Khatanga () is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically describ ...

(a '' selo'') in

Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District () is an administrativeLaw #10-4765 and municipalLaw #2-54 district (raion), one of the forty-three in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the north of the krai above the Arctic Circle on the Taymyr P ...

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located on the

Khatanga River The Khatanga () is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. The river is navigable. The river port of Khatanga is located on the river. Course It begins at the confluence of the rivers Kotuy and Kheta. The Khatanga is long ( including its hea ...

on the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administratively it is part of the Krasnoyarsk Krai Federal subject of Russia. Ge ...

. It is one of the northernmost inhabited localities in Russia. Its elevation is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. As of the 2002 Census, its population was 3,450. The name Khatanga means "large water" in the local

Evenki language Evenki ( ), formerly known as Tungus, is the largest member of the northern group of Tungusic languages, a group which also includes Even, Negidal, and the more closely related Oroqen language. The name is sometimes wrongly given as "Evenks". ...

. The locality is known to have existed since the 17th century. It is served by the

Khatanga Airport Khatanga Airport is an airport in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia located southeast of Khatanga. It is a major airfield servicing medium-sized airliners. Interceptor aircraft were based here in the 1970s, and the airfield may have been home to de ...

. Khatanga is relatively close to the

Popigai impact structure The Popigai impact structure is the eroded remnant of an impact crater in northern Siberia, Russia. It is tied with the Acraman impact structure as the fourth largest verified impact structure on Earth. A large bolide impact created the c ...

, an asteroid impact structure and geological formation located in northern Siberia. The crater has been noted since September 2012 as a potential source of a significant new global supply of

industrial diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and inso ...

Economy

Tourism

Khatanga is sometimes visited by Western sightseers touring the surrounding natural wilderness in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. It has a hotel, a natural history museum, and weather reporting stations. In 2019, mayor

Yevgeny Vershinin Yevgeni (), also transliterated as Yevgeny, Yevgenii, Yevgeniy, Evgeni, Evgeny, Evgenii, Evgeniy, Evgenyi or Evgenij, is the Russian form of the masculine given name Eugene. The short form is Zhenya (Женя), also transliterated as Jenya or Sheny ...

announced plans to develop the locality to act as a hub for travelers on their way to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

, hoping to compete with

Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, , "Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlements, northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the capital and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ( ...

, a Norwegian town on the island of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

, for Arctic tourists. The locality has been used as a pit stop for northern expeditions in the past, with helicopters coming from

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

occasionally stopping there on their way to the North Pole. The Khatanga airport is one of the largest and most operable in the Russian Arctic, with the main runway receiving renovations in 2009. However, the rest of the airport, especially the terminal, was found to be in extremely poor condition in 2019.

Port

The locality is home to the ZAO Sea Commercial Port of Khatanga which accepts various Arctic cargo shipments. While the port only operates from June until September, it has five mooring berths capable of admitting vessels with draughts up to . Two of the berths service the port fleet, two receive general cargo, and one is reserved for oil products. Goods such as refrigerated cargo,

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, and bulk shipments of coal, sand, gravel, and oil are processed at the port.

Climate

Khatanga has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfc''). Winters in Khatanga are bitterly cold, although not as extremely frosty as more southern inner Siberia, due to the slight moderating influence of the Arctic Ocean. Summer temperatures are mild, with an average July temperature of 12.7 °C (54.9 °F). They are also relatively high for its latitude (72 °N), with a record high of 36.7 °C (98 °F) in July. Khatanga is the northernmost town in the world below the treeline, as summers are warm enough for trees to grow. The only tree that can grow there is the

Dahurian larch ''Larix gmelinii'', the Dahurian larch or East Siberian larch, is a species of larch native to eastern Siberia and adjacent northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China (Heilongjiang), South Korea and North Korea. Description ''Larix gmelinii'' ...

(''Larix gmelinii''). Precipitation is quite low, but is somewhat higher in summer (when it falls mostly as rain) than in the rest of the year (when it falls mostly as snow).

References

{{Authority control Rural localities in Krasnoyarsk Krai Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District Yeniseysk Governorate Populated places of Arctic Russia North Siberian Lowland