Federal State Institution "State nature reserve"Wrangel Island".
Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology 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.
specially protected natural area includes the Federal State Institution "State Nature Reserve "Wrangel Island"" and its buffer zone.
The reserve "Wrangel Island" includes:
Wrangel Island (geographic coordinates 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);
Coastal waters of the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas 12 nautical miles wide around each of the islands (Wrangel and Herald).
The protected zone includes a water area 24 nautical miles wide 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. - as part of the reserve, 37453 sq. km. - protected zone).
The reserve and its buffer 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 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. The sea then separated the islands from the mainland. Subsequently, uplifts and fractures of the earth's crust took place here, the islands were subjected to weathering, the action of sea waters and coastal ice, have 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, which owe their existence to snow drift (Gromov, 1960; Svatkov, 1962; Kiryushina, 1965).
The modern relief of the island is strongly 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 Tundra of the Academy. 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 passes not far from the sea coast. Wide valleys stretch between the ridges, cut by fairly numerous rivers. Herald Island is a granite-gneiss remnant; above sea level, it rises to 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 with a thickness of up to several hundred meters. Loose deposits are ice-cemented and relatively thin.
Climatic features of Wrangel Island.
The climate of the reserved islands is extremely severe. For most of the year, masses of cold arctic air with a low content of moisture and dust move over this region. In summer, warmer and more humid Pacific air comes here from the southeast. Dry and strongly heated air masses are periodically heard from Siberia. 
Fig. A picture from space.
The local winter, the longest season, is characterized by stable frosty weather, strong winds of predominantly northerly directions, 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 continually creates a blizzard: hurricane whirlwinds, reaching 40 m / s or more, carry snow dust, bare the peaks, and in the lowlands sweep snowdrifts, through which, without falling through, an all-terrain vehicle can drive - they are so strong, compacted by frost and wind.
Table 1.
Summer is cool. And at this time of the year frosts and snowfalls are not uncommon. The average temperature in July 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 air heating and even more due to hair dryers - strong, gusty, relatively warm winds blowing from the mountains into valleys and intermountain basins, summer warmer and drier than in the eastern part of the island and even more so on the coast.
The average relative humidity on the islands is 88%, the 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 days with fog 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 with a length of more than 1 km. Regarding large rivers (more than 50 km long), however, there are only five. 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, during the melting of snow. By the end of summer, they become very shallow, and by autumn they turn into shallow streams. The only exceptions are the most major rivers- Mammoth (west of the island) and Claire (east of the island), which remain high-water even in autumn. There are about 900 lakes on the island, of which only six are larger than 1 km2. The vast majority of lakes are located in the Academy Tundra. The depth of lakes, as a rule, does not exceed 2 m; by origin, they are divided into thermokarst (most lakes), oxbow - in the valleys of large rivers, glacial, dammed and lagoon - the largest.
The coasts of the islands are ice-bound for most of the year and surrounded by chaotic heaps of hummocks. Ice usually moves away from the coast in late July - early August, but in September - October they close again. However, there are often years when the sea off the coast does not open at all.
The soils of Wrangel Island are attributed by some scientists to the arctic-tundra subzone of the tundra soil zone (Targulyan and Karavaeva, 1964), while others belong to the arctic zone (Mikhailov, 1960). In general, a set of gley, soddy, 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 species of vascular plants here exceeds 310, while, for example, on the New Siberian Islands, on a much larger area, there are only about 135 of them, on the islands of Severnaya Zemlya - a little more than 60, and on Franz Josef Land - less than 50. Flora The island contains a number of relics, and, conversely, it has relatively rare plant species common in other polar regions. The primordial Arctic vegetation on this "splinter" 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.
About 3% of the flora of Wrangel Island are subendemic species, for example, Gorodkov's poppy, Wrangel's poppy, and endemic species - Wrangel's bluegrass, Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's Potentilla, and Lapland's poppy. In addition, another 114 species of plants grow on Wrangel Island, 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 stunted. In the southern and central parts of Wrangel Island, upland vegetation is predominantly represented by sedge-moss tundra. Cobresia and sedge communities of cryoxerophyte and phyomesophyte meadows are confined to 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, mountain valleys and intermountain basins under the influence of foehns, there are areas with thickets of willows (mainly Richardson's willows) up to 1 m high, in other places shrubby willows creep along the ground. Bogs both in the mountainous regions and on the northern plains are predominantly represented by sedge-hypnum communities with the participation of sphagnum. On the tops of the mountains large areas occupied by stony placers, in some places overgrown with lichens, mosses; the middle and lower belts of the mountains are covered with grass-lichen, and in some places with shrub-forb tundra with a variety of flowering plants.
