Wrangel archipelago. Wrangel island: nature reserve, location on the map of Russia, climate, coordinates

No, the island is not named after the famous Russian military leader Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel.

It is a rare case when, even in a dry academic transcript of Wikipedia, the history of this island reads like a detective story.

So, Wrangel Island is a part of the land surrounded by ice in the Arctic Ocean.
The area of ​​the territory is about 7670 sq. km. Extremely harsh natural conditions. The average temperature in July is +3 degrees. In January-February, it often drops to -37.

The first people, Paleo-Eskimos, hunted on this island as early as 1750 BC. It is unlikely that the climate of those places was very different from what can be found now, therefore, these hunters had to oh, how difficult it was.

More than two thousand years passed before this island was first depicted on maps. The island got its first name, "Land of Kellet" in 1849, thanks to the English navigator, Henry Kellet, who described it during his expedition to the Chukchi Sea.

Another 16 years passed and in 1866 the crew of a merchant ship landed on the island under the leadership of Captain Eduard Dahlmann.

The next year, in 1867, by a strange coincidence, the island receives a different name, with which it is included in all maps of the world. The American explorer and whaler Thomas Long, whether not knowing about Kellett's discovery, or simply because of a navigational error, names the island after the famous Russian traveler, geographer, statesman, admiral, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel.

It may seem strange that an American gives the new island the name of a Russian traveler, but given the wide popularity of Ferdinand Petrovich, who at that time already had three trips around the world and many other merits, the act looks quite normal.

In 1881, Captain Hooper landed a search group on the island in order to rescue the expedition of George De Long, which went to the North Pole on the Jeannette ship two years earlier and suffered a disaster. At the same time, Captain Hooper plants an American flag on the island and declares it the territory of the North American United States. In this status, Wrangel Island existed for 30 years, before already in the 20th century, in 1911, the team of the icebreaking steamer (!) Vaigach approached the island, took a photograph of its coast, and set the Russian flag, about which points made a corresponding entry in the logbook.

1914 year.
For about six months, from January to September, 15 crew members of the Karluk brigantine lived on the island awaiting a rescue expedition after their ship was crushed by ice 130 kilometers from the coast.

1921 year.
Canadian polar explorer Williamur Stefanson establishes a settlement of five colonists on the island, declares the territory the property of Great Britain and raises the flag of the United Kingdom.

For two years the colonists lived on the island without communication with the outside world. Several ships, which during this time tried to bring provisions and equipment to the island, could not pass through the ice. And only in August 1923, the only survivor, 25-year-old Ada Blackjack, who had been living in absolute solitude for the last six months, was rescued from the island. The rest of the colonists were killed.

In 1923, another attempt was made to colonize the island, this time by the American geologist Charles Wells, who founded the camp, bringing with him 12 experienced residents of the far north, with women and children. The colony existed for several months, until August 20, 1924, when it was taken out in full by the Soviet warship Red October.

1926 year.
A permanent settlement of 59 people was founded on Wrangel Island under the leadership of the Soviet Arctic explorer Georgy Ushakov. The foundation of the polar station is being laid.

1948-1960s.
Reindeer were brought to the island from the mainland, a reindeer herding state farm was organized, two more settlements were founded, and several military infrastructure facilities were built.

One of the residents of the village, V. Pridatko-Dolin, describes the state of the settlement in his book "Ushakovskoe: how was it?":

By the end of the 1970s, a village council, a boarding school, a kindergarten and a boiler house, a cinema club, an office for a nature reserve (and later the Wrangel Island reserve) and a modest natural history museum, a shop (TZP) and an underground glacier for storing meat products, were operating in it. corral (for autumn corral and reindeer slaughter), post office, hospital, Rogers Bay polar station (Rogers), Rogers airport (for AN-2, MI-2, MI-6, MI-8) and a small air station, fuel and lubricants warehouse and bulk coal storage, library, diesel power station and a bathhouse, and there was electricity in the houses.

During navigation, a temporary berth for barges was in operation. Since the beginning of the 1980s, a radiotelephone communication station, a border post, a canteen for the reserve staff and air crews, a television was working, and a lighthouse was restored on the Ushakov Spit.

But, already in the late 1980s, the military and permanent residents began to leave the island due to lack of funding, in 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the radar station was closed.

In 1997, all the remaining residents of the village, except for those who refused to leave their usual home, were transported to Cape Schmidt. A few years later, one of the residents of the village returned back, but in 2003 she died as a result of an attack by a polar bear.

