Coordinates of Wrangel in Chukotka. Reserve Wrangel Island: animals and plants. Settling a piece of sushi

Federal State Institution "State nature reserve"Wrangel Island".

Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation.

Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources. (Rosprirodnadzor). Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Field of Environmental Protection and Environmental Safety.

The specially protected natural area includes the Federal State Institution “Wrangel Island State Nature Reserve” and its protective zone.

The Wrangel Island Nature Reserve includes:

Wrangel Island (geographic coordinates extreme points: 70 28"12"" - 71 21"02""N; 178 45"59""E - 177 15"52""W);

Herald Island (71 12"53"" - 71 15"08""N; 175 19"16"" - 175 27"47""W);

The coastal waters of the Chukchi and East Siberian seas are 12 nautical miles wide around each of the islands (Wrangel and Herald).

The protection zone includes a water area 24 nautical miles wide around the water area that is part of the reserve.

Fig.1 Physical map of Wrangel Island.

The total area of the reserve is 56,616 km2, including:

land - 7620 km2 (7608.7 km.sq. - Wrangel Island, 11.3 km.sq. - Herald Island);

sea area - 48996 sq. km. (11,543 sq. km. - part of the reserve, 37,453 sq. km. - security zone).

The reserve and its protective zone are located entirely within the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Even in Quaternary times (about 50 thousand years ago), the Wrangel and Herald Islands were part of Beringia - a vast landmass that once connected Asia with America. According to existing ideas, it was a slightly hilly plain with a group of low mountains in the center and several wide river valleys. Then the sea separated the islands from the mainland. Subsequently, uplifts and fractures of the earth's crust occurred here, the islands were subjected to weathering, exposure to sea waters and coastal ice, have repeatedly experienced glaciations, although the glaciers on them did not reach large sizes and did not cover their entire surface. Currently, about ten accumulations of dense ice have been discovered on Wrangel Island - glaciers of atmospheric origin, which owe their existence to snowstorm transport of snow (Gromov, 1960; Svatkov, 1962; Kiryushina, 1965).

The modern topography of the island is highly dissected. Occupying most of the land, the mountains form three parallel chains, each of which ends in coastal rocky cliffs in the west and east. The lowest ridge is the Northern one. It consists of isolated hills and gentle hills, gradually turning into a wide swampy plain called the Academy Tundra. The middle ridge is the most powerful, it is crowned by Mount Sovetskaya with a height of 1096 m above sea level. seas. The southern ridge is relatively low and runs close to the sea coast. Between the ridges stretch wide valleys, cut by quite numerous rivers. Herald Island is a granite gneiss outlier; above sea level it rises 380 m.

The islands are composed mainly of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks - quartz, shales, limestones. Among them, igneous rocks are located in the form of individual layers up to several hundred meters thick. The loose sediments are cemented by ice and are relatively thin.

Climatic features of Wrangel Island.

The climate of the protected islands is extremely harsh. For most of the year, masses of cold arctic air with low moisture and dust content move over this area. In summer, warmer and more humid Pacific air reaches here from the southeast. Dry and highly heated masses of air from Siberia are periodically heard.

Fig. Photo from space.

The local winter, the longest season of the year, is characterized by persistent frosty weather, strong winds predominantly from the north, and shallow and uneven snow cover. The average January temperature is -21.3°. But it is especially cold on the islands in February - March, when the air temperature does not rise above -30° for weeks. At this time, the wind every now and then creates a blizzard: hurricane whirlwinds, reaching 40 m/s or more, carry snow dust, expose the peaks, and in the lowlands they create snowdrifts, through which an all-terrain vehicle can drive without falling through - they are so strong, compacted by frost and the wind.

Table 1.

Summer is cool. And at this time of year, frosts and snowfalls are common. Average temperature July - from 2 to 2.5°. Inland from the western coast of Wrangel Island and especially in the center of the island, fenced off from the sea by mountains, due to better heating of the air and, to an even greater extent, due to hair dryers - strong, gusty relatively warm winds blowing from the mountains into valleys and intermountain basins, summer warmer and drier than in the eastern part of the island and even more so on the coast.