The fauna of invertebrates in the water bodies of the islands is characterized by low species diversity. It noted the predominance of amphibiotic insects, mainly chironomids. For zoobenthos r. Doubtful is characterized by the mass development of stoneflies, chironomids and the absence of more heat-loving caddisflies 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 surrounding the island are relatively monotonous and few in number, which is primarily due to the lifelessness of the littoral 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 jets 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 have not been studied enough. They are absent in freshwater reservoirs; not a single species of amphibians and reptiles lives in the reserve. It can only be noted that polar cod is found near the coasts of the islands - the most common and massive species of the Arctic ichthyofauna. Not every year and for a short time, large shoals of capelin come to the islands, and the Arctic Sea slingshot also belongs to the usual species of coastal fish.
At least twenty species of birds regularly nest on the islands. Together with vagrant and irregular 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 valley of the river. Tundra, as well as several small colonies; in some places individual pairs also nest. Numerous on Wrangel Island are small passerine birds - snow bunting and Lapland plantains. It is difficult to determine their total number; one can only notice that where conditions permit, they nest at a density often exceeding one pair per hectare. Until recently, the Arctic species of geese, the black geese, arriving here for nesting and in even greater numbers only for molting, could be attributed to the usual birds nesting here (in recent years, their number has noticeably decreased); eider (Pacific subspecies of common eider); from waders - Icelandic sandpipers and tules; from gulls - burgomasters, or large polar gulls, fork-tailed gulls; long-tailed skuas and snowy owls. More rare on the island, but also regularly nesting are oystercatchers and pouts, arctic terns, skuas, red-throated loons, ravens; from small passerine birds - tap dances. Obviously, from time to time pintail ducks, Siberian eiders, comb eiders breed on Wrangel Island, among predators - gyrfalcons, short-eared owls, and some other birds. In autumn, pink gulls are regularly seen here.
The peculiarities of the geographical position of the reserve, the local weather conditions create prerequisites for relatively frequent flights and wind drifts of birds from the North American continent here. These are large-sized birds, such as sandhill cranes (they fly here regularly) and Canada geese, but mainly small passerines, especially American finches. Of these, on Wrangel Island, myrtle warblers, savannah and black-browed buntings, juncos, and white-breasted zonotrichia were found.
Rice. Bowhead whale.
The fauna of mammals is much poorer in species. Two species of lemmings (hoofed and Siberian) and a polar fox constantly live on the island. Periodically, but in significant numbers, polar bears appear here. Wolves, wolverines, ermines and foxes penetrate the island. Seals live in the coastal waters of the islands - a ringed seal, a bearded seal, or a bearded seal, less often there are spotted seals and lionfish, or a 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; the house mouse appeared and lives in residential buildings. Two species of mammals - the domestic reindeer and the musk ox - were also brought here by humans relatively recently.
Wrangel Island- Russian island in the Arctic Ocean between the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas. Named after the 19th century Russian navigator and statesman Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel.
It is located at the junction of the western and eastern hemispheres and is divided by the 180th meridian into two almost equal parts. Separated from the mainland north coast Chukotka) by the Long Strait, the width in the narrowest part is about 140 km. Administratively it belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
It is part of the reserve of the same name. Is an object world heritage UNESCO (2004).
Story
Washed by the icy waters of the Chukchi and East Siberian seas, it is located in the harsh Arctic expanses, on the very border of the western and eastern hemispheres, the snow-covered Wrangel Island. However, “washed” is not a very accurate expression, for for almost ten months a year the island was surrounded by motionless, hummocked ice fields.
