What is in the land of Franz Joseph. Franz Josef Land. Franz Josef Land - Islands. Franz Josef Land - tours
Franz Josef Land is known to many by the songs of Yuri Vizbor, who traveled all over the northern seas from Murmansk to Chukotka and further along the Far East!
And it's worth it, because Franz Josef Land (abbreviated - FJL) beats many Russian and world records: there is the most north point island land of Russia, the closest land to the North Pole, the northernmost frontier post of the Russian Federation, the northernmost post office and the northernmost airfield in the world, the northernmost theater of military operations in Patriotic war, the most extreme of our islands!
And this list can be continued for a long time!
And, of course, the northernmost Orthodox Cross - to our heroes, explorers and travelers who, without sparing their lives, expanded the boundaries of our boundless Motherland!
Geography: island point: Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island in the archipelago of Franz Josef Land is located to the north of all - 81 ° 49 "N, the distance from Cape Fligely to the North Pole is only 900 km.
Rudolf Island is the northernmost of the Franz Josef Land islands. Cape Fligeli on the island is the northernmost point of land belonging to Russian Federation, at the same time the northernmost point of Europe. The island is administratively owned Arkhangelsk region. Area 297 km². Almost completely covered by a glacier.
The island, like the entire Franz Josef Archipelago, was discovered in 1873 by the Austro-Hungarian expedition of the explorer J. Payer, and was named after Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. In 1936, the base of the first Soviet air expedition to the North Pole was established on the island. From there, in May 1937, four heavy four-engine ANT-6 aircraft delivered the Papanin team to the top of the world.
The military played a leading role in the development of many remote territories of our country. Somewhere on Far North And Far East garrisons are to this day the main type settlements. True, in the post-Soviet period, the number of such garrisons and the population in them have declined sharply. However, our geography textbooks still do not write anything about "military" development, even in cases where it has long been no longer a secret. This is a little surprising, since for many old-developed regions and regions of new development, parts of various law enforcement agencies perform the functions of city-forming enterprises.
Franz Josef Land was discovered at the end of the 19th century. Austro-Hungarian expedition, which set off in 1872 in search of Northeast Passage, and perhaps to reach the North Pole and in 1873, pressed by ice to the shores, hitherto has not known land named after the then Emperor of Austria-Hungary*. ZFI, as it is usually called in the North, has an area of approximately 16,000 km2 and consists of 191 islands.
The first permanent settlement on Novaya Zemlya appeared in 1877. It is called Small Karmakuly. In 1896, a hydro meteorological station, which exists to this day and is the oldest polar station in Russia.
Straits
The Arkhangelsk Strait runs between the Polar Pilots Peninsula and the Armitage Peninsula. South of the Arkhangelsk Strait is the Cambridge Strait, which washes southern part islands.
Bays and gulfs of Alexandra Land
Shallow Bay
Bay of St. John's Wort
Topographers Bay (between Cape Melekhov and west coast Peninsula of the Polar Pilots)
Bay Dezhnev
Severnaya Bay
Ostrovnaya Bay
Weyprecht Bay
Gulf of Nordenskiöld
Capes of Alexandra Land
Listing from extreme west point clockwise:
Cape Mary Harmsworth
cape nimrod
Cape Strelka
Cape Nagursky
Cape Tempting
cape thomas
Cape Melekhov
Cape Double
Cape Babushkina
Cape Icy
Cape Abrosimov
Cape Finger
Cape Ludlov
cape lofley
mid-polar summer at FJL 
WILCHEK'S LAND
Wilchek's Land is an island in the North Arctic Ocean, the second largest island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. It is named after Hans Wilczek, who financed the Austrian expedition of Karl Weyprecht and Julius Payer, who discovered the island in 1873.
Located in the eastern part of the archipelago. Separated from the western group of islands by the Austrian Strait, from the lying northeast of the island Graham Bell by the Morgan Strait. The surface of the island is a plateau with relative heights 400-600 m and almost completely covered by a glacier. The area of the island is about 2000 km², highest point- 606 m.
nearby small islands
9 km south of Perseus Bay lies the island of Klagenfurt, named after the Austrian city of Klagenfurt.
Close to east coast the Gorbunov Islands are located, named after the Russian naturalist Grigory Petrovich Gorbunov.
Four small islands lie 1.5 km to the southeast:
Wood
Dawes
McCult
tillo
Climate
The climate is harsh, arctic. In a year, on average, only 18 days are recorded with temperatures above 0 °C. Average annual temperature air is -12 °C, the maximum recorded temperature is +12 °C, the minimum is -42 °C. The average annual rainfall is 280 mm.
GREEHAM BELL ISLAND
Graham Bell is the most east island in the archipelago of Franz Josef Land, in northern Europe. Part of the polar possessions of Russia, is part of the Arkhangelsk region. The area is 1.7 thousand km².
It was discovered in 1899 during a sledge ride by the American meteorologist Evelyn Baldwin, named after Alexander Graham Bell.