There is only one known Neolithic site of the Paleo-Eskimos - on the southern coast of the island. Archaeologists did not find bones of land animals in the cultural layer, which indicates that the diet of the ancient population of the island consisted exclusively of marine animals and fish. When the islands were discovered by Europeans, there were no local residents for a long time.
There are direct indications that MV Lomonosov spoke about the presence of a large island in this sector of the Arctic. In 1763, the great Russian scientist pointed out a certain island on the map of the Arctic in the region north of Chukotka, which he named "Doubtful". From this approximate name on the modern map of the island, the name of the bay is preserved - Doubtful.
In 1820, the Russian government sent two expeditions to the northern coast of Siberia: the first was looking for the legendary “Sannikov Land”, the second, under the command of the outstanding Russian navigator and polar explorer Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel (1796 / 1797-1870), set off in search of the completely mythical “land of Andreev ".
For four years, Wrangel explored the North, trying to find an unknown land. His stubbornness was also explained by the fact that the Chukchi had long known about the existence of the island. The Chukotka Kamakai (leader) told Wrangel that in the area of ​​the mouth of one of the rivers, on clear summer days, high snow-capped mountains are visible in the north. The Chukchi, who themselves were unable to get to the unknown land, laid down the legend that the Krehai Kamakai of the fabulous tribe of the Onkilons, a people who allegedly lived earlier on the shores of the ocean, left for this land together with the entire tribe.
The stories of the Chukchi gave Wrangel additional strength, and in 1823 he set off towards the unknown land on a dog sled. He did not reach the ground, but he saw the mountains and mapped them. Later this land was called "Wrangel Land".
In 1849, the English captain-polar explorer Henry Kellett searched on his ship for the expedition of fellow countryman John Franklin, frozen in the ice, and also saw the peaks of the mountains of "Wrangel Land".
The first European, in 1867, who was personally convinced of the reality of the island's existence, was the American whaler Thomas Long. The enlightened whale hunter knew about Wrangel's Land, and he named the island after the Russian explorer.
The first who set foot on this island was an American: in 1881, the crew of the US ship "Thomas Corwin", who was also looking for the captured ship, visited the island. The Americans planted their flag here, named the island "New Caledonia" and declared it the property of the United States.
Only in 1911 the Russian hydrographic vessel "Vaigach" arrived here, which managed to circumnavigate the entire island.
In 1924, the Soviet flag was raised on the island, the claims of the Americans to the island were rejected, and the planned development of this completely wild land began. At various times, experiments on breeding domesticated reindeer were carried out here, and even a reindeer herding farm was created. Three villages were built, an unpaved military airfield was built, a military radar station was installed, rock crystal was mined, and musk ox acclimatization was carried out.

Population

In addition to scientists and the military, the island was inhabited mainly by the Chukchi, who were resettled to the island to organize the fishing of arctic fox, walrus, polar bear, white geese, and brants.
Currently, the villages on the island are abandoned, there is no permanent population, the island is periodically visited by border guards and rare groups of tourists.

Nature

The state reserve "Wrangel Island" was established by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR in 1976.
Currently, the Wrangel Island nature reserve is the northernmost of the protected areas in Russia. Its total area is 2.3 million hectares, including 1.4 million hectares of water area. The reserve is located on two islands of the Chukchi Sea - Wrangel and Herald. Two thirds of the territory is mountains. The climate here is extremely harsh.
The purpose of the reserve is to organize the protection of the natural complex of the island, its unique ecological systems, both on land and in the ocean. For this, a five-kilometer protective zone was created around the island, and a reindeer herding farm and a radar station were closed.
The status of the reserve helps preserve the polar bear population: this is the only place in Russia where bears from 330 to 600 individuals come to arrange a maternity den and give birth to offspring. The walrus is guarded here, which is hunted by poachers from several countries.
The most numerous species of local pinnipeds is the Pacific walrus. During the summer feeding period, the largest coastal rookeries in the Chukchi Sea are formed here: up to 80-100 thousand walruses.
In total, 15 species of mammals live on Wrangel Island, including seals (ringed seal, bearded seal), Siberian and hoofed lemmings, arctic fox, fox, wolf, wolverine, ermine. Having got here together with people, the house mouse took root in abandoned buildings.
There are a lot of birds: 400 species, among which the most numerous are kittiwake, thick-billed guillemot, black goose, puffin, loon, Icelandic sandpiper, polar guillemot, bering cormorant, long-tailed skua. Here is the largest white goose colony in Eurasia.
The waters around the island are poorly studied. When summer comes to an end, gray whales, killer whales, beluga whales, humpback whales, fin whales and bowhead whales come to the shores of the island for feeding and migrations. There are no fish in hundreds of lakes on the island.
Surprisingly enough, there are even insects on Wrangel Island: 31 species of spiders, 58 species of beetles, 42 species of butterflies. Such a variety of invertebrate species, concentrated in one place of the Arctic tundra, is typical only for Wrangel Island.
Despite the harsh climate and other conditions of the natural zone of the Arctic tundra, 417 species and subspecies of plants grow here, among which there are many endemics. There are species that have survived from the Pleistocene epoch: rattlefish, Wrangel's poppy, Wrangel's cinquefoil, Wrangel's bluegrass, Gorodkov's poppy, Lapland poppy. All these species are included in the Red Book of Russia.
The domestic reindeer brought here for breeding has already completely run wild and multiplied: its number is 1.5 thousand individuals. 20 musk oxen, released on the island in 1975, have also successfully mastered, and now there are about 700 of them here.
When people still lived here, the reserve allowed - and this was the only exception for Soviet reserves - the traditional use of natural resources for the Chukchi: on an extremely limited scale, they were engaged in hunting and fishing. Small tourist groups who come here are allowed to move around the island along the coastline, it is forbidden to fly by helicopter at an altitude below 2 km, and it is allowed to observe musk oxen, deer, gray whales, tundra and seabirds. When ice conditions permit, visitors to the reserve can take several water routes by boat along the Doubtful Bay and Krasin Bay.

