Nansen Island (russian: Остров Нансена), is a long and narrow island in the coast 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. ...
. Its length is and its average width about . This island is located in an area of
skerries
A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation.
Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to:
Geography
Northern Ireland
* Skerries, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh
* Skerry, County Antrim, a ...
right off the western coast of the
Taymyr Peninsula.
Geography
Nansen Island is one of the islands of the coastal area of the
Nordenskiöld Archipelago. The narrow strait between Nansen island and the Siberian coast (Fram Strait) is about wide on average.
Hovgaard Island
Hovgaard Island is an island long, lying off the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula, southwest of Booth Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica.
It was discovered and named "Krogmann-Insel" (Krogmann Island) by the German 1873–74 expe ...
lies about north of the northern end of Nansen Island across the
Matisen Strait.
The shores of Nansen Island and some of its larger neighboring islands, such as
Taymyra, Bonevi and Pilota Makhotkina, are deeply indented, with many crooked inlets. The sounds between this island and neighboring islands are also somewhat labyrinthic. Geologically all these coastal islands are a continuation of the
Nordenskiöld Archipelago which lies further north. And sometimes Nansen Island is considered a part of it.
Ostrov Vkhodnoy is a long islet located off Nansena's western end.
The sea surrounding Nansen Island is covered with
pack ice
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...
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 during the long and bitter winters and there are many
ice floes
An ice floe () is a large pack ice, pack of Drift ice, floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice fl ...
even in the summer.
Nansen Island 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
Russia
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 is part of the
Great Arctic State Nature Reserve – the largest nature reserve of Russia and one of the biggest in the world.
History
In October 1900, during
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 fateful last expedition, the winter quarters for Toll's ship ''
Zarya Zarya may refer to:
*Zorya, personification of dawn in Slavic mythology
* Zarya (antenna), a type of medium-wave broadcasting antenna used in former Soviet Union
*Zarya (ISS module) is a module of the International Space Station.
* ''Zarya'' (magazi ...
'' were set at
Nablyudeniy Island and a scientific station was built there. Nablyudeniy is a small granite island south of neighbouring
Bonevi Island located in a bay that Baron Toll named
Colin Archer Bay (''Bukhta Kolin Archera'').
During WW2 there was much military activity near Nansen Island, especially during
Operation Wunderland.
In some maps Nansen Island is named simply as Nansena. This island should not be confused with another Russian island called
Nansen Island
Nansen Island or Isla Nansen Sur is the largest of the islands lying in Wilhelmina Bay off the west coast of Graham Land, lying east of Emma Island, Antarctica, Emma Island. Nansen Island was discovered by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (18 ...
, which is part of
Franz Josef Land
, native_name =
, image_name = Map of Franz Josef Land-en.svg
, image_caption = Map of Franz Josef Land
, image_size =
, map_image = Franz Josef Land location-en.svg
, map_caption = Location of Franz Josef ...
, 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 ...
. Both islands are named in the honor and memory of Arctic explorer
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team t ...
.
Nansen's explorations
/ref>
See also
* List of islands of Russia
References
External links
Military History
{{Kara Sea Islands
Islands of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago
Populated places of Arctic Russia
Islands of Krasnoyarsk Krai
Fridtjof Nansen