The highest point is 509 meters, the windy ice dome.
The largest lake on the island is Melkoye, the second largest is Severnoye.
The northernmost point of the island is Cape Aerial Surveys, the eastern one is Cape Seven (Sandy Cape). most eastern point the island and the entire archipelago is Cape Olney, to the north of which Cape Kolzat is located; extreme south point Cape Leiter.
Located in the west large bay- Matusevich Bay. In the east there is a small bay of Ilistaya with many small sandy islands.
The nearest islands are the island of Perlamutrovy and Trekhluchevy. To the west, Graham Bell is separated from Wilczek Land by the Morgan Strait.
Cape Trieste, Champ Island 
JOURNEY TO FRANZ JOSEPH LAND
Franz Josef Land archipelago is not only the most remote Northern part Russia, but also, perhaps, one of the most unexplored tourist spots in the world. No, the specialists there undoubtedly worked and tried to figure out a lot, but for tourists this region of our country is still “Terra incognita”.
Indeed, firstly, the opportunity to visit these islands for domestic and foreign travel enthusiasts appeared just a couple of decades ago. Secondly, you can get there either by air, for example, by helicopter, or by sea-ocean, from Murmansk, but this is far away, or from Arkhangelsk - this, of course, is closer, but in both cases tourist trips in the FJL area do not happen often. Thirdly, it is possible to visit them for a very limited time, about three months a year.
But there is also a fourth. A trip there in any of the acceptable ways costs decent money, in other words, well, a lot of money is needed, so inquisitive foreigners from different regions The lands for which such amounts are not critical visited the archipelago much more than the Russians, although our compatriots began to get there, and the further, the more.
Miracles in the FJL are found literally on every island, but among all there is one very amazing piece of land. And his name is also unusual - Champ, so short, but very sonorous. It turned out that it was named after William Champ, who in 1905, being the personal secretary of the American millionaire Ziegler, went as a leader rescue operation to search for the missing polar expedition, financed by the same Ziegler.
So the Arctic island named after Champa is one of the most unique places on Earth - it is all littered with strange, perfectly round stones, called "spherulites", while they range from small, pocket-size, to giants with a diameter of more than two meters and weighing many tons. The nature of their origin has not yet been explained by science. All this was told to us at one of the briefings, and even photographs were shown. Very impressive photos, I must say. Imagine how we longed to be there!
Here's to it unusual island and our ship sped off. And everything would be fine, but the closer we got to the island, the denser the fog became, and the less likely it was that we would land. The main danger in such weather was represented by bears, because the animals could approach completely silently, fog was not a hindrance to them, and it was very difficult to organize one hundred percent protection of tourists. And to inspect the island in such a fog is a very dubious pleasure.
It was decided that the "50 Years of Victory" would stay for a while near the island of Champa, and we would all wait, all of a sudden the gods would be merciful, and the fog would dissipate.
After making such a decision, tourists, in order to distract them from sad thoughts, were invited to the lecture hall for another unusual and amazing event - a Charity Auction, the northernmost of all that has ever been held in the world, all funds from it should go to fund for the protection of polar bears.
We were still a little bored, but then everyone was invited to come for dinner, and we went to a restaurant. A big surprise awaited us there - a Russian dinner, all the waitresses were dressed in Russian National costumes, on the "buffet" table, along with the usual salads and snacks, there were traditional Russian products - jars of black caviar, bottles with a variety of vodka, which was not there: Stolichnaya, and Tsarskaya, and Five Lakes, and others, and others . There was only Bad, but this does not happen in jokes.
Everything was fine, there was only one problem - both cans and bottles, as they were closed, were closed and remained until the end of dinner. Maybe they were dummies? We never understood.
After dinner, we were assured that if the fog dissipated at night, and this was expected around two in the morning, then we would be lifted up and we would go on an excursion on the “zodiacs”, there would be no darkness, because the polar day overboard does not stop at night .
We slept soundly, but then the speakerphone sounded:
- We invite everyone to an excursion to Champ Island.
While this message was dubbed in other languages, we managed to get dressed, and only at the door did we pay attention to the TV screen. What we saw amazed us, it turned out that it really was 2 am.
- They give, - burst out of us at the same time.
On upper deck we stood in a long line, it turned out that almost all the foreigners had already gathered, and the Chinese were the first, apparently, they were all sleeping without undressing, otherwise how could they get together so quickly.
Boarding began, "zodiac" after "zodiac" filled with tourists, but did not leave, but gathered nearby in a flock, we moved closer and closer to the gangway, the sixth boat filled up, and they all immediately disappeared into the fog. Yes, yes, it was in the fog, which had not diminished in the slightest, that it seemed to thicken even more.
- Maybe it's only here, around the ship, such a fog, but it's clear near the shore? - sounded someone's voice from behind.
We looked at each other, such a simple thought did not occur to us. But, after all, this is probably true, I thought, otherwise, why are we being dragged there in the middle of the night?