The existence of a huge land mass in the distant Arctic (and the island is 150 kilometers long and 75 kilometers wide) remained unknown to science until the beginning of the 19th century. Only in 1820-1824 the Russian expedition of F.P. Wrangel first explored the northern coast of Chukotka in search of hypothetical land, located, according to the then assumptions, to the north of the coast of the peninsula. Wrangel and his companions traveled on dog sleds almost the entire coast from the mouth of the Kolyma to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay and compiled the first map of this area. On it, by the way, was depicted big Island with a mountain in the middle, and next to it was an inscription: "According to the stories and the Chukchi, the mountains are seen from Cape Yakan in the summer."
Russian researchers tried to get to the unknown land on the ice. Their teams went north three times, each time moving 150-200 kilometers from the mainland, but again and again impassable heaps of ice hummocks or many kilometers of unfrozen polynyas got in the way. More than once, drifting ice fields parted, and travelers found themselves on a floating ice floe, cut off from the coast. Fortunately, the ice masses then converged again and the expedition managed to safely return to the mainland.
The risk that the detachment was exposed to during these ice campaigns is indicated by an entry in the diary of Wrangel's companion, also a naval officer Fyodor Matyushkin (by the way, Pushkin's lyceum friend): “The Arctic Sea overthrew the shackles of winter; huge fields of ice, rising almost perpendicularly on the ridges of raging waves, crashed together and disappeared in the foaming abyss and then again appeared on the pitted surface of the sea, covered with silt and sand. It is impossible to imagine anything like this terrible destruction.”
Unfortunately, the authorities refused Wrangel the funds for a new expedition, and the discovery of the island took place only half a century later. It was made by the brave American Captain Long, after whom the strait that separates Wrangel Island from the mainland is now named. In 1867, Long, in command of the whaling ship Nile, approached the island for the first time and sailed along its entire southern coast. He named the land he discovered by Wrangel. And a decade and a half later, another American, Captain Hooper, on the Corvina ship moored to the shores of the island and set foot on its land.
As for the detailed study of Wrangel Island, it began only 50 years later, in 1933, when Russian polar explorers, having spent the winter on the island, compiled its first detailed map and built a polar station in Rogers Bay, which still exists today.
Reserve
Now the entire Wrangel Island has been declared a nature reserve. This easternmost Russian reserves located in a natural area, referred to by geographers as the Arctic desert. For a person who has never been to the Arctic, the nature of this region makes an indelible impression. For ten months - from September to June - winter reigns on the island. In the midst of it, from mid-November to January, the sun does not appear above the horizon, the polar night sets in. The endless snowy plains of the island and the icy expanses of the surrounding seas merge into a continuous monotonous white desert, illuminated only by the light of the moon or the polar lights.
Auroras in this area are frequent and long lasting. Sometimes for several days in a row they drape the dome of the sky with curving folds of luminous panels or sheaves of multi-colored rays, constantly changing their outlines. You can stand for hours and admire the iridescent pink, crimson, orange, green or yellowish light, whimsical curtains, flags, arches and diverging fans, either unfolding or closing in a leisurely and enchanting dance.
At the beginning and at the end of winter, ferocious hurricanes hit the island when wind speeds reach 150 kilometers per hour. The falling snow is blown off the mountains and open spaces into the valleys, where monstrous snowdrifts are formed, sometimes up to 25 meters deep, that is, from an eight-story building!
But on the other hand, in the short Arctic summer, the sun does not set the horizon here at all. The polar day lasts for two months - from mid-May to mid-July, and at this time the island is transformed: streams and rivers murmur, on the coast, mosses and lichens are full of bright white and green spots, and in some places even grasses and dwarf shrubs. It is rare to find plants more than ten centimeters high near the island. They seem to cling to the ground, fleeing from the winds and frosts. And no wonder: the average annual temperature here is minus eleven degrees, although on especially hot summer days in the inner valleys it sometimes reaches up to plus fifteen! At this time, in areas of the so-called mammoth prairie - the remnants of meadows that once existed in the north of Eurasia, where herds of giants covered with wool grazed, poppies bloom, lingonberries ripen, and next to the typically arctic sedge and bluegrass, green waves of wormwood and feather grass sway, reminiscent of their fragrant aroma about the Central Russian steppes.
The rivers and lakes of Wrangel Island freeze to the bottom in winter, so there are no fish in them. Yes, and land animals stay close to the sea - the main source of food in this harsh land.