The average relative humidity on the islands is 88%, the annual precipitation is about 120 mm (Rogers Bay). Thunderstorms do not occur here every year, more often in July - August. On the coast, the number of days with fog reaches 80-88. The polar day lasts from the second ten days of May to the twentieth of July, the polar night - from the second ten days of November to the end of January. There are more than 140 rivers and streams more than 1 km long on Wrangel Island. There are, however, only five relatively large rivers (more than 50 km long). Most rivers and streams belong to the Chukchi Sea basin. Island rivers, as a rule, are high-water only in spring and summer, when the snow melts. By the end of summer they become very shallow, and by autumn they turn into low-water streams. The only exceptions are the largest rivers - Mamontovaya (west of the island) and Kler (east of the island), which remain high-water even in autumn. There are about 900 lakes on the island, of which only six are larger than 1 km2. The vast majority of lakes are located in the Academy Tundra. The depth of lakes, as a rule, does not exceed 2 m; by origin they are divided into thermokarst (most lakes), oxbow - in valleys large rivers, glacial, dammed and lagoon - the largest.

The coasts of the islands are covered with an ice shell most of the year and surrounded by chaotic piles of hummocks. The ice usually moves away from the coast at the end of July - beginning of August, but closes again in September - October. However, there are often years when the sea off the coast does not open at all.

Some scientists attribute the soils of Wrangel Island to the arctic-tundra subzone of the tundra soil zone (Targulyan, Karavaeva, 1964), others to the arctic zone (Mikhailov, 1960). In general, there is a set of gley, turf, bog and mountain soils.

Flora and fauna of Wrangel Island.

The vegetation of Wrangel Island is rich in species and is characterized by great antiquity. The number of species of vascular plants here exceeds 310, while, for example, on the New Siberian Islands, over a much larger area, there are only about 135, on the Severnaya Zemlya islands - a little more than 60, and on Franz Josef Land - less than 50. Flora The island contains a number of relics, and, conversely, plant species common in other subpolar regions are relatively rare. The original Arctic vegetation on this “splinter” of ancient Beringia, therefore, was not destroyed by glaciers, and at the same time, the sea prevented the flow of later migrants from penetrating here from the south.

About 3% of the flora of Wrangel Island is made up of subendemic species, for example, Gorodkov poppy, Wrangel's holly, and endemic species - Wrangel's bluegrass, Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's cinquefoil, Lapland poppy. In addition, another 114 plant species grow on Wrangel Island, classified by botanists as rare and very rare.

Rice. Typical landscape of Wrangel Island.

The modern vegetation cover of the islands is almost everywhere open and stunted. In the southern and central parts of Wrangel Island, upland vegetation is represented mainly by sedge-moss tundra. Cobresia and sedge communities of cryoxerophytic and phyomesophytic meadows are confined to well-drained habitats on the slopes, and unique tundra-steppe communities have been identified and described on dry areas of the southern slopes. In the central part of the island, in mountain valleys and intermountain basins under the influence of fen, there are areas with thickets of willows (mainly Richardson's willow) up to 1 m high; in other places, shrubby willows spread along the ground. Bogs both in the mountainous regions and on the northern plains are represented mainly by sedge-hypnum communities with the participation of sphagnum. On the tops of the mountains, large areas are occupied by rocky placers, in places overgrown with lichens and mosses; The middle and lower zones of the mountains are covered with grass-lichen, and in some places shrub-forb tundra with a variety of flowering plants.

The invertebrate fauna in the water bodies of the islands is characterized by low species diversity. It shows a predominance of amphibiotic insects, mainly chironomids. For the zoobenthos of the river. The mass development of stoneflies, chironomids and the absence of more heat-loving caddisflies and mayflies are characteristic of doubtful features. In general, the fauna of aquatic invertebrates of the island is characterized by species that also live on the Chukotka Peninsula and the coast Eastern Siberia. Living organisms in the waters washing the island are relatively monotonous and small in number, which is primarily due to the lifelessness of the littoral zone at depths of up to 5 m (the influence of ice). Algae are found within 5-20 m; only benthos is found deeper. On average, the density of biomass in the waters of the reserve does not exceed 100 g/m2. However, at Cape Blossom, where the streams of coastal currents converge and where the walrus rookery is located, it reaches 500 g/m2.