The boats left, we were told that we would have to wait at least an hour for their return. This means that they will reach the shore, disembark there, take a walk for a while and again sit in the "zodiacs" to return on board, and only after that we will sail. Some of the tourists left, deciding that waiting in the middle of the night was not justified, but we were so curious, so eager to see these round stones, and one, what to hide, secretly put in the pocket that we stayed, and did not lose. That's what finally happened.
We stood leaning on the railing, anxiously awaiting the return of the boats. Our eyes were directed into the foggy distance towards the stern of the ship, we were not worried about extraneous sounds, nothing distracted us, we were, how would it be more correct to say, probably fixated on the waiting process itself. Imagine yourself, they wake you up in the middle of the night and say: you have to stand and wait an hour. What would you do if you agreed to stand for an hour and wait at 2 am?
About half an hour passed, active stirring began on the yachts, apparently, they received the “Good” and began to prepare rubber boats for launching, but then our “zodiacs” emerged from the fog, and we turned our attention to them. Tourists climbed the ladder, mostly they were silent and somehow distressed and dull. One of the Russians who managed to make the first call explained to us that there was no less fog, there was nothing to look at, except for birds, they didn’t catch any of the living creatures, in general, it’s not worth swimming.
But we considered it unreasonable to refuse the trip, after we had already waited so long, and even at such a time, and were placed on the sides of the boat, which was driven by Dmitry. There was only one other boat next to us, more passengers not found. A few minutes later the icebreaker disappeared into the fog, the second boat kept nearby, but sometimes it also began to dissolve in space, and then its contours could hardly be seen through the oncoming waves of dense fog. We moved on a whim, the Zodiacs were not equipped with any navigational devices, but we were not supposed to slip past a rather large island, and we could correct our route from the icebreaker on the radio, because they saw us perfectly, or rather not us, of course , but the point that on the locator screen corresponded to our location.
The fog cleared a little, and it became clearer and farther away. Before us appeared the shore of the island, covered with a glacier, sliding into the sea, one of the icebergs, recently broken away from this glacier, floated very close by. There are many birds on the iceberg, which have chosen it as a mobile recreation base. Some of the birds were floating on the water.
Dmitry directed the boat towards the iceberg so that we could get a good look at the birds. And then two fast and agile figures appeared between the shore and the boat in the sea - they were young walruses. The animals, not paying any attention to us, dived, disappearing for a long time under the water.
Walruses once again dived and disappeared under water for a long time. Dmitry started the engine and started moving in the direction where the walruses had recently been.
We won't scare them? someone asked.
Yes, no, on the contrary. They are curious, they will come closer to the noise.
That's how it all happened. The walruses surfaced next to our boat and swam nearby for a while, as if posing so that we could get a good look at them. Interesting fact: according to evolutionary theory, a walrus is a bear that has gone under water. We tried to find similarities between a bear and a walrus, sometimes it worked out, but more often the walrus looked like anything but a bear.
Journey through FJL - icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn 
GALL ISLAND
We were walking at this time cruising speed towards the island of Gall, one of the most southern islands archipelago. It was there that we planned the last helicopter landing on the table mountain of Cape Tegetthoff. Table Mountain - so in a scientific way, they call all peaks with a truncated, flat top. There are an innumerable number of such mountains in the world, their formation is explained by the weathering of sedimentary rocks from which they are composed. We saw a lot of them at FJL. But it seemed to me that there the tops of the mountains were simply simply licked by a glacier, or crushed so that a flat surface was formed.
The sea was calm, the fog swirled somewhere in the distance, the visibility was very acceptable, so for a very long time we, those who were on the navigation bridge, saw huge iceberg lying alone on the surface of the sea.
The captain immediately appeared, ordering to slow down and approach this handsome man. And there was something to see. lump blue ice lay motionless on the sea surface, it seemed that it was just lying at the very top, stretching out in length for a good hundred and more meters and rising up to the height of a ten-story building, such a mountain arose in front of us.
Behind the iceberg we could already see the islands to which we aspired, but there was no time for them. We saw a real iceberg for the first time and were eager to see it from all sides. The reason for the death of the Titanic became clear, stumble at full speed on such an obstacle and nothing will survive, not a single ship, perhaps even the same as our icebreaker.
The icebreaker got close to the ice mountain almost close, and then lightly poked its nose into the edge of this wall, and pieces and pieces immediately fell from it, the wall turned out to be weak.
There was mass photography against the backdrop of this miracle of nature. People took the most bizarre poses, just to catch the angle they liked. We are not far behind everyone.
We stood high above the water level and looked down, so we clearly saw that the mountain goes right under the water. It was impossible to determine how far, or rather, how deep it continues under water, but it is obvious that the experts are right, and most of the ice is down there, exactly under water, but about 90%, I don’t know, it seems to me that this figure is somewhat exaggerated.