On capes and sandy spits near the coast, walruses, the largest animals in the Arctic, arrange their rookeries. Old male walruses reach a length of four meters and weigh up to two tons! They plow the bottom with their tusks and eat mollusks that have surfaced with a cloud of stirred up silt. Every now and then on the rookery there are duels between males who did not divide the females. The number of these pinnipeds on the island is several tens of thousands, and watching the sea of \u200b\u200bshining backs and mustachioed fanged heads on a rookery is an unusually fascinating activity.
“The beast, unseen on earth, and the appearance of the devil,” such an entry was made in the ship's log by an English captain, who first saw these animals in the 16th century.
In our opinion, the appearance of the walrus does not evoke such gloomy associations; its large-eyed mustachioed physiognomy is rather good-natured than ferocious. And the walrus moves on land with difficulty, hobbling and waddling from side to side. But God forbid you get too close to the old male or make him feel imminent danger with a sharp movement. In the blink of an eye, the beast is transformed. The bull's eyes fill with blood, the tusks rise menacingly, the whole body, previously relaxed, suddenly gathers into a tight, springy lump of muscles, and a ferocious roar unequivocally warns: there will be no mercy for anyone! And indeed, there were cases when even polar bear, whose hunger made him forget about caution.
Brownish-brown carcasses of many animals lie close to each other on the beach, leaving no gaps. A mighty male emerging from the sea is sometimes forced to clear his living space, wielding powerful tusks. But now, after a small scuffle, the place was won back, the walrus lay down, the neighbors calmed down, and sleepy silence again reigns in the rookery.
However, babies, unlike their parents, do not lie quietly. First one, then another walrus begins to make its way to the water, unceremoniously climbing right on the backs of adults. Sometimes a walrus, disturbed by a mischievous walrus, muttering something while awake, will slap him with a flipper, and the offended cub, grunting displeasedly, hurries to finally reach the sea and join his peers crunching shells in shallow water.
Walruses are at ease on Wrangel Island. Here they are not disturbed by hunters and not frightened by the curious, and there are enough shellfish on the sandbanks for everyone.
Walruses, despite their formidable appearance and impressive size, are very sensitive to extraneous stimuli and, for example, on the coast of Chukotka or in the Kuriles, they often suffer from human stress. The sound of a passing motorboat or a flying helicopter can sow panic in the herd. It happens that walruses completely leave their native bay, leaving the rookery forever.
In Chukotka, there was a case when a pilot, who first came to the North, for the sake of curiosity, walked over a herd resting on the shore on a strafing flight. The noise of the engine and the sight of a huge rotary-winged machine flying right over their heads frightened the animals so much that they all rushed to the water, crushing several dozen relatives to death in a panic. Having come to their senses, the surviving walruses swam away to a new place, and the old haulout is still empty.
Numerous herds of seals - ringed seals and sea hares - settle down on the ice fields near the coast. Their main occupation is fishing off the coast. And on the steep cliffs there are countless sea birds: guillemots, cormorants, kittiwakes, skuas, burgomasters and others. In total, up to two hundred thousand feathered inhabitants nest in the bird markets of Wrangel Island!
In spring and autumn for south coast Islands you can meet the rarest bird of the Arctic - the pink gull covered with legends. This amazing bird flies to winter not to the south, like all the others, but to the north, to the non-freezing polynyas of the polar seas, where it feeds on small crustaceans and fish. The appearance of this seagull is so unusual, as if created by the brush of a science fiction artist. Its wings and body are an alternation of white and pink strokes, and around the neck there is a narrow dark agate strip. From its summer nesting in the mouths of the Yana and Kolyma, the pink gull flies north every autumn, and returns in the spring, stopping to rest on Wrangel Island.
Here, on the island, there is the only colony of wild hollow geese in Russia, exterminated all over the world, except for Greenland and one or two islands of Canada.
But the main attraction of the island reserve is, of course, the polar bear. These powerful predators of three meters in length, sometimes weighing 700 kilograms, are not afraid of either frost or cold water of the Arctic seas - thick wool and a thick layer of fat reliably protect them from all the vagaries of the weather. They usually stay on floating ice, where seals are hunted, but from September to November, she-bears from all adjacent areas converge on Wrangel Island and make dens here. In deep snowdrifts on the slopes of the mountains, in winter, up to two hundred bear dwellings can be counted, which is why the island is sometimes called the "bear maternity hospital of the Arctic."