The fish that live in the coastal waters of the islands have not been studied enough. They are absent in freshwater bodies of water; Not a single species of amphibian or reptile lives in the reserve. It can only be noted that cod, the most widespread and widespread species of Arctic ichthyofauna, is found near the coasts of the islands. Not annually and short time In addition, large shoals of capelin approach the islands, and the common species of coastal fish also include the Arctic Sea slingshot.

At least twenty species of birds regularly nest on the islands. Together with vagrant and irregularly nesting species, there are much more of them - over forty, and every year with the development of ornithological research in the reserve, this list expands.

Rice. White goose.

White geese are among the most numerous feathered inhabitants of the local land. They form one main nesting colony, located in the center of the island, in the valley of the river. Tundra, as well as several small colonies; Some pairs also nest here and there. Small passerine birds - buntings and Lapland plantains - are numerous on Wrangel Island. Their total number is difficult to determine; one can only note that where conditions permit, they nest at a density often exceeding one pair per hectare of area. Until recently, the usual birds nesting here included the Arctic species of geese - brent geese, which fly here for nesting and in even greater numbers only for molting (in recent years their numbers have decreased noticeably); eider (Pacific subspecies of the common eider); from waders - Icelandic sandpipers and tules; from gulls - glaucous gulls, or great polar gulls, fork-tailed gulls; long-tailed skuas, as well as white owls. More rare on the island, but also regularly nesting are dunlin and pouting sandpipers, Arctic terns, skuas, red-throated loons, and crows; of small passerine birds - tap dancers. Obviously, from time to time, pintail ducks, Siberian eiders, combed eiders breed on Wrangel Island, and predators include gyrfalcons, short-eared owls, and some other birds. Pink gulls are regularly seen here in autumn.

Features of the geographical location of the reserve, local weather conditions create the preconditions for relatively frequent flights and wind-blown birds from the North American continent. These are large birds, such as sandhill cranes (they come here regularly) and Canada geese, but mainly small passerines, especially American finches. Of these, myrtle warblers, savannah and black-browed buntings, juncos, and white-crowned zonotrichia were encountered on Wrangel Island.

Rice. Bowhead whale.

The mammal fauna is much poorer in species. Two species of lemmings (ungulate and Siberian) and the Arctic fox live permanently on the island. Polar bears appear here periodically, but in significant numbers. Wolves, wolverines, stoats and foxes penetrate the island. The coastal waters of the islands are inhabited by seals - the ringed seal, bearded seal, or bearded seal, and less common are the spotted seal and lionfish, or striped seal. In the sea you can sometimes see fountains of whales, including representatives of the now rare species globe- bowhead whales, predatory whales appear - killer whales and arctic dolphins - beluga whales. Along with people, sled dogs settled on Wrangel Island; A house mouse has appeared and lives in residential buildings. Two species of mammals - domestic reindeer and musk ox - were also brought here by humans relatively recently.

Story

Russian pioneers knew about the existence of the island since the middle of the 17th century. according to stories local residents Chukotka, however geographical maps he arrived only two hundred years later.

Opening

Wrangel Island was actually discovered by the American whaler Thomas Long in 1867, and the first landing on it was made only in 1881 by the crew of the American ship Corwin, under the command of Lieutenant Berry. Shortly before this, on October 21, 1879, the English explorer Kellett landed on neighboring Herald Island in search of J. Franklin's expedition.

Development

Wrangel Island was first explored in 1911 by an expedition on the ship “Vaigach”, which planted the Russian flag on the island.

Relief

The island's topography is highly dissected. The mountains occupying most of the island form three parallel chains - the Northern Range, the Middle Range and the Southern Range - ending in the west and east with coastal rocky cliffs. The most powerful is the Middle Ridge, in which the highest point of the island is located - Mount Sovetskaya (1096 m). The northern ridge is the lowest, it turns into a wide swampy plain called the Academy Tundra. The southern ridge is low and runs close to the sea coast.

Between the ridges there are valleys with numerous rivers. In total, the island has more than 140 rivers and streams with a length of more than 1 km and 5 rivers with a length of more than 50 km. Of the approximately 900 lakes, most of which are located in the Academy Tundra, 6 lakes have an area exceeding 1 km². On average, the depth of lakes is no more than 2 m. Based on their origin, lakes are divided into thermokarst lakes, which include the majority, oxbow lakes (in the valleys of large rivers), glacial, dammed and lagoon lakes.

