Graham Bell Island (russian: Остров Греэм-Белл, ''Ostrov Greem-Bell'') is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the Franz Josef Archipelago in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

, and is administratively part of Arkhangelsk Oblast,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Geography

Graham Bell Island is one of the largest islands of the group. It lies east of

Wilczek Land Wilczek Land (russian: Земля Вильчека; , german: Wilczek-Land), is an island in the Arctic Ocean at . It is the second-largest island in Franz Josef Land, in Arctic Russia. This island should not be confused with the small Wilczek I ...

, separated from it by a narrow sound known as Morgan Sound (Пролив Моргана; Proliv Morgana). It is also the easternmost island of Franz Josef Land. Cape Kohlsaat, the easternmost point of the archipelago at 81°14′N, 65°10′E, lies on Graham Bell Island's eastern shore. Cape Kohlsaat marks the northwesternmost corner of 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 is a significant geographical landmark, and it is partly glacierized. The highest point of Graham Bell Island, , is the summit of ''Kupol Vetrenyy'' (Купол Ветреный) "Windy Dome", a large

ice dome Glacier morphology, or the form a glacier takes, is influenced by temperature, precipitation, topography, and other factors. The goal of glacial morphology is to gain a better understanding of glaciated landscapes and the way they are shaped. Ty ...

covering the western part of the island. This island was named after inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Graham Bell Island should not be confused with the smaller Bell Island which is also part of the Franz Josef Archipelago and is named after the shape, not the person.

History

Graham Bell Island was discovered on 2 May 1899 by a sledging party of the Wellman expedition composed of , Daniel Johansen, Emil Ellefsen, Olaf Ellefsen, and Paul Bjørvig. It is home to a Cold War outpost and to the airfield Greem Bell () on the Northeastern end of the island. It is the largest airfield in the archipelago. It has a runway long. Russian cargo and fighter aircraft have regularly landed here since the 1950s. The runway was usable only in the 8 months of the year with sufficiently frozen ground. Before it was shut down, it was also used for tourist helicopter trips around the Russian arctic as a stopover and refueling base. The base was shut down completely in 1994. It began falling into ruins and was subsequently closed to normal visitors. In May 2012, the Russian Air Force announced it would reopen Graham Bell Airfield as part of a series of reopenings of air bases in the Arctic.

Adjacent islands

* Graham Bell Island's northern shore is fringed by clusters of very small

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

s. * ''Ostrov Trëkhluchevoy''lies off its western shore at and is only 2 km in length. * ''Ostrov Udachnyy''is part of a cluster of islets located along the NW shores

References

* All locations

* https://archive.today/20071026183049/http://www.geosite.com.ru/pageid-335-1.html
Island DirectoryUnep.org

Citations

External links