The nuclear-powered ship slowly walked around ice mountain, it was obvious that nature knows its business well, the ice was all eaten away by the cool sun, fogs and rains. It was clear that this piece of ice in the ocean would not swim for a long time, it would soon come to an end, and the volume of sea water would not be much replenished.
We swam around the iceberg and saw it reverse side, it seemed to be the creation of human hands, such a smooth, slightly inclined, upwardly aspiring surface, appeared before us, well, just the take-off deck of an aircraft carrier, and immediately a handsome Admiral Kuznetsov appeared in my mind's eye.
That's it, the iceberg was left far behind, and we continued on our way to the island of Gall. Before us lay, it seemed, an endless strip of islands covered with snow and ice, perhaps the Austrian sailors, the discoverers of these islands, saw just such a picture.
The ship anchored near the famous Cape Tegetthoff. Well, since I wrote that the cape is famous, it is necessary to explain why. The fact is that the history of the development of the Franz Josef Land archipelago began from this cape. After all, it was precisely in the region of the island of Gall, or, to be more precise, to this very cape, on August 30, 1873, the ice brought the schooner "Admiral Tegetthoff" of the Austrian expedition - the discoverers of the FJL. In memory of their landing, a monument to a schooner was erected on the cape.
We looked from the deck of the nuclear-powered ship at sharp kekurs sticking straight out of sea depths, which the famous Russian polar explorer Viktor Boyarsky figuratively called “Dragon Fangs”, and indeed they really resemble something like that, however, the dragons themselves could not be seen, but their fangs could only be like that and no other, and the place, it would seem, is right - made for them.
There was a long wait for our turn for a helicopter tour. In fairness, the management changed the order of flights, and this time the first to fly were tourists from the very last group. The procedure was built as follows. First of all, the guard flew to the mountain, you can expect anything from the bears. By the way, the first tourists saw a white bear below, but, most likely, he was greatly frightened by the helicopter crash, and he preferred to hide, we did not see him anymore. Together with the guards, Yan and his friend also flew there, who led all the landing and disembarkation operations.
The empty helicopter returned to the ship, the Chinese comrades loaded into it, and the carousel spun - the helicopter dangled back and forth, carried the next group from the icebreaker, then took the previous group from the island, and so on until the very end, when it made last flight, taking Yana and the guards out of the island. We were now almost at the end, but the queue, no matter how slowly it crawled - after all, it took about 10-12 minutes for a two-way flight with two take-offs and landings and a change of tourists - they nevertheless reached us, and we, sitting in helicopter, this time next to the pilot, in order to better see everything, went to the island.
So, jumping from stone to stone, we moved from the landing site, perhaps the only truly flat place suitable for a helicopter, to the edge of the summit, from where we could take decent photographs of the cape, the sea and the ship, and then back to the landing site .
From above, of course, the view of the cape is even nothing, two rocks are perfectly visible - remnants, 25 and 60 meters high. There is a border at the cape - they go south, and in the north lies Surovaya Bay, which is already part of the Arctic waters, like this. It must be said that this boundary is not clearly demarcated.
Slowly moving up the mountain, we tried to find at least some signs of life, but around there were only stones, stones, ice and snow, but no, in one place there was a tiny island of greenery that pleased us with its love of life.
Everything is over, the helicopter came for us, it's time to go down to the ship, but first we need to look at the island from above.
Down from the top of the mesa, the Gall Islands extend beautiful rocks, named in memory of the outstanding Soviet geologist Academician Alexander Nikolaevich Zavarnitsky, Zavarnitsky rocks, stretching 15 kilometers inland, reaching maximum height at 500 meters.
Well, the helicopter propeller froze, everyone returned on board, you can go further. We were surprised to hear the announcement that the icebreaker was turning around and we would go back to Champ Island. We really liked this decision, maybe we will still be able to get to the island with stone balls.
Moving on, we last time cast their eyes on the "fangs of the dragon", from this point they could be mistaken for a kind of gate blocking the path to the island of Gall and to the cape itself with two outliers decorating it.
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Savatyugin L.M., Dorozhkina M.V. Archipelago Franz Josef Land: history, names and titles. - St. Petersburg: AARI, 2012. - 484 p. — ISBN 978-5-98364-054-2
Sergei V. Popov, Vladilen A. Trinity Archipelago Franz Josef Land // Toponymy of the seas of the Soviet Arctic / Ed. L. A. Borisova. - Leningrad: Geographical Society of the USSR, 1972. - S. 85-128. — 316 p. - 1000 copies.
Franz Josef Land: Collection of articles / USSR, Nauch.-tekhn. ex. VSNKh No. 352. - M .: State Technical Publishing House, 1930. - (Proceedings of the Institute for the Study of the North; issue 47).