Climate

The climate is harsh. For most of the year, masses of cold arctic air with low moisture and dust content move over the area. In summer, warmer and more humid air from the Pacific Ocean comes from the southeast. Dry and highly heated air masses from Siberia periodically arrive.

Quite often birds from North America, among which are sandhill cranes that regularly visit Wrangel Island, as well as Canada geese and various small American passerines, including finches (myrtle warblers, savannah buntings, black-browed buntings, juncos, white-crowned zonotrichia).

The mammal fauna of the reserve is poor. Hoofed lemmings, Siberian lemmings and arctic foxes are permanent residents here. Polar bears appear periodically and in significant numbers, and their maternity dens are located within the boundaries of the reserve. At times, wolves, wolverines, stoats and foxes enter the reserve. Along with people, sled dogs settled on Wrangel Island. The house mouse has appeared and lives in residential buildings. Reindeer and musk ox were brought to the island for acclimatization.

In the mid-1990s, in the journal “mammoths, whose age was determined to be from 7 to 3.5 thousand (!) years. Despite the fact that, according to popular belief, mammoths went extinct everywhere 10-12 thousand years ago. Subsequently, it was discovered that these remains belonged to a special, relatively small subspecies that inhabited Wrangel Island back in the days when Egyptian pyramids, and which disappeared only during the reign of Tutankhamun and the heyday of the Mycenaean civilization. This places Wrangel Island among the most important paleontological monuments on the planet.

Settlements

Star
Perkatkun

Sources

Literature

Gromov L.V. A fragment of ancient Beringia. M., 1960.
Mineev A.I. Wrangel Island. M.; L., 1946.
Vegetation of the Far North and its development, issue 3. M.-L., 1958.
Soviet Arctic (seas and islands of the Arctic Ocean). M, 1970.

Links

Wrangel Island on the website of the Natural Heritage Conservation Foundation
Information about the reserve on the website of the Botanical Garden FEB RAS

No, the island is not named after the famous Russian military leader Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel.

It is a rare case when even in a dry academic reference on Wikipedia, the history of this island reads like a detective story.

So, Wrangel Island is a piece of land surrounded by ice in the Arctic Ocean.
The area is about 7670 square meters. km. Extremely severe natural conditions. The average temperature in July is +3 degrees. In January-February it often drops to -37.

The first people, the Paleo-Eskimos, hunted on this island as early as 1750 BC. It is unlikely that the climate of those places was very different from what can be found now, therefore, these hunters had a very difficult time.

More than two thousand years passed before this island was first depicted on maps. The island received its first name, “Land of Kellett” in 1849, thanks to the English navigator Henry Kellett, who described it during his expedition to the Chukchi Sea.

Another 16 years passed and in 1866 the crew of a merchant ship under the leadership of Captain Eduard Dahlmann landed on the island.

The next year, in 1867, by a strange coincidence, the island received a different name, with which it is included in all maps of the world. American explorer and whaler Thomas Long, either unaware of Kellett's discovery, or simply due to a navigation error, names the island in honor of the famous Russian traveler, geographer, statesman, admiral, Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel.

It may seem strange that an American would give a new island the name of a Russian traveler, but given the wide fame of Ferdinand Petrovich, who at that time already had three round the world travel and many other merits, the action looks quite normal.

In 1881, Captain Hooper landed a search party on the island in order to rescue the expedition of George De Long, which went to the North Pole on the ship Jeannette two years earlier and suffered a disaster. At the same time, Captain Hooper plants an American flag on the island and proclaims it the territory of the North American United States. Wrangel Island existed in this status for 30 years, until already in the 20th century, in 1911, the crew of the icebreaking steamship (!) Vaygach approached the island, took photographs of its shore, and planted the Russian flag, about which balls, a corresponding entry was made in the logbook.

1914
For about six months, from January to September, 15 crew members of the brigantine Karluk lived on the island awaiting a rescue expedition after their ship was crushed by ice 130 kilometers from the coast.

1921
Canadian polar explorer Williamur Stefanson establishes a settlement of five colonists on the island, declares the territory the property of Great Britain and raises the flag of the United Kingdom.

