Sverdrup Island (russian: Остров Свердрупа) is an isolated Russian island in the southern region 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. ...

. Sverdrup Island is named after Norwegian polar explorer and ship Captain

Otto Sverdrup Otto Neumann Knoph Sverdrup (31 October 1854, in Bindal, Helgeland – 26 November 1930) was a Norwegian sailor and Arctic explorer. Early and personal life He was born in Bindal as a son of farmer Ulrik Frederik Suhm Sverdrup (1833–1914) ...

who sighted it on 18 August 1893 during the ''Fram'' Expedition led by Fridtjof Nansen.

Geography

It belongs to the

Taymyr Autonomous Okrug Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (russian: Таймы́рский Долга́но-Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг, '; Enets: Таймыр Оша-Дюрак район, Nenets: Таймыр Долганы-Ненэц ...

of 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 Si ...

administrative division of the

Russian Federation 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 ...

. The island is located 120 km north of Dikson on the Siberian coast. The nearest land mass is the Arkticheskiy Institut Islands, about 90 km to the northeast. The island has a wide bay opening towards the west. Its length is 15 km and its maximum width 10 km. The sea surrounding Sverdrup Island is covered with pack ice with some polynias in the long winter and there are many ice floes even in the summer.

Flora and fauna

Sverdrup Island is 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 mou ...

vegetation. There are a few mammals, such as the

lemming A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also includ ...

and

arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in ...

; among the birds the

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown ...

and some species of

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from ''Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water an ...

deserve mention. The island 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 A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife san ...

– the largest nature reserve of Russia and one of the biggest in the world.Nature Reserve
bigarctic.ru

References

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

Geography

Flora and fauna

See also

References