quite harsh and very typical for Arctic latitudes. For most of the year, masses of arctic cold, dry air pass over the island. In summer, sometimes more humid and warm air comes from the Pacific Ocean. Dry and moderately heated air masses arrive less frequently from Eastern Siberia.
Winters on the island are long and characterized by fairly frosty weather associated with strong and gusty winds. north winds. The average air temperature in January is approximately −22–25 °C, with the coldest months being February and March. At this time, the temperature can drop even to −30–35 °C, accompanied by frequent and strong snowstorms with strong and gusty winds of 40 meters per second and higher.
Summer on the island is quite cool with frequent frosts and snowfalls. July is considered the warmest month of the year. In this period average temperature air averages +2 °C to +4 °C. IN mountainous areas islands, protected from piercing winds, the climate is slightly warmer and drier.
The average relative humidity on the island is approximately 83 percent, and annual precipitation in the form of snow, light rain and drizzle is approximately 135 millimeters.
Panorama from the sea to the deserted village of Ushakovsky.
Population.
Currently, Wrangel Island is uninhabited. The last resident of the island, living in the village of Ushakovsky, was eaten by a polar bear at the end of 2003.
During times Soviet Union Several settlements were founded on the island, the largest of which was the village of Ushakovsky. At the beginning of 1980, about two hundred people lived in Ushakovsky, among whom were meteorologists, geologists, research scientists, fishermen, military personnel and border guards. Local authorities, a small boarding school, kindergarten, boiler room, post office, hospital, shops, local club-cinema, and even a natural history museum. For a long time, the Rogers Bay polar station and Rogers Airport operated here, where AN-2, MI-6, MI-2 and MI-8 planes and helicopters could land. It is noteworthy that in houses local residents there was electricity from a small diesel power station.
During the 90s of the last century, the island was deserted. All polar government programs were curtailed, and people began to be transported to the continent.
In 1987, a book by the famous Russian political prisoner Moshinsky was published, in which for some reason he talks about a correctional camp on Wrangel Island. The fact is that there have never been correctional facilities on the island, if only because it is almost impossible to deliver special forces here.
Polar bears against the backdrop of the foothills of the Central Mountains of Wrangel Island.
Flora and fauna.
The vegetation of Wrangel Island is very typical for these geographical and climatic places classified as arctic deserts. In addition to mosses and lichens, a fairly large number of vascular herbaceous plants are found here, of which 135 are classified as rare. Many endemic (Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's bluegrass, Lapland poppy and Wrangel's cinquefoil) and sub-emdemic (Gorodkov's poppy, grasshopper, Wrangel's grass) plants also grow here. In the intermountain region of the central part of the island small shrubs grow, among which a certain amount of Richardson's willow stands out.
The island's fauna is extremely rich and diverse, from insects to large mammals, even despite the harsh climate.
Insects are represented by several species of bumblebees, mosquitoes, butterflies, flies and gadflies.
More than 20 species of polar birds regularly nest on Wrangel Island, and about 20 more species fly here to nest from other places. Among the permanent inhabitants of the island are snow geese, Icelandic sandpipers, eiders, tules, ragged gulls, glaucous gulls, snowy owls and long-tailed skuas. Among the migratory birds, sandhill cranes should be highlighted, as well as Canada geese and small American passerines - finches.
Among the island's mammals, the Vinogradov's lemming, which is considered endemic in these places, the Siberian lemming and the Arctic fox should be highlighted. The polar bear lives here in significant numbers, the population of which has especially increased recently; wolves, ermines, wolverines, and foxes are also found here, as well as wild dogs, which were brought here by people as sled dogs. IN Soviet times Reindeer and musk ox were brought to Wrangel Island. Currently, their population has grown significantly. In the coastal areas of the island, seals and walruses set up their rookeries, the population of which is the largest in the Russian Arctic.
There were previously no fish in the rivers and lakes of the island due to their shallow waters, but recently there have been cases of people entering the rivers for spawning grounds. large quantity salmon, including pink salmon and chum salmon.
Vegetation of Wrangel Island in July.
Tourism.
Tourism is an alien word for Wrangel Island. Until recently, the island remained forgotten by the Russian authorities, and only in August 2011 the polar ship “Mikhail Somov” approached it, which landed an expedition on the island to clean the coast of the island from barrels of spent fuel. Perhaps this is the first step in reviving the island’s former infrastructure after many years of neglect.
Eastern coast of Wrangel Island.