In April, mothers with young offspring get out and start shakoming the kids with the surroundings. There are especially many lairs in the north-west of Wrangel Island in the Drem-Hed mountains.
Since 1975, twenty musk oxen have been brought to the island by plane from the United States. Once these animals, together with mammoths, grazed here on the expanses of the northern prairies, but then they died out, probably not without human help. Musk oxen also disappeared in other places of their habitat - in Alaska and Canada. Only in the deserted Northern Greenland have several hundred of these "living fossils" survived. Canadian and American zoologists have managed to resettle musk oxen to the north of their mainland, and now it is the turn of Eurasia.
I must say that the island liked the musk bulls (such is their other name). Over the past twenty years, their herd has tripled, and every year new cubs appear. The musk ox has no natural enemies on the island, and the protected regime also protects them from hunters, so it will soon be possible to try to relocate part of the growing livestock to the New Siberian Islands or Chukotka, where, however, a more difficult life awaits them due to possible attacks by wolves .
However, as observations have shown in Taimyr, where musk bulls were also brought, herds of polar strong men skillfully defend themselves from predators. Seeing a threat, the old bulls stand in a ring, putting their horns out and covering m with their backs the females with calves. So they can stand for a day or three, until the wolves get tired of senseless attempts to attack.
The largest island is Wrangel Island. It is located at the intersection of the 180 degree meridian, which separates the western and eastern hemispheres. To the east of it, sixty kilometers away, is the island of Herald. The area of Wrangel Island is only eight square kilometers. The Long Strait separates these islands from the mainland; this strait is covered with a thick layer of ice throughout the year. For this reason, the island remained unknown to people for a long time. By the way, in the forties of the 19th century, the island itself was discovered. It happened when the famous geographer F. P. Wrangel in the north of the coast of Chukotka watched the flights of bird flocks. Later, he suggested that between Chukotka and East Siberian seas there is an unknown land. Gradually, Wrangel carefully studied and tested his assumption, then accurately indicated the location on the map major island which was named after him. In 1976, a reserve was founded on the territory of this island. Since 1968, the Soviet people have established the regime of a complex reserve here. This reserve also includes Herald Island. natural world Wrangel Island leaves a huge impression on eyewitnesses. Where they are, look here.
Features of Wrangel Island
Interestingly, the sun does not appear on the island above the horizon from November 18 at all, and the phenomenon continues until January 25. For many, this time is known as the polar night. It is also impossible to say exactly where the sea begins and the land ends. Some things are only visible under the aurora or moonlight. Because Moonlight reflects from the ice, the landscape is painted in many shades. However, for many best time on the island is a period northern lights. At this time, everything around changes beyond recognition. Light beams suddenly appearing in the dark sky, illuminated by numerous ice and snow crystals. This leads to the formation of arches, fans and banners. Where to find .
During the polar day, the reserve takes on a completely different look. At this time, the sun does not go below the horizon from May to July. By the way, this does not make the climate very hot, but it noticeably revives animals and some plants. In other words, they develop more vigorously. A particularly amazing sight is the variety of birds that fly to the island for nesting. Traditionally, during such a period, the snow melts and the Arctic islands are more like blooming oases in the ice kingdom. Wrangel Island is different unique nature. Some species of animals and plants can be seen here. Visit . You will not regret.
Gradually the climate of the island softens. Global warming is also affected by Pacific Ocean. The average annual temperature is -11 degrees, slightly below the temperature sea water. Wrangel Island is more typical of cloudy windy weather, which is often accompanied by fog. The reserve is rich in a large number of lakes, shallow rivers and streams. Since in winter time all reservoirs freeze, there are practically no fish here. There are approximately 310 species of plants, among which one can often see lichens and mosses growing on mountain slopes and plains.
Flora of Wrangel Island
Most of the island's plants are dwarf. After all, their average height reaches only ten centimeters. True, there is a meter shrub willow - the tallest plant. Since many plants do not have time to go through all the life cycles, they are perennials. In other words, they store immature seeds, flowers, and leaves under the snow. This is an amazing phenomenon: evergreens grow in the Arctic desert. For example, these are crowberries, lingonberries and dryads. The unique plants of Wrangel Island include: Ushakov poppy, Wrangel Potentilla and Lapland poppy. The island has a region with a peculiar tundra and steppe vegetation, this place is called the mammoth prairie.