Mikhail N. Ivanychuk 14 months in the land of Franz Josef. Impressions of a winterer. - Kharkov: Ukrainian Robotnik, 1934. - 122, p.
http://greenbag.ru/russia/
Martynov V. | New Earth — military land| Newspaper "Geography" No. 09/2009
Island of Captain Kuchiev | Ship side April 2, 2008 | Publishing house "Northern week"
Kryukov V. D., Zatsepin E. N., Sergeev M. B. Historical outline Polar Marine Exploration Expedition. "Exploration and protection of mineral resources" No. 8, 2012
Most northern branch Russian Post.
Two million barrels await Putin's partners in the Arctic
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg: 1890-1907.
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo V. Balyakin, O. Parshina, A. Zolotina, S. Anisimov
Map of the archipelago of Franz Josef Land.
Franz Josef Land is an island archipelago of the Arctic Ocean, located northwest of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, east of the Svalbard archipelago and northeast of the Scandinavian peninsula. The island received its name from its discoverers in honor of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary.
The archipelago consists of more than 190 islands and rocks. Conventionally, the archipelago is divided into three parts: the eastern one, slightly removed from the rest of the group of islands through the Austrian Strait, which includes the largest islands of Wilczek Land and Graham Bell, the central one, enclosed between the British Channel and the Austrian Strait and having the largest number of islands. , and western, located west of the British Channel, including the most big Island archipelago - Land of George.
The total area of the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago exceeds 17 thousand square kilometers.
The archipelago is territorially part of the polar possessions of the Russian Federation and administratively is part of the Arkhangelsk region.
South coast of Northbrook Island.
Story.
On the possible existence of an archipelago north of Kola Peninsula Lomonosov and other Russian geographers also spoke out, but they could not organize an expedition in search of undiscovered islands. The archipelago was discovered rather randomly on August 30, 1873 by an Austro-Hungarian expedition led by polar explorers Karl Weyprecht and Julius Payer, who tried to open a passage to the east along the schooner Admiral Tegenhoff. northern seas. The schooner of the expedition was covered with ice near the islands of Novaya Zemlya and carried by the current to the shores of an unknown archipelago. Weyprecht and Payer were able to initially partially explore some of the islands of the archipelago and give it a name in honor of the then Austro-Hungarian Emperor (Kaiser) Franz Joseph I.
IN different times and periods of the archipelago were explored by the expeditions of Benjamin Lee Smith, Frederick Jackson, Nansen and Johansen, Wellman and Baldwin and many other famous polar explorers.
In 1901, the archipelago was explored by the first Russian expedition on the icebreaker "Ermak" under the command of Vice Admiral Makarov, they say that it was during this period that the Russian flag was first raised on the islands of the archipelago.
In 1913-14, on the way to the North Pole, the famous Russian polar explorer G.Ya. Sedov died and was buried on the islands.
In the summer of 1914, Islyamov's expedition went in search of Sedov, who, having visited the archipelago, declared it a territory of Russia and also raised the Russian flag on the coast.
In Soviet times, research on the archipelago began in 1929, when a research station was first opened on the coast of Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island.
From the 50s to 1990 of the 20th century, radar tracking stations of the Soviet Army were based on the archipelago, which were considered the northernmost army unit in the USSR.
Foothills of the plateau on Hooker Island.
Origin and geography of the island.
The islands of the Franz Josef Archipelago are scattered over large area, That's why geographical coordinates count according to the common geographical center of the archipelago: 80 ° 40′00 ″ s. sh. 54°50′00″ E
Cape Fligeli of Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of both Russia and the Franz Josef Land archipelago itself, Cape Mary Harmsworth is the westernmost point of the archipelago, the cape of the same name on Lamon Island is the southernmost, and Cape Olney of Graham Bell Island is the easternmost.
The archipelago is a remote part of the Eurasian geological plate, therefore, by its origin, it belongs to the mainland islands. The terrain on most of the islands of the archipelago is replete with low plateaus, which reach an average height of 300-500 m. The highest point of the islands is the Forbes Glacier, reaching a height of about 620 meters.
The geological structure of the islands of the archipelago consists of siltstones, sandstones and limestone rocks with a basalt cover. Of the minerals on the islands, small deposits of brown coal have been discovered.
The surface of the vast majority of the islands is covered with glaciers, and where there are none, there is ice on the frozen ground. a large number of lakes, which even today remain nameless.
The south coast and descending to the ocean are ice-cold on McClinton Island.
Climate.
The climate on Franz Josef Land is pronounced arctic. The temperature during the year in its average does not rise above -12 ° C. During the summer months average temperature ranges from -1.5 °C to +2 °C. In winter, the air temperature can drop to -50 °C, with an average of -24 °C. Winter time is also characterized strong winds and storms. Precipitation falls mainly in the form of snow and their amount is rather small, which is quite consistent with this climate zone, their absolute value lies in the range from 250 mm to 600 mm per year.
Population.
It would be more correct to say that the islands are not inhabited. permanent residence there are no people on the island. Naturally, there are no cities or towns on the islands. The so-called temporary population is represented by scientists and researchers at scientific and meteorological stations, as well as by the border guards of the Russian FSB, who serve at the northernmost border outpost in Russia. On average, the number of people simultaneously staying on the islands does not exceed 80-100 people.
