The Scott Hansen Islands (russian: Острова Скотт-Гансена, ''Ostrova Skott-Gansena'') is a group of three small islands covered with tundra vegetation in the
Kara Sea, about 20 km from the tip of the
Mikhailov Peninsula in the coast of
Siberia. In many maps these islands appear with the name Scott-Gansen Islands, derived from the Russian spelling.
The Scott-Hansen group belongs to the
Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of
Russia. It is part of the
Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve of Russia. The westernmost island, at about 3 km, is larger than the other two. The islands are named as a group; individual islands do not have names in common maps. The sea surrounding the 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 winter, and there are many ice floes even in summer.
Sigurd Scott-Hansen
This archipelago is named after Sigurd Scott-Hansen (1868-1937), a Norwegian naval lieutenant, who was in charge of the astronomical and meteorological observations during
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 ...
's 1893 polar expedition on the ''
Fram
Fram may refer to:
Ships
* ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway
* MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group
Places and geography
* Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay
* Fram Formation, a se ...
''. Sigurd Scott-Hansen was born in
Leith, Scotland where his father, Andreas Hansen, was the parish priest at the
Norwegian Sailors' Church. Scott-Hansen grew up in
Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway and made his career in the
Royal Norwegian Navy. In 1889 he became 2nd lieutenant, in 1892 1st lieutenant, in 1898 captain and in 1910 he was appointed commander.
Between 1893 and 1896, he joined in
The First Fram Expedition under the leadership of
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 ...
. He was in charge of the meteorological, astronomical and magnetic data.
Scott-Hansen retired from naval service in 1931, and later aided with the interior restoration of ''Fram''. He died in 1939, the year after the Fram Museum opened at Bygdøynes in Oslo.
References
External links
* http://worldmaps.web.infoseek.co.jp/russia_guide.htm
* http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic27-1-2.pdf
* Nature Reserve: https://web.archive.org/web/20071008044746/http://www.bigarctic.ru/Eng
See also
*
Kara Sea
*
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 ...
Islands of the Kara Sea
Islands of Krasnoyarsk Krai
{{KrasnoyarskKrai-geo-stub