Many local animals generally prefer the sea over land. This can be explained by several reasons. After all, there is more food for animals and birds on the shore, and no one touches them here. Note that the protected island is surrounded by a protected zone. Scientists from various fields work in the natural laboratory of the island. They observe unexplored plants and animals. Therefore, one should not be surprised that Wrangel Island has become a complex reserve.
According to some evidence, musk oxen lived on the territory of the island in the past. Today, twenty heads were brought here from the island of Nunivak, in America. Wrangel Island is also known for the largest walrus rookery in Russia. By the way, Wrangel Island is included in the list of paleontological monuments of the earth.
Wrangel Island is a nature reserve located in the Arctic. This is the only territory that Russia managed to conquer from America and England. But there was no power as such. During the reforms on the island, the last inhabitant left this world. Since there were no more people left, the development of flora and fauna here began to develop at a rapid pace. On the territory it was possible to meet a large number of polar bears that migrated to the island to spend the 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 to his official name he is obliged to the Russian navigator - Ferdinand Wrangel.
Nature
The area of Wrangel Island is approximately 7670 sq. km. Most of it (about 4700 sq. km) is occupied by mountain ranges. The shores are dissected by lagoons and sandbars. central part The islands are mountainous. There are small lakes and glaciers on the territory. The description of Wrangel Island would be incomplete without identifying the relief features of this area.
Relief
The area is heavily dissected. Mountains line up in parallel chains - ridges. Conventionally, they are divided into three parts - the Northern, Middle and Southern ridges, which end on the western and eastern sides are rocky cliffs. The most solid is the middle part. Here is the Soviet mountain, which is the most high point islands. The northern ridge smoothly turns 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 is a mountain named after Leonid Gromov.
Rivers and lakes
Mountains make up the main area of Wrangel Island. 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 are located in the Academy Tundra. Several of them occupy 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 terrible cold of the Arctic reigns on the island. 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 big states were not interested in the development of the Arctic wilderness.
Discovery history
But already at the beginning of the 20th century, interest in this area increased dramatically. In 1911, the Russian flag was raised on the island. But Great Britain and Canada also became interested in this territory. At that time in the Far East there was Civil War. Canadians took advantage of this circumstance and in 1921 raised the British flag on the island. The Government of Canada 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 there fluttered and American flag.
feathered
Another prominent representative of the fauna of Wrangel Island is the snowy owl. The nesting density is considered to be the highest in the country. The reserve has the largest bird market in the entire Chukotka Peninsula. Most of them are sea birds.
The 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: gulls, guillemots, etc. Among the birds, we must 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, thousands of non-breeding geese come here to molt from mainland Chukotka and Alaska), common eider and comb eider, Siberian eider, pintails and waders in very small numbers.
Birds arrive in the reserve in May, arrange nests in inconspicuous, hard-to-reach places. Often they can be found on ledges of rocks. Here they lay their eggs, feed the 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 more than 3 thousand years ago mammoths lived in the Arctic.
Flora
Unique plants grow on the island, which 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 do not allow them to grow. Therefore, often their height reaches no more than 10 cm. However, here you can find plants of ancient origin. They have not changed over time. More than 114 species of plants grow in the reserve, the composition of which is perfectly preserved due to the climate and remoteness of the island.
In the reserve grow dwarf trees Ivyanka, no more than 1 meter high. You can meet them at 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 magnificence of nature, to see with their own eyes its rare representatives. Wrangel Island is one of the best places for this. Today, tourists have access to several excursion routes. Unforgettable adventures await brave travelers here. If you are tired of the hot resorts of Asia, feel free to come to Wrangel Island for thrills. This, of course, is not Turkish resort, but nevertheless very interesting place.
It is very difficult to get to where Wrangel Island is located. As a rule, people get on 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.
General information about Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island is located in the eastern part of the Arctic Ocean, 200 km from the Chukotka 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 (Rogers Bay coordinates). The length of the island is about 140 km, the width is from 30 to 50 km, and the total area is about 4500 sq. km.
The island has an oval shape. Its shores are little indented, and there are no bays protruding into the interior of the island. In places, more or less significant alluvial pebble spits extend from the coast, usually stretching parallel to the coast. These spits form harbors convenient for parking. The best among them is Rogers Harbor, the location of the Soviet colony.