general information

Location:, between the East Siberian and Chukchi seas.
Administrative affiliation: Shmidtovsky district of the Russian Federation.
Distance from the mainland (northern coast of Chukotka): 140 km - Long Strait.
Origin: mainland.
Settlements (all abandoned): Ushakovskoe, Zvezdny, Perkatkun.
Largest rivers: Claire, Mammoth, Unknown, Tundra.
Lakes: Gagachye, Zapovednoe, Kmo, Komsomol.

Numbers

Area: 7670 km 2.
Population: no permanent population.
Highest point: Mount Soviet (1096 m).
Rivers: 1400 rivers and streams over 1 km long, 5 rivers over 50 km long.
Lakes: about 900, thermokarst, total area - 80 km 2

Climate and weather

Arctic.
Active cyclonic activity.
Average annual temperature:-11.3 ° C.
Coldest month: February (-24.9 ° C).
Warmest month: July (+ 2.5 ° С).
Frost-free period: 20-25 days a year.
Average annual rainfall: 152 mm.
Polar day - from the 2nd decade of May to the 20th of July; polar night - from the 2nd decade of November to the end of January.
Snowstorms with wind speeds up to 40 m / s and above.
Relative humidity: 82%.

sights

Reserve "Wrangel Island"

Mount Soviet

Mount Perkatkun

White goose colony

Pacific walrus rookery

Bird markets

Paleo-Eskimo camp (Devil's ravine)

Landing site of Canadian settlers at the mouth of the Predators River

Doubtful Bay

The Treacherous Lagoon

Krasin Bay

Curious facts

F.P. Wrangel was widely known as a fierce opponent of the sale of Alaska to the United States of America and did not hesitate to openly express his disagreement with Emperor Alexander II.

Until the mid-1960s, there was no border post on the island. In 1967, hundreds of cut walrus carcasses were discovered on the northeastern coast: the result of poaching by foreign fishing vessels. After that, an outpost appeared here, which served until the end of the 1990s.

Since the 1980s. the number of musk ox on the island has steadily increased, by 2003 the number was 600 individuals. The reason is that musk oxen are more adapted to the living conditions on Wrangel Island than deer: in winter, musk ox survives due to accumulated fat reserves and does not need a lot of pasture.

The Devil's Ravine is a Paleo-Eskimo site on Wrangel Island, discovered in 1975. The most valuable artifacts dating back to 1750 BC were found here. - the time when the last mammoths died out.

In 1993, a number of scientific publications reported that an employee of the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve discovered the remains of a small mammoth, 3.5-7 thousand years old, while mammoths became extinct 10-12 thousand years ago. This means that the very last mammoths on Earth lived on Wrangel Island.

Contrary to popular belief, there have never been Gulag forced labor camps on Wrangel Island.

The biological diversity of plant communities on Wrangel Island is unmatched among the Arctic island territories and surpasses the entire Canadian Arctic Archipelago in this respect.

The nature reserve on Wrangel Island contains the world's largest walrus rookeries: up to 75 thousand species accumulate on Cape Blossom, and up to 20 thousand on the Doubtful Spit.

The walrus is able to stay under water without air for up to 10 minutes.

Lemming Vinogradov - endemic to Wrangel Island - builds complex burrows up to 30 m 2, with three dozen entrances and a depth of up to half a meter.