View of the plateau and Forbes Glacier.
Flora and fauna.
severe climatic conditions archipelago do not contribute to the flourishing and fragrance of flora and fauna. The vegetation here is mainly represented by mosses and lichens. Sometimes on the islands you can find polar poppy and polar willow, but they are a real rarity here. There are also some types of mushrooms on the islands.
Mammals are represented on the archipelago by the polar bear and arctic fox, but in Lately their population has been greatly reduced.
Living in the coastal waters of the islands, marine animals are more widely represented. Seals, seals of several subspecies, and sometimes walruses are quite common here.
On the islands, which is typical for these latitudes, there are always a large number of birds, among them in large quantities there are guillemots, kittiwakes, white gulls and many other species numbering more than 20.
Foothills of the plateau on the island of Alexandra Land.
Tourism.
In terms of tourism, the archipelago will be of interest only to rare lovers extreme recreation. Naturally, staying on the island, mainly by rotary-wing aircraft, people consist exclusively of scientists and the military, who in these harsh conditions are clearly not up to entertainment and recreation. But still it is worth noting that even with all this, there is something to see here. These are numerous summer bird colonies, and glaciers sliding towards the coast, and in summer time numerous lakes.
East coast of Wilchek Island.
Geographical position
Franz Josef Land- an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, in northern Europe. Part of the polar possessions of Russia, is part of the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region.
The archipelago consists of 192 islands. total area 16,134 km². It is divided into 3 parts: the eastern one, separated from the others by the Austrian Strait, with the large islands of Wilczek Land (2.0 thousand km²), Graham Bell (1.7 thousand km²); the central one, between the Austrian Strait and the British Channel, where the most numerous group of islands is located, and the western one, to the west of the British Channel, which includes the most large island the entire archipelago is George Land (2.9 thousand km²).
The surface of most of the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago is plateau-like. Average heights reach 400-490 m (the highest point of the archipelago is 620 m).
The coast to the west of Cape Fligeli on Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of Russia and Franz Josef Land. Cape Mary Harmsworth - extreme western point archipelago, Lamon Island - the southernmost, Cape Olney on Graham Bell Island - the easternmost.
How to get there
Since Franz Josef Land is an uninhabited corner, then an established transport communication not with him. From the time of Soviet Union there were several airports on the islands, which served mainly military purposes. But at present they are mothballed, like most Arctic airports.
Expeditions and tourist cruises to Franz Josef Land are carried out on icebreakers starting from Murmansk. At the same time, overcoming the distance from the edge of the continent to the first southern islands of the archipelago can take more than a day.
Climate
The climate on Franz Josef Land is typically arctic. It is always frosty and cold here. However, summer is still different from winter. In June Maximum temperature is established on Hayes Island and reaches +1.6 °С. At the same time, the average values of summer temperature converge at -1.2 °C. January is characterized by a temperature of -24 ° C, but sometimes there are much more severe frosts. The wind in the archipelago can reach speeds of up to 40 m/s.
Video
Population
There is no permanent population. The temporary population consists of scientists at research stations, border guards of the FSB and military personnel of the air defense unit that carries out missile defense of Russia from the north.
On the territory of Hayes Island in 2005, according to press reports, the world's northernmost Postal office"Arkhangelsk 163100", which was supposed to work for 1 hour, from 10 am to 11 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. As of September 2013, under the index 163100, the post office "Arkhangelsk - about. Heiss Franz Josef Land, which is open from 10 am to 11 am on Wednesdays.
Nature
Flora and fauna. The vegetation cover is dominated by mosses and lichens. There are also polar poppy, saxifrage, grains, polar willow. Found in mammals polar bear and less often the fox. In the waters surrounding the islands, there are seals, bearded seals, harp seals, walruses, narwhals and white whales. The most numerous (26 species) birds are little auks, guillemots, guillemots, common kittiwake, white gull, glaucous gull, etc., which form the so-called bird colonies in summer. There are polar stations on the islands of Alexandra Land and Rudolf Island. The E. T. Krenkel Geophysical Observatory (since 1957) is located on Hayes Island.
Most of the islands are covered with glaciers, there are many lakes in places free from them, most ice-covered years. Permafrost.
Lakes.
Many lakes still do not have names, the following have acquired their own designations: Cosmic, Ice, Small, Northern, Duck, Shirshova.
Glaciers.The study of the glaciation of the archipelago began especially intensively with the beginning of the International Geophysical Year. As a result of two years of field work, the participants of this Russian expedition The Academy of Sciences of the USSR received the first summary of the glaciology of the territory, which was published in the collective monograph "Glaciation of Franz Josef Land" (authors M. G. Grosvald et al., 1973). It contained a description of the morphology of glacial complexes, glacial climate, ice formation zones, temperature regime, structures and tectonics of glaciers. The domestic glaciologist M. G. Grovald and his collaborators for the first time made an important conclusion that the FJL glaciation is decreasing: over the past 30 years, the archipelago has lost an average of 3.3 km³ of ice per year. Prior to these works, the world science community was of the opinion that the FJL glaciation is stationary, or even growing.
