The Middendorff Bay, (russian: Залив Миддендорфа) is a deeply indented bay in the shores of the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...

. It is located southwest of the

Nordenskiöld Archipelago The Nordenskiöld Archipelago or Nordenskjold Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Норденшельда, Arkhipelag Nordenshel'da) is a large and complex cluster of islands in the eastern region of the Kara Sea. Its eastern limit lies ...

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. ...

and it is open towards the west.

Geography

This bay is limited on its eastern side by the Zarya Peninsula, named after

Baron Eduard von Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (russian: Эдуа́рд Васи́льевич Толль, translit=Eduárd Vasíl'evič Toll'; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian ge ...

's ship '' Zarya''. On the northern side of the Zarya Peninsula there is a small gulf called ''Bukhta Kolomeitseva'', named after Captain N. N. Kolomeitsev, commander of ship ''Zarya''. The Middendorff Bay is surrounded by bleak tundra coast. It is full of small islands and island groups, foremost of which are Gavrilova Island, the Shren Islands, the Krusenstern Islands, and farther offshore,

Belukha and Prodolgovatyy Islands Belukha Mountain (russian: Белуха, lit=whitey; Altai: Ӱч-Сӱмер, lit. 'three peaks'; kk, Мұзтау Шыңы, lit=icemount peak), located in the Katun Mountains, is the highest peak of the Altai Mountains in Russia and the high ...

. The small Myachina Islands are located off

Cape Vilda Cape Vilda (Russian: Мыс Вильда) is a headland in the Kara Sea, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. This cape is located on the western shore of the Taymyr Peninsula, at the western end of Middendorff Bay. The Myachina Islands, a grou ...

, further west from the bay along the coast. The climate in the area is severe, with long and bitter winters and frequent blizzards and gales. This desolate bay is frozen for about nine months in a year and even in summer it is never quite free of ice floes. The Middendorff Bay and adjacent islands belong 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

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 ...

and the whole area is part of the

Great Arctic State Nature Reserve The Great Arctic State Nature Reserve (russian: Большой Арктический государственный природный заповедник) is a nature reserve in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. With an area of , it is the largest res ...

, the largest nature reserve of Russia.

History

This bay was explored by Russian geologist

during his last venture, the Russian Arctic Expedition of 1900–1903. It was named after Alexander Theodor von Middendorff, a Russian zoologist, historian and explorer of

Baltic-German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly ...

origin.Alexander von Middendorff and his expedition to Siberia (1842–1845)
/ref>

References

Bays of Krasnoyarsk Krai Bays of the Kara Sea {{KrasnoyarskKrai-geo-stub

Geography

History

Further reading

References