For two years the colonists lived on the island without contact with the outside world. Several ships, which during this time tried to bring provisions and equipment to the island, were unable to pass through the ice. And only in August 1923, the only survivor, 25-year-old Ada Blackjack, who had lived in absolute solitude for the last six months, was rescued from the island. The remaining colonists died.

In 1923, another attempt was made to colonize the island, this time by the American geologist Charles Wells, who founded a camp, bringing with him 12 experienced inhabitants of the far north, along with women and children. The colony existed for several months, until August 20, 1924, when it was taken out in its entirety by the Soviet warship Red October.

1926
A permanent settlement of 59 people is founded on Wrangel Island under the leadership of Soviet Arctic explorer Georgy Ushakov. The foundation of the polar station is being laid.

1948-1960s.
Reindeer were brought to the island from the mainland, a reindeer herding state farm was organized, 2 more settlements were founded, and several military infrastructure facilities were built.

One of the residents of the village, V. Pridatko-Dolin, describes the state of the settlement in his book “Ushakovskoye: how was it?”:

By the end of the 1970s, there was a village council, a boarding school, a kindergarten and a boiler room, a club-cinema, a reserve office (and later the Wrangel Island reserve) and a modest natural history museum, a store (TZP) and an underground glacier for storing meat products, temporary corral (for the autumn corral and slaughter of deer), post office, hospital, Rogers Bay polar station (Rogers), Rogers airport (for AN-2, MI-2, MI-6, MI-8) and a small air refueling station, a fuel and lubricants warehouse and bulk coal storage facilities, a library, a diesel power plant and a bathhouse, and there was electricity in the houses.

During navigation, a temporary berth for barges was in operation. Since the beginning of the 1980s, a radiotelephone communication station, a border post, a canteen for reserve employees and air crews appeared and operated, television worked, and a lighthouse was restored on the Ushakov Spit.

But already at the end of the 1980s, military personnel and permanent residents began to leave the island due to lack of funding; in 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the radar station was closed.

In 1997, all remaining residents of the village, except those who refused to leave their usual home, were transported to Cape Schmidt. A few years later, one of the residents of the village returned, but in 2003 she died as a result of a polar bear attack.

Today we will talk about the land of Wrangel. This island is very interesting. A Russian traveler searched for it unsuccessfully, but it was discovered by a Briton and a German. Then the deserted island became a “bone of discord” between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. This land is surrounded by legends. There is even an opinion that one of the colonies of the sinister Gulag was located here. But even without repressive camps, this land was deadly for humans. More than one polar explorer died here. And today the island continues to surprise scientists with new sensational discoveries. How was the island formed, what is the relief, climate, animals and flora- read in this article.

Wrangel Island on the map

This is a fairly large piece of land. Its area is approximately seven and a half thousand square kilometers, and most of it is occupied by mountains. The island itself is located in the Arctic Ocean. Even in simple geographical location Wrangel's land is already hiding its uniqueness. It is a watershed between two large ocean areas, a natural border between the Chukchi and East Siberian seas. And along Wrangel Island there is a junction between the Eastern and Western hemispheres of our planet. The one hundred and eightieth meridian, the so-called “date line,” divides the land area into almost equal parts. From north coast separated by at least 140 kilometers of water - the Long Strait. Since 1976, this land has been declared a nature reserve. The last permanent resident died in 2003. Since then, only polar scientists have lived here. Administratively, the island belongs to the district (Iultinsky district).

History of discovery

It is safe to say that the Paleo-Eskimos were the first to discover Wrangel Land. As archaeological excavations carried out in a ravine called Devil prove, people stopped here for camps three and a half thousand years ago. Russian pioneers were told about the existence of the distant land of Umkilir (“islands of polar bears”) by the Chukchi. But two hundred years passed before a European set foot on the deserted and unkind shore. For a long time, the island was considered just a beautiful Chukchi legend. The Russian navigator and statesman Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel unsuccessfully searched for it in 1820-1824. In 1849, British explorer and traveler Henry Kellett observed two pieces of land in the Chukchi Sea through a telescope. The discoverer named them after himself and his ship Herald. This is how “Kellett Land” and Herald Island (later Wrangel Island) appeared on the world map. But this is not all the adventures of our part of the land, surrounded by the sea.