Glaciers cover 87% of the archipelago. Ice thickness ranges from 100 to 500 m. Glaciers descending into the sea produce a large number of icebergs. The most intense glaciation is observed in the southeast and east of each island and the archipelago as a whole. Ice formation occurs only on the top surfaces of ice domes. The glaciers of the archipelago are rapidly shrinking, and if the observed rate of degradation continues, the glaciation of Franz Josef Land may disappear in 300 years.
FRANZ JOSEPH LAND (FJL)
An archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, in northern Europe. Part of the polar possessions of Russia, is part of the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region. Consists of 191 islands total area 16,134 sq. km.
The existence of these islands to the east of Svalbard was predicted by Lomonosov, and later by Schilling and Kropotkin. The latter even introduced in Russian Geographic Society in 1871, his project for an expedition to explore them, but the government refused him funds.
It was discovered completely by accident: the Austro-Hungarian expedition led by Karl Weyprecht and Julius Payer on the steam-sailing schooner "Admiral Tegetthoff" (German: Admiral Tegetthoff), which set off in 1872 to open the Northeast Passage, was covered with ice to the northwest from Novaya Zemlya and then, gradually carried away by them to the west, on August 30, 1873, was brought to the shores unknown land, which was then examined by Weyprecht and Payer, as far as possible to the north and along its southern outskirts. Payer managed to reach 82 ° 5 "N (in April 1874) and map this vast archipelago, which seemed to the first explorers to consist of a number of vast islands. Austrian travelers gave the newly discovered land the name of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Weyprecht and Payer in 1873 explored the southern part of the archipelago, and in the spring of 1874 they crossed it all from south to north on sleds. The first map was drawn.
In 1881-82. Scotsman Benjamin Leigh Smith visited the archipelago on the Eira yacht. The Englishman Frederick Jackson in 1895-1897 made a number of important surveys of the southern, middle and southwestern parts an archipelago that turned out to consist of a much larger number of islands than previously thought, but smaller in size compared to those indicated on the Payer map.
During the same time, the northeastern and middle part of the archipelago was visited by Nansen and Johansen, who, during their famous journey were forced, in mid-August 1895, to spend the winter on the shores of Jackson Island - one of northern islands archipelago. On the way to this place, Nansen became convinced that the archipelago had no continuation to the northeast, except for small islands. In June 1896, Nansen stumbled upon F. Jackson's wintering on Northbrook Island and thus connected his work with his work.
In 1898, American journalist Walter Wellman traveled to Franz Josef Land in winter to reach the Pole. The main base of the expedition was located on the island of Gall. On about. Wilchek winter was spent by two Norwegians - participants of this American-Norwegian expedition. One of them - a member of the Nansen expedition Bernt Bentsen - died during the wintering period. In the spring of 1899, on ice, he managed to get only to 82 ° N, along the eastern side of the island of Rudolf Land, which Payer also visited. Another part of the expedition, led by Baldwin, explored unknown parts of the south-eastern edge of the archipelago, which, as it turned out, did not go far to the East; finally, in the summer we managed to visit the middle part of the archipelago. On the way back, the expedition met another, Italian, Duke of Abruzzo, who managed to very easily pass at the end of July 1898 on a ship to Rudolf Island and even visit its northern shore, and it turned out to be much less extensive than Payer expected. They wintered approximately near the place to which, in 1874, Payer reached on sleds. From here, in the spring of 1900, a trip was made to dog sledding over the ice to the north, under the command of Captain Cagny.
He managed to get to 86 ° 33 "N; this trip finally found out that Peterman's land to the north of Rudolf Island and the land of King Oscar to the north-west, which appeared on Payer's map, do not exist, and in general there is no further to the pole any significant land.
In the summer of 1901, the southern and southwestern shores of the archipelago were visited and examined by Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov. All these works have been established in general terms, the size of the archipelago. In 1901-1902, the American Baldwin-Ziegler expedition wintered on Franz Josef Land, followed by the Ziegler-Fiala expedition in 1903-1905, with the goal of trying to reach the Pole on the ice. The shipwreck forced the members of the Ziegler expedition to spend two years in isolation in the archipelago before they waited for rescue.
In 1913-1914, the expedition of G. Ya. Sedov wintered in the bay near Hooker Island. In an attempt to reach the Pole, Sedov died and was buried on Rudolf Island.
In the summer of 1914, navigator Albanov and sailor Konrad, the last surviving members of Brusilov's expedition, managed to reach the old base of the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition at Cape Flora on Northbrook Island. Then they were rescued by the schooner "Saint Foka", which entered Cape Flora due to lack of fuel.