Wrangel Island is a nature reserve located in the vastness of the Arctic. This is the only territory that Russia has managed to conquer from America and England. But there was no power as such. During the reforms, the last inhabitant of the island left this world. Since there were no more people left, the development of flora and fauna here began to develop at a rapid pace. A large number of polar bears could be found on the territory, which migrated to the island in order to winter. Numerous herds of musk oxen also lived here.

Name

Why is Wrangel Island so called? The locals call it Umkilir, which means the island of polar bears. But it owes its official name to the Russian navigator - Ferdinand Wrangel.

Nature

The area of ​​Wrangel Island is approximately 7670 sq. km. Most (about 4700 sq. Km) are mountain ranges. The shores are dissected by lagoons and sandy spits. The central part of the island is mountainous. There are small lakes and glaciers on the territory. Description of Wrangel Island will be incomplete without indicating the relief features of this area.

Relief

The terrain is highly dissected. Mountains line up in parallel chains - ridges. They are conventionally subdivided into three parts - the North, Middle and South ridges, the end of which on the western and eastern sides are rocky cliffs. The most basic is the middle part. Here is the Sovetskaya Gora, which is the highest point of the island. The northern ridge merges into a swampy area and is considered the lowest. This plain is called the Tundra of the Academy. The southern ridge is closest to the sea coast. In the center of the island there is a mountain named after Leonid Gromov.

Rivers and lakes

The main area of ​​Wrangel Island is mountains. But at the same time, there are a large number of rivers and lakes. In total, there are more than 140 rivers and small streams on the island, the length of which is about 1 km. There are approximately 900 lakes on the island, most of them located in the Academy Tundra. Several of them cover an area exceeding 1 km. sq. The lakes are not deep, on average no deeper than 2 m. Where is Wrangel Island located?

Location

The island is extremely cold in the Arctic. Such a climate is practically unsuitable for human habitation.

The geographical position of Wrangel Island influences its history. It is located 140 km from the northern coast of Chukotka. That is why the island was discovered very late. In the middle of the 19th century, large states were not interested in the development of the Arctic desert.

Discovery history

But already at the beginning of the 20th century, interest in this area increased sharply. In 1911, the Russian flag was raised on the island. But this territory is also interested in the UK and Canada. At that time, the Civil War was going on in the Far East. The Canadians took advantage of this circumstance and in 1921 raised the British flag on the island. The Government of Canada has declared with full confidence that its territory belongs to Great Britain. A year later, migrants from the United States began to arrive on the island. Now the American flag was also flying there.

Feathered

Another prominent representative of the fauna of Wrangel Island is the white owl. The density of the location of nesting sites is considered the highest in the country. The reserve is home to the largest bird colony in the entire Chukotka Peninsula. Most of them are sea birds.

Birds of Wrangel Island are represented by 169 species. But not all of them nest in this area.

In summer, more than 50 species of birds are permanent inhabitants of the island. Many of them are nowhere else to be seen. Most species live exclusively in northern latitudes. For example: seagulls, guillemots, etc. Among the birds, one should first of all mention the white goose, which forms its only large autonomous nesting colony of several tens of thousands of pairs that has survived in Russia and Asia. Black geese regularly nest (moreover, non-breeding geese fly here in thousands to molt from mainland Chukotka and Alaska), common eider and comb eider, in very small numbers Siberian eider, pintail and waders.

Birds arrive in the reserve in May, arrange nests in inconspicuous, inaccessible places. They can often be found on rock ledges. Here they lay eggs, feed chicks until they learn to fly on their own. After that, the birds gather in flocks and fly south in winter, and in the spring they return to their homeland with a harsh climate.

Many people know Wrangel Island as the last refuge of mammoths. Scientists testify that it was in the reserve that the dwarf form of these animals was discovered. This species lived together with normal individuals. Excavations have established that mammoths lived in the Arctic more than 3 thousand years ago.

Flora

The island is home to unique plants that are perfectly adapted to local conditions. For the most part, all these species can be found in the tundra of other regions, they differ only in their size. Mostly dwarf plants grow on Wrangel Island. Strong north winds prevent them from growing. Therefore, their height often reaches no more than 10 cm. At the same time, plants of ancient origin can be found here. They have not changed over time. More than 114 plant species grow in the reserve, the composition of which is perfectly preserved due to the climate and remoteness of the island.

The reserve is home to Ivyanka dwarf trees, no more than 1 meter high. You can meet them in mountain gorges, well protected from the wind.

