Severnaya Zemlya facts for kids
Severnaya Zemlya is an group of islands of about 30 islands in the Arctic Ocean. The islands were known as Emperor Nicholas II Land. Severnaya Zemlya was first noted in 1913 and first charted in 1930–32, making it the last group of islands on Earth to be discovered. Politically, the islands are part of Russia's Krasnoyarsk Krai region, but are uninhabited by humans except for an Arctic base. There is a meteorological station on Golomjanny island. Scientists live there for some months of the year.
Severnaya Zemlya splits the Arctic sea into an western part, called Laptev Sea, and an eastern part, called Kara Sea.
A phenomenon called Arctic sea ice decline can be shown on the islands: In the 20th century, the islands were a portion of Eurasia which was always covered by ice. Even as the ice melted in summer, some of the ice remained, and blocked what is called the Northeast Passage. If it were ice free the Northeast passage would permit to naviagate from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean easily. By the late summer of 2012, the permanent ice had reached a record low extent and open water appeared to the north of the archipelago.
Images for kids
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View of Schmidt Island with its ice cap.
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Sedov Islands
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Krasnoflotskiye
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Maly Taymyr group
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Lishny Island
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Map of the Kara Sea drift of steamship Dijmphna in 1882–83. This venture would have discovered the land now known as Severnaya Zemlya had it been successful.
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c. 1902 map section of the Yeniseysk Governorate with empty ocean in the location of the archipelago
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Section of the 1913 Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition map showing incompletely charted Emperor Nicholas II Land —with an undefined western coast. The Russian flag stands on the Cape Berg area.
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Partly surveyed Emperor Nicholas II Land in a 1915 map of the Russian Empire. At the time it was believed that the archipelago formed a single landmass.
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View of the remains of abandoned Izluchina Russian polar station at the northern end of Komsomolets Island
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1975 map showing Severnaya Zemlya and the Taymyr Peninsula
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Terra-MODIS image of Severnaya Zemlya in 2001
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Severnaya Zemlya is the easternmost point in the little auk's breeding range.
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Thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia).
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Collared lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus), the most common mammal on Severnaya Zemlya.
See also
In Spanish: Tierra del Norte para niños