The interior of the island is elevated and mountainous. Central, most massive part mountain range, replete with many domed and cone-shaped peaks, concludes the most elevated point of the entire island - Berry Peak, 760 meters high (according to other sources - 900 meters). In the eastern part of the island, the coast is also elevated, and the cliffs here reach 200 meters in places.
A number of scientific data testify that Wrangel Island in bygone times 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 sinking of part of the mainland, which now makes up the bottom of the Long Strait, the depth of which is only a few tens of meters.
By geological structure(granite and shale rocks) Wrangel Island is related to the Chukotka Peninsula and Alaska.
The island is not rich in rivers, besides, they are extremely narrow and shallow. Only along one of them - the Claire River, which flows into the sea in the southeast corner near 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 climate of the island is extremely harsh. Frosts reach here 60 °. The average annual temperature for this latitude is unusually low: -11.2°. Frosts are observed throughout the year, but the coldest month is March. The polar night here lasts 64 days (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 G. A. Ushakov includes 86 species. But, undoubtedly, the flora of Wrangel Island is not yet exhausted by these representatives.
In summer, a lot of birds fly to the island. Among them are geese, ducks, eiders, guillemots, cormorants, gulls, plovers, snow buntings. Most birds nest in the so-called bird markets - 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 a profitable fishery item.
Wrangel Island is one of the most ice-resistant 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 the most curious and instructive page not only in the history of Arctic exploration, but also in history geographical research at all.
The discovery of Wrangel Island was preceded by a number of rumors, stories and legends borrowed from the Chukchi. Undoubtedly, all these rumors, which spoke of some unknown land located north of eastern shores Siberia, concluded the grain of truth. IN early XIX 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 land really existed; he even pinpointed her location.
Starting from the end of the first half of XIX centuries, 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 approach it. In 1867, the American whaler Long was only 18 miles from the ground, but he also could not land on it due to ice obstacles. In honor of Wrangel, who for the first time accurately determined the position of an unknown land, Long assigns it the name of Wrangel.
The land is attracting more and more attention, a number of expeditions are equipped there, but unsuccessful. In 1881, two ships, the Corwin and the Rogers, set off from San Francisco in search of the missing American ship Jeanette. Since the sailors believed that the Jeannette crew had landed on Wrangel Island, all their efforts were directed towards reaching the latter. They safely and reach it and make the first examination.
In 1911, Wrangel was visited by the Russian hydrographic vessel Vaigach. The result of the Vaigach voyage was a significant expansion of our knowledge about the island.
In 1913, the American polar explorer Stefanson, challenging the right of the Russians to the island, organizes an expedition there on the Karluk ship under the command of the outstanding sailor and polar explorer R. Bartlett. Once in impenetrable ice, "Karluk" dies north of the island Wrangel; part of the crew manages to reach the island on the ice.
In 1914, the Vaigach again, but unsuccessfully, tried to reach Wrangel Island. In 1916, the Russian government issues a decree on the annexation of Wrangel Island to the territory of their state.
Approximate map of the Asian coast from the Kolyma to the Bering Strait
Since 1921, foreigners have begun to challenge our rights to the island. In the autumn of the same year, a group of colonists set off for the island under the leadership of the Canadian Crawford and annexed it to the possessions of Canada. The protest of the Soviet government to the Canadian does not lead to the desired results. In August 1924, overcoming extremely difficult obstacles, the Krasny Oktyabr icebreaker set off from Vladivostok to the island and restores 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 from 6 Russians and 50 Chukchi and Eskimos went to the island on the Stavropol steamer under the command of G. A. Ushakov. In 1929, the Litke ice cutter replaced the winterers, set up a new party here and built a radio station to communicate with the mainland. In 1934, "Krasin" delivers the third shift to the island and erects a number of new buildings.
The significance of Wrangel Island for us is not limited to its commercial wealth. Undoubtedly, in a not so distant time, the island will attract even more attention in connection with the Northern Sea Route being mastered by us, when the function of an important nodal point falls on the island.
Wrangel Island, in addition, is a convincing indicator of the technical and economic power of our country, which has enough funds and energy to develop and use even the most remote and inaccessible polar margins.