Tourism

Despite the harsh climate and remoteness from civilization, Wrangel Island annually receives tourists from all over the world. Ecotourism is developing at a rapid pace. People want to touch the splendor of nature, to see firsthand its rare representatives. Wrangel Island is one of the best places to do this. Today, tourists have access to several excursion routes. An unforgettable adventure awaits the brave travelers. If you are tired of the hot resorts of Asia, feel free to come to Wrangel Island for a thrill. This is, of course, not a Turkish resort, but nevertheless a very interesting place.

It is very difficult to get to where Wrangel Island is located. As a rule, people get there by tourist ships. This usually happens from August to September. At other times, it is dangerous to visit the reserve because of the glaciers. Tourists move around the reserve on all-terrain vehicles.

Federal State Institution "State Nature Reserve" Wrangel Island ".

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources. (Rosprirodnadzor). Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Sphere of Environmental Protection and Ecological Safety.

The specially protected natural area includes the Federal State Institution "State Nature Reserve" Wrangel Island "" and its protected zone.

The Wrangel Island Nature Reserve includes:

Wrangel Island (geographic coordinates of the extreme points: 70 28 "12" "- 71 21" 02 "" N; 178 45 "59" "E - 177 15" 52 "" W);

Herald Island (71 12 "53" "- 71 15" 08 "" N; 175 19 "16" "- 175 27" 47 "" W);

The coastal waters of the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas are 12 nautical miles wide around each of the islands (Wrangel and Herald).

The protected zone includes a 24 nautical mile wide area around the water area that is part of the reserve.

Fig. 1 Physical map of Wrangel Island.

The total area of ​​the reserve is 56616 sq km, including:

land - 7620 sq. km. (7608.7 sq km - Wrangel Island, 11.3 sq km - Herald Island);

sea ​​area - 48996 sq. km. (11543 sq km - within the reserve, 37453 sq km - protected zone).

The reserve and its protected zone are located entirely within the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Back in the Quaternary (about 50 thousand years ago), the Wrangel and Herald Islands were part of Beringia - a vast land area that once connected Asia with America. According to existing ideas, it was a slightly hilly plain with a group of low mountains in the center and several wide river valleys. Then the sea separated the islands from the mainland. Subsequently, rises and breaks of the earth's crust took place here, the islands were exposed to weathering, the impact of sea waters and coastal ice, repeatedly experienced glaciations, although the glaciers on them did not reach large sizes and did not cover their entire surface. At present, about ten accumulations of dense ice have been found on Wrangel Island - glaciers of atmospheric origin, owing their existence to blizzard transport of snow (Gromov, 1960; Svatkov, 1962; Kiryushina, 1965).

The modern relief of the island is highly dissected. Occupying most of the land, the mountains form three parallel chains, each of which ends in coastal rocky cliffs in the west and east. The lowest ridge is the North. It consists of isolated hills and gentle hills, gradually turning into a wide swampy plain called the Academy Tundra. The middle ridge is the most powerful; it is crowned by Mount Sovetskaya 1096 m above sea level. seas. The southern ridge is relatively low and runs not far from the sea coast. Between the ridges there are wide valleys, cut by quite numerous rivers. Herald Island is a granite-gneiss outlier; above sea level, it rises 380 m.

The islands are composed mainly of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks - quartz, shale, limestone. Among them, igneous rocks are located in the form of separate layers up to several hundred meters thick. Loose deposits are ice-cemented and relatively thin.

Climatic features of Wrangel Island.

The climate of the protected islands is extremely harsh. For most of the year, masses of cold Arctic air with low moisture and dust content move over this area. In summer, warmer and humid Pacific air reaches here from the southeast. Periodically, dry and highly heated masses of air are heard from Siberia.

Fig. Image from space.

The local winter, the longest season of the year, is characterized by stable frosty weather, strong winds predominantly of northern points, shallow and uneven snow cover. The average January temperature is -21.3 °. But it is especially cold on the islands in February - March, when the air temperature does not rise above -30 ° for weeks. At this time, the wind now and then gives rise to a blizzard: hurricane whirlwinds, reaching 40 m / s and more, carry snow dust, expose the peaks, and snowdrifts are swept in the lowlands, along which an all-terrain vehicle can pass without falling through - they are so strong, thickened by frost and the wind.

Table 1.

Summer is cool. And at this time of the year, frosts and snowfalls are frequent. The average July temperature is from 2 to 2.5 °. Inland from the western coast of Wrangel Island and especially in the center of the island, fenced off from the sea by mountains, | due to better warming of the air and, to an even greater extent, thanks to the hair dryers - strong, gusty relatively warm winds blowing from the mountains to the valleys and intermontane basins, summer warmer and drier than in the eastern part of the island and even more so on the coast.

