The Novosibirsk Islands are an archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean. It is part of the territory of Russia, but has not yet been mastered, but only studied. This article will go into more detail about the Sannikov Strait, named after one of its first explorers.
Novosibirsk Islands
This archipelago separates two large northern seas: the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea. The total area of all the islands is 38.4 thousand square kilometers, they are part of a specially protected area. This zone is part of the Ust-Lensky nature reserve and is also a border zone.
The Novosibirsk Islands are divided into three groups: Lyakhovsky, Anzhu and De Long. In total, the archipelago includes 24 islands. The largest of them is called Kotelny with an area of 23 thousand square kilometers. He is known for a large number of mammoth tusks found. By the way, poachers are still hunting for this valuable fossil. This is considered a very profitable business in these parts, some even manage to raise the vegetatingsettlements. We first learned about the islands from the Cossack Yakov Permyakov at the beginning of the 18th century. He, as part of a detachment led by Mercury Vagin, visited Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island. The New Siberian Islands were explored mainly thanks to the efforts of mammoth bone hunters, and only then they began to be studied more seriously. In the history of their development, one can distinguish the researcher Sannikov, after whom the strait, the river and the polar station are named.
Sannikov Strait
It is located between the largest island Kotelny and Maly Lyakhovsky. The Sannikov Strait connects two seas - Laptev and East Siberian, and at the same time separates two island groups - Anzhu and Lyakhovskie. It was discovered by an industrialist from Yakutia Lyakhov, but named after another researcher. Where the Sannikov Strait is located, the Northern Sea Route passes, this is its smallest section. The length of the strait is 238 kilometers, the width reaches 55 kilometers, the depth reaches 24 meters. Floating ice can be observed in the strait all year round.
Ships successfully enter these waters thanks to the luminous sign of Sannikov, in addition to it, you can see the buildings of the Arctic station "Sannikov Strait". Kotelny Island has the following bays: Smirnitsky, Malygintseva and Bolshaya Guba. Near the latter is the polar station "Bunge".
In whose honor the strait is named
The modern name was approved in 1935 by the government of the USSR. In honor of whom the Sannikov Strait is named, you can understand if you watch a famous Soviet film. In honor of Arctic explorer Yakov Sannikov. It was a Russian merchant whohunted by prey of mammoth tusk and arctic fox. He gained fame thanks to his discovery of an unknown island, which was nicknamed "Sannikov Land". According to him, this separate vast piece of land should have been located north of Kotelny Island.
He claimed that high mountains rise above the sea. In addition, it was said that this mythical land is also fertile, with warm climatic conditions. This assumption was based on the fact that birds - polar geese - allegedly fly there in the spring, and return from there with their offspring in the fall. They would not have been able to survive in harsh conditions, which spoke in favor of the existence of Sannikov Land. Emperor Alexander III said that whoever finds this unknown territory will have rights to it.
Search for Sannikov Land
To find this wonderful place, many explorers went by dog sled, as navigation on water is impossible for most of the year - the whole sea is ice-bound. These expeditions were made at the risk of life in the spring months, they were often interrupted in polynyas and on hummocks. Sannikov himself also searched for this land from 1810 to 1811. He discovered and described the island of Stolbovoy in 1800 (in the southwest of the archipelago) and Faddeevsky, which actually turned out to be a peninsula.
The search for Sannikov Land provoked new Arctic expeditions. For example, organized by Baron Tol, who was sure of the existence of a whole continent called Arctida, the shores of which, according to himopinion, and observed Sannikov. Later, the area of the sea north of the New Siberian Islands was explored by Nansen, but did not find anything similar to Sannikov Land. In the USSR, interest in this topic was revived thanks to the geologist and paleontologist Obruchev. He wrote the science fiction novel Sannikov Land. At his request, the site in the sea was re-examined from the Soviet icebreaker Sadko, planes were sent to the same area, but nothing was found.
Sannikov Strait Polar Station
It is located on Kotelny Island, on its southern shore. The waters of the Sannikov Strait are raging nearby. For many years, it was studied here for suitability for navigation. Previously, only the Laptev Strait was navigable, so they began to study the Sannikov Strait. In the 90s, interest in the study faded, but scientific research is currently being resumed.
The weather station investigates weather phenomena over the sea. Sometimes polar bears appear near it, trying to rob food supplies. The dog guarding the station had a heart attack when meeting them, but then learned to drive them away. At the initiative of the rescue service from Yakutia, a chapel was built here, the consecration of which took place in 2009.