Why was the discovery named after Wrangel?

The island was considered unknown to Europeans (the Chukchi opinion about Umkilir was not taken into account). The right of discoverer belonged to the one who not only saw the distant shore with the help of a telescope, but set his foot on it. It was a German merchant Eduard Dallmann, who carried out merchant transactions with residents of Chukotka and Alaska. But he was far from thinking of naming the lands he visited. A year later, in 1867, American whaler Thomas Long landed on the island. This brave man was a researcher by vocation and knew a lot about the search for F.P. Wrangel. That’s why he named the island he discovered in his honor. The territory was no man's land for about 14 years. In 1881, an American ship approached Harold and Wrangel Islands. It was looking for members of De Long's polar expedition, which set out to conquer North Pole in 1879 on the ship "Jeanette" and went missing. Captain Calvin Hooper landed part of the crew on the island. While the sailors were looking for traces of the missing, the captain planted a US flag on the shore. He named the island New Columbia.

Formation of the archipelago

Until the twentieth century, the governments of Russia and the United States had little interest in who owned two pieces of land lost in the Arctic Ocean. This attitude was facilitated by their “distant” geographical coordinates. Wrangel Island, for example, is the westernmost in the small archipelago, located between 70° and 71° north latitude. The length along the meridian of this place is simply unique: from 179° W. d. to 177° east. d. The archipelago is located very close not only to North America, but also to Asia. This is all that remains of the once existing bridge between the two continents, when the Bering Strait had not yet separated them. Thus, these are islands of mainland origin. And that is why they are also called Beringia. This area was spared by ice ages, and during global warming the islands did not go under water. This circumstance preserved the amazing flora and fauna on Wrangel’s land.

Arctic apple of discord

With the advent of the twentieth century, and at the same time the century of industry, both claimants laid claim to the archipelago. After all, it doesn’t matter where Wrangel Island is located, whether someone lives there and whether it is possible to conduct economic activity. The borders of adjacent states shift to the east or west, respectively, if someone takes possession of the archipelago. In the fall of 1911, a Russian hydrographic expedition on the ship “Vaigach” landed on Wrangel Island and raised the Russian flag on it. And in the summer of 1913, the Canadian brigantine Karluk was trapped in ice and was forced to drift towards the Bering Strait. Part of the team landed on Herald Island, and the other - a large party - on Wrangel. Two members of this expedition reached big land(Alaska), but the rescue expedition reached those in distress only in September 1914.

Development of the archipelago

In 1921, the Canadians decided to “stake out” an archipelago in the Chukchi Sea. After all, this gave the state the opportunity fishing and whale fishing off their shores. But the first settlers, consisting of four polar explorers and one Eskimo woman, did not survive the winter (only Ada Blackjack survived). Then the Canadians formed a second colony in 1923. Geologist C. Wells and twelve Eskimos, among them women and children, came to Wrangel Island. Since professional hunters were engaged in food production, the colonists successfully survived the winter. But the USSR government sent the icebreaker “Red October”, equipped with cannons, to the shores of the island. His crew forcibly boarded the settlers and took them to Vladivostok, from where they were later extradited to their homeland. As a result of this trip, two children died.

Wrangel Island is ours!

How did it finally become “domestic”? Although the Wrangel Islands appeared on the map of Russia, the government did not calm down until Russian colonists established themselves there. In 1926, a polar station was founded, headed by researcher G. Ya. Ushakov. Another 59 Chukchi from the villages of Chaplino and Providence settled with him. In 1928, Ukrainian journalist Nikolai Trublaini came there on the icebreaker Litke. He repeatedly described Wrangel Island and its harsh beauty in his books (in particular, “The Path to the Arctic through the Tropics”). Collective farms were to be everywhere in the Land of Soviets, and Far North was no exception. In 1948, a collective reindeer herding farm was founded - for this purpose, a small herd was brought from the mainland. And in the 70s, musk oxen were introduced from the island of Nunivak. Although evil tongues claim that one of the Gulag camps was based on the archipelago, this is not true. The villages of Ushakovskoye, Perkatkun, Zvezdny and the town. Cape Schmidt was inhabited either by polar explorers or by Chukchi tribes.