Average relative humidity on the islands is 88%, annual precipitation is about 120 mm (Rogers Bay). Thunderstorms do not happen here every year, more often in July - August. On the coast, the number of foggy days reaches 80-88. The polar day lasts from the second decade of May to the twentieth of July, the polar night - from the second decade of November to the end of January. On Wrangel Island there are more than 140 rivers and streams over 1 km long. There are, however, only five relatively large rivers (more than 50 km long). Most of the rivers and streams belong to the Chukchi Sea basin. Island rivers, as a rule, are full of water only in spring and summer, when the snow melts. By the end of summer, they become very shallow, and by autumn they turn into low-water streams. The only exceptions are the largest rivers - Mamontovaya (west of the island) and Claire (east of the island), which remain abundant even in autumn. There are about 900 lakes on the island, of which only six are over 1 km2. The vast majority of lakes are located in the Tundra Academy. The depth of the lakes, as a rule, does not exceed 2 m; by origin, they are subdivided into thermokarst (most lakes), old ones - in the valleys of large rivers, glacial, dammed and lagoon - the largest.

The coasts of the islands are for the most part of the year shackled with an ice shell and surrounded by chaotic heaps of hummocks. The ice usually leaves the coast in late July - early August, but in September - October it closes again. However, years often happen when the sea near the coast does not open up at all.

Some scientists attribute the soils of Wrangel Island to the Arctic-tundra subzone of the tundra soil zone (Targulian and Karavaeva, 1964), others to the Arctic zone (Mikhailov, 1960). In general, a set of gley, sod, bog and mountain soils is presented here.

Flora and fauna of Wrangel Island.

The vegetation of Wrangel Island is rich in species and is characterized by great antiquity. The number of vascular plant species here exceeds 310, while, for example, on the New Siberian Islands, over a much larger area, there are only about 135, on the islands of Severnaya Zemlya - slightly more than 60, and on Franz Josef Land - less than 50. Flora The island contains a number of relics, and, on the contrary, it contains relatively rare plant species common in other circumpolar regions. The original arctic vegetation on this “fragment” of ancient Beringia, therefore, was not destroyed by glaciers, and at the same time the sea prevented the flow of later migrants from the south from penetrating here.

About 3% of the flora of Wrangel Island are subendemic species, for example, Gorodkov poppy, Wrangel's poppy, and endemic species - Wrangel's bluegrass, Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's poppy, Lapland poppy. In addition, another 114 plant species grow on Wrangel Island, which are classified by botanists as rare and very rare.

Rice. Typical landscape of Wrangel Island.

The modern vegetation cover of the islands is almost everywhere open and undersized. In the southern and central parts of Wrangel Island, upland vegetation is represented mainly by sedge-moss tundra. Cobresia and sedge communities of cryoxerophytic and phiomesophytic meadows are associated with well-drained habitats on the slopes, and peculiar tundra-steppe communities have been identified and described on dry areas of the southern slopes. In the central part of the island, in mountain valleys and intermontane basins influenced by the phenes, there are areas with thickets of willows (mainly Richardson's willows) up to 1 m in height; in other places, shrub willows spread along the ground. Bogs both in the mountainous regions and on the northern plains are represented mainly by sedge-hypnum communities with the participation of sphagnum. On the tops of the mountains, large areas are occupied by stony placers, in places overgrown with lichens and mosses; the middle and lower belts of the mountains are covered with herb-lichen and, in some places, shrub-forb tundra with a variety of flowering plants.

The fauna of invertebrates in the water bodies of the islands is characterized by a low species diversity. The predominance of amphibiotic insects, mainly chironomids, is noted in it. For zoobenthos r. Doubtful are the mass development of stoneflies, chironomids and the absence of more thermophilic caddis flies and mayflies. In general, the fauna of aquatic invertebrates of the island is characterized by species that also inhabit the Chukchi Peninsula and the coast of Eastern Siberia. Living organisms in the waters washing the island are relatively monotonous and few in number, which is primarily due to the lifelessness of the littoral zone at depths of up to 5 m (the influence of ice). Algae are found within 5-20 m, only benthos is found deeper. On average, the density of biomass in the waters of the reserve does not exceed 100 g / m2. However, at Cape Blossom, where the streams of coastal currents converge and where the walrus rookery is located, it reaches 500 g / m2.