In 1914, Islyamov's expedition visited the archipelago in search of G. Ya. Sedov. Islyamov declared the archipelago Russian territory and raised the Russian flag over him.
In 1929 in the bay quiet island and Hooker opened the first Soviet research station. Since then, the archipelago has been visited annually by Soviet polar expeditions.
In July 1931, a meeting between the German airship Graf Zeppelin and the Soviet icebreaker Malygin took place in Tikhaya Bay. Mail was transferred from the airship to the icebreaker.
Fragment overview map. Atlas of the commander of the Red Army, 1938. In 1936, the base of the first Soviet air expedition to the North Pole was established on Rudolf Island. From there, in May 1937, four heavy four-engine ANT-6 aircraft took the Papaninites to the top of the world. A polar station began to operate on the island.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many objects on the archipelago were abandoned. In 2008, during the expedition on the nuclear icebreaker "Yamal" was discovered new island separated from Northbrook Island. New geographical feature named "Island of Yuri Kuchiev", in memory of the Arctic captain Yu. S. Kuchiev.
Geography
Franz Josef Land is one of the most northern territories Russia and the world. It is divided into 3 parts: the eastern part, separated from the others by the Austrian Strait, with large islands of Wilczek Land (2.0 thousand sq. Km), Graham Bell (1.7 thousand sq. Km); the central one - between the Austrian Strait and the British Channel, where the most significant group of islands is located, and the western one - to the west of the British Channel, which includes the largest island of the entire archipelago - George Land (2.9 thousand sq. Km).
The surface of most of the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago is plateau-like. Average heights reach 400-490 m (the highest point of the archipelago is 620 m).
The world's northernmost post office "Arkhangelsk 163100" operates on the territory of Hayes Island, it is open for 1 hour, from 10 am to 11 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Cape Fligeli on Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of Russia and Franz Josef Land. Cape Mary Harmsworth is the westernmost point of the archipelago, Lamon Island is the southernmost, Cape Olney on Graham Bell Island is the easternmost.
Most of the islands are composed of sandstones, siltstones and limestones overlain by an effusive layer of horizontal basalt covers (basalt thickness 20-30 m). Among the Jurassic shales and sandstones at Cape Flora, brown coal was found.
Most of the islands are covered with glaciers, in places free from them there are many lakes, which are covered with ice for most of the year. Permafrost.
Many lakes still do not have names, the following have acquired their own designations: Cosmic, Ice, Small, Northern, Duck, Shirshova.
The study of the glaciation of the archipelago began especially intensively with the beginning of the International Geophysical Year. As a result of two years of field work, the participants of this Russian expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR received the first summary of the glaciology of the territory, which was published in the collective monograph "Glaciation of Franz Josef Land" (authors M. G. Grosvald et al., 1973). It contained a description of the morphology of glacial complexes, glacial climate, ice formation zones, temperature regime, structure and tectonics of glaciers. The domestic glaciologist M. G. Grovald and his collaborators for the first time made an important conclusion that the FJL glaciation is decreasing: over the past 30 years, the archipelago has lost an average of 3.3 cubic meters. km of ice per year. Prior to these works, the world scientific community was of the opinion that the FJL glaciation is stationary, or even growing.
Glaciers cover 87% of the archipelago. Ice thickness ranges from 100 to 500 m. Glaciers descending into the sea produce a large number of icebergs. The most intense glaciation is observed in the southeast and east of each island and the archipelago as a whole. Ice formation occurs only on the top surfaces of ice domes. The glaciers of the archipelago are rapidly shrinking, and if the observed rate of degradation continues, the glaciation of Franz Josef Land may disappear in 300 years.
The climate of the Franz Josef Land archipelago is typically arctic. The average annual temperature is up to -12 degrees Celsius (Rudolf Island); average July temperatures from -1.2 degrees Celsius in Tikhaya Bay (Hooker Island) to +1.6 degrees Celsius (Hayes Island, where the world's northernmost meteorological station, the Krenkel Observatory, is located); the average temperature in January is about -24 degrees Celsius (minimum temperatures in winter are up to -52 degrees Celsius), the wind reaches 40 m/s. Precipitation falls from 200-300 mm to 500-550 mm (in the zone of accumulation of ice domes) per year.
Flora and fauna of the Franz Josef Land archipelago
The vegetation cover is dominated by mosses and lichens. There are also polar poppy, saxifrage, grains, polar willow. Of the mammals, there is a polar bear and less often a polar fox. In the waters surrounding the islands, there are seals, bearded seals, harp seals, walruses, narwhals and white whales. The most numerous (26 species) birds are: little auks, guillemots, common guillemots, common kittiwake, white gull, burgomaster and others, which form the so-called "bird colonies" in summer. There are polar stations on the islands of Alexandra Land and Rudolf Island. The E. T. Krenkel Geophysical Observatory (since 1957) is located on Hayes Island.
