The Kirov Islands or Sergey Kirov Islands (russian: Острова Кирова, ''Ostrova Kirova'' or Aрхипелаг Сергея Кирова, ''Archipelag Sergeya Kirova'') is an island group in the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It is an archipelago of small islands covered with

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

vegetation located about from the coast of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and northwest of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago.

Geography

This archipelago, as well as Kirov Island, its northernmost island which is located at the northeastern end somewhat detached from the main island cluster, is named after

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

's politburo member

Sergey Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (né Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary whose assassination led to the first Great Purge. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and membe ...

. All islands are quite flat, mostly with sandy spits and coastal lagoons in their shores. The group's largest island is Isachenko (russian: Остров Исаченко), named after Boris Lavrent'evich Isachenko Russian microbiologist and botanist of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. It has a surface of and the highest point in the archipelago. There is an experiment station (Polyarnaya Stantsiya) on Isachenko Island. The sea surrounding the Kirov Islands is covered with pack ice with some

polynia A polynya () is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. It is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice. It is a loanword from the Russian полынья (), which re ...

s in the winter and there are many ice floes even in the summer. The strait between Isachenko and Slozhnyy Island is known as Proliv Aeros"yëmki. This island group belongs to the

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...

administrative division of the

. They are also part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve (russian: Большой Арктический государственный природный заповедник), the largest nature reserve of the Russian Federation.Nature Reserve
The Kirov Archipelago is not to be confused with ''Kirovskiye Ostrova'' (russian: Кировские Острова), a historic district of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

formed by a group of three coastal islands in the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

north of the

Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...

river delta.

References

Archipelagoes of the Kara Sea Populated places of Arctic Russia Islands of Krasnoyarsk Krai {{KrasnoyarskKrai-geo-stub

Geography

See also

References