Fish living in the coastal waters of the islands are not well understood. They are absent in freshwater bodies; not a single species of amphibians and reptiles lives in the reserve. It can only be noted that the Arctic cod, the most widespread and widespread species of the Arctic ichthyofauna, is found off the coasts of the islands. In addition, large schools of capelin approach the islands not every year and for a short period of time, and the Ice Tomsk Slingshot is also a common species of coastal fish.

At least twenty species of birds regularly nest on the islands. Together with vagrant and irregularly nesting species, there are much more of them - over forty, and every year, with the development of ornithological research in the reserve, this list is expanding.

Rice. White goose.

White geese are among the most numerous feathered inhabitants of the local land. They form one main nesting colony located in the center of the island, in the river valley. Tundra, as well as several small colonies; in some places separate pairs also nest. Small passerines - snow buntings and Lapland plantains - are numerous on Wrangel Island. It is difficult to determine their total number; one can only notice that where conditions permit, they nest with a density often exceeding one pair per hectare of area. Until recently, the common species of geese nesting here could be attributed to the arctic geese - brent geese that come here to nest and in even greater numbers only to molt (in recent years, their number has noticeably decreased); eider (Pacific subspecies of the common eider); from sandpipers - Icelandic sandpipers and tules; from gulls - glaucous gulls, or great polar gulls, fork-tailed gulls; long-tailed skuas; and snowy owls. More rare on the island, but also regularly nest sandpipers and dunlin, Arctic terns, skuas, red-throated loons, crows; from small passerine birds - tap dance. Obviously, from time to time, pintail ducks, Siberian eiders, comb eiders breed on Wrangel Island, from predators - gyrfalcons, short-eared owls, and some other birds. Rose gulls are regularly seen here in autumn.

The peculiarities of the geographic location of the reserve and the local weather conditions create the preconditions for relatively frequent visits and drifts of birds here by the wind from the North American continent. These are large birds, such as the Canadian cranes (they fly here regularly) and the Canada geese, but mainly small passerines, especially the American finch species. Of these, on Wrangel Island, myrtle songbirds, savannah and black-browed buntings, juncoes, and whitewashed zonotrichia were encountered.

Rice. Bowhead whale.

Fauna of mammals is much poorer in species. Two species of lemmings (hoofed and Siberian) and arctic fox constantly live on the island. Periodically, but in significant numbers, polar bears appear here. The island is invaded by wolves, wolverines, ermines and foxes. In the coastal waters of the islands, seals live - the ringed seal bearded seal, or the bearded seal, less common are the seal and lionfish, or the striped seal. In the sea, you can sometimes see fountains of whales, including representatives of the now rarest species on the globe - bowhead whales, predatory whales - killer whales and Arctic dolphins - beluga whales appear. Together with people, sled dogs settled on Wrangel Island; a house mouse appeared and lives in residential buildings. Two species of mammals - domesticated reindeer and musk ox - were also introduced here relatively recently by humans.

General information about Wrangel Island

Wrangel Island is located in the eastern part of the Arctic Ocean, 200 km from the Chukchi Peninsula. Separated from the mainland by the Long Strait, the island is washed from the west by the East Siberian Sea, and from the east by the Chukchi Sea. Located at 70 ° 51? 44? N and 178 ° 46? 18? O from Greenwich (coordinates of Rogers Bay). The length of the island is about 140 km, the width is from 30 to 50 km, while the total area is about 4500 sq. km.

The island has an oval shape. Its shores are little indented, and there are no bays that protrude into the interior of the island. In some places, more or less significant alluvial pebble spits extend from the coast, usually stretching parallel to the coast. These braids form a harbor convenient for anchorage. The best among them is Rogers Harbor, the location of the Soviet colony.

The interior of the island is elevated and mountainous. The central, most massive part of the mountain range, replete with many domed and cone-shaped peaks, is enclosed by the highest point of the entire island - Berry Peak with a height of 760 meters (according to other sources - 900 meters). In the eastern part of the island, the coast is also elevated, with cliffs reaching 200 meters here in places.

A number of scientific data indicate that Wrangel Island in the old days was one with the mainland. This is indicated, among other things, by the presence of mammoth tusks on the island. The island separated from the mainland due to the subsidence of part of the mainland land, which now constitutes the bottom of the Long Strait, the depth of which is only a few tens of meters.

Geologically (granite and shale rocks), Wrangel Island is related to the Chukchi Peninsula and Alaska.

The island is not rich in rivers, moreover, they are extremely narrow and shallow. Only one of them - the Clare River, which flows into the sea in the southeastern corner at Cape Hawaii, is it possible to sail on a boat. There are no glaciers on the island at all; most of its surface is covered by polar tundra.

The island's climate is extremely harsh. Frosts reach 60 ° here. The average annual temperature for this latitude is unusually low: -11.2 °. Frosts are observed throughout the year, while the coldest month is March. The polar night lasts 64 days here (from November 20 to January 22); the polar day, during which the sun does not set below the horizon, is 77 days (from May 15 to July 30).

Despite the very unfavorable climatic conditions, the island is comparatively rich in life. The herbarium collected by GA Ushakov includes 86 species. But, undoubtedly, the flora of Wrangel Island is not yet exhausted by these representatives.

In summer, a lot of birds arrive on the island. Among them are geese, ducks, eiders, guillemots, cormorants, gulls, plovers, snow buntings. Most birds nest in the so-called bird colonies - lonely high cliffs located near the coast. Of the mammals, walruses, seals, polar bears, arctic foxes, lemmings (field mice) are characteristic of the island. Most of the listed representatives of the fauna of Wrangel Island are lucrative fishery.

Wrangel Island is one of the most ice-inaccessible islands in the Arctic. Located not far from the coast, but due to special natural conditions, forever surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of ice, the island was inaccessible for many decades. The epic of the discovery of Wrangel Island is a most curious and instructive page not only in the history of Arctic exploration, but also in the history of geographical research in general.

The discovery of Wrangel Island was preceded by a number of rumors, tales and legends borrowed from the Chukchi. Undoubtedly, all these rumors, which told about some unknown land located to the north of the eastern shores of Siberia, contained a grain of truth. At the beginning of the 19th century, in order to verify these rumors, an expedition was sent to Nizhnekolymsk under the command of a prominent Russian navigator Lieutenant F.P. Wrangel. Despite vigorous attempts, Wrangel did not manage to reach the desired land, although he remained fully convinced that the earth really exists; he even pinpointed her exact location.

Since the end of the first half of the 19th century, in search of the disappeared expedition of the English navigator John Franklin, the Siberian water sector has been intensively visited by foreigners. The head of one of these expeditions, Kellet, confirms that in the place indicated by Wrangel he really saw some kind of land, but could not get close to it. In 1867, the American whaler Long was only 18 miles from land, but could not land on it due to ice obstacles either. In honor of Wrangel, who was the first to accurately determine the position of the unknown land, Long assigns it the name of Wrangel.

The land attracts more and more attention, a number of expeditions are equipped there, but unsuccessful ones. In 1881, two ships - Corvin and Rogers - set off from San Francisco in search of the disappeared American ship Jeanette. Since the sailors believed that the crew of the Jeannette had landed on Wrangel Island, all their efforts were aimed at achieving the latter. They safely and reach it and make the first examination.

In 1911 Wrangel was visited by the Russian hydrographic vessel "Vaigach". The Vaygach voyage resulted in a significant expansion of our knowledge of the island.

In 1913, American polar explorer Stephansson, challenging the Russians' right to the island, organized an expedition there on the ship "Karluk" under the command of the outstanding sailor and polar explorer R. Bartlett. Once in the impassable ice, "Karluk" dies north of Wrangel Island; parts of the crew manage to reach the island on the ice.

In 1914, "Vaygach" for the second time, but unsuccessfully, tries to reach Wrangel Island. In 1916, the Russian government issued a decree on the annexation of Wrangel Island to the territory of its state.

Approximate map of the Asian coast from Kolyma to the Bering Strait

Since 1921, foreigners have begun to dispute our rights to the island. In the autumn of the same year, a group of colonists went to the island under the leadership of the Canadian Crawford and annexed it to the possessions of Canada. The Soviet government's protest against the Canadian government does not lead to the desired results. In August 1924 from Vladivostok, overcoming extremely difficult obstacles, the icebreaker "Red October" was sent to the island and restored our rights to it. The Canadians' booty was confiscated, and they themselves were removed from the island.

After the "Red October" campaign, a new, extremely fruitful era begins in the history of the island. On July 15, 1926, the first group of settlers of 6 Russians and 50 Chukchi and Eskimos set out for the island on the Stavropol steamer under the command of GA Ushakov. In 1929 the icebreaker "Litke" replaces the winterers, installs a new party here and builds a radio station for communication with the mainland. In 1934 Krasin delivered the third shift to the island and erected a number of new buildings.

The importance of Wrangel Island for us is not limited to its fishing wealth. Undoubtedly, not so long ago, the island will attract even more attention in connection with the Northern Sea Route we are exploring, when the function of an important hub will fall on the island.

Wrangel Island, in addition, is a convincing indicator of the technical and economic might of our country, which has enough funds and energy to master and use even the most remote and inaccessible polar outskirts.