Reserved land

Back in 1953, the authorities decided to protect walruses and their rookeries on two islands in the Chukchi Sea. Seven years later, the Regional Executive Committee of Magadan, by its resolution, created a reserve on Wrangel Island. Later (1968) he was upgraded in status. But the Soviet government did not stop there. The national reserve was transformed into the Wrangel Islands nature reserve in 1976. The zone is still protected according to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 189 of March 23, 1976. The plural in the name of the reserve is not a typo. Came under protection and neighboring island Herald, as well as about 1,430,000 hectares of water area. Ironically, the crisis of the late 1990s greatly contributed to the conservation of nature. Most of the residents were taken to mainland, since there was no means to supply them with fuel and food. The last inhabitant, Vasilina Alpaun, was killed by a polar bear in 2003. And in 2004, both islands were included in the list World Heritage UNESCO.

Relief

A map of Wrangel Island shows that this landmass is quite mountainous. Three almost parallel chains - the Northern, Middle and Southern ranges - end in coastal cliffs. Highest point- Mount Sovetskaya - reaches 1096 meters above sea level. It is located almost in the center of the island. The Low Northern Range extends into a swampy plain called the Academy Tundra. The low-lying shores of the island are dissected by lagoons. There are a lot of lakes and rivers here. But there are no fish in them. Due to the harsh climate, these reservoirs freeze through in winter. However, global warming is noticeable here too. In recent years, schools of pink salmon have begun to actively enter river mouths to spawn. The rugged terrain and polar location created a number of non-melting glaciers on the island.

Climate of Wrangel Island

The polar night here begins in the second ten days of November, and the long-awaited sun appears at the end of January. The luminary does not set beyond the horizon from mid-May to the third ten days of July. But even the fact that the sun constantly illuminates Wrangel Island does not add warmth to the local summer. The temperature even in July does not exceed +3 °C. Snowfall, drizzle and fog are common. Only in the abnormally hot summer of 2007 did the thermometer jump to +14.8 °C (in August). Winters are very frosty, with frequent snowstorms. February and March are especially brutal. The temperature during this period does not rise above -30 °C for many weeks. Cold air masses from the Arctic carry little moisture with them. But in the summer, humid winds blow from the North Pacific Ocean.

Flora

B. N. Gorodkov, who studied the vegetation cover on east coast Wrangel lands, the island was mistakenly classified as a zone. Further study of the flora led scientists to the idea that its territory lies in the polar tundra belt. And to be very precise, the classification is as follows: Wrangel subprovince of the Western American zone of the Arctic tundra. The flora has an ancient species composition. Three percent of plants are subendemic. These are Gorodkov's poppy, bestilnitsa, Wrangel's grasshopper and others. It has now been revealed that in terms of the number of endemics, Wrangel Island has no equal in the polar zone. In addition to these plants, which are found only here and nowhere else in the world, more than a hundred rare species grow in the reserve.

Fauna

Severe climatic conditions do not favor particular species diversity. There are absolutely no amphibians, reptiles or freshwater fish on the island. But Wrangel Island, a photo of which is hardly ever complete without a polar bear in the foreground, holds the record for the density of these animals. Judge for yourself: four hundred bears live on an area of about seven and a half thousand square kilometers. And that's not counting the males and cubs! This justifies the Chukchi name of the island - Umkilir. Moreover, the population of this animal is increasing year by year. Polar bear- the main owner of the island. In addition to it, there are introduced reindeer and musk ox. In summer, the wind blows bumblebees, butterflies, mosquitoes and flies from the mainland. The world of birds has about 40 species on the island. Among rodents, Vinogradov's lemming is endemic. In addition to bears, there are other predators: polar fox, wolf, fox, wolverine, ermine. The local walrus rookery is the largest in Russia.

Unique discovery

In the mid-1990s, the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve was on the front pages of scientific journals. And all because paleontologists discovered the remains of mammoths here. But what was important was not the find itself, but its age. It turned out that on the island these elephants covered with thick hair lived and thrived three and a half thousand years ago. But it is known that mammoths became extinct more than ten thousand years ago. What happens? When the Crete-Mycenaean civilization was at its peak in Greece, and in Egypt a living mammoth was walking around Wrangel Island! True, the local subspecies was also distinguished by its small stature - the size of a modern African elephant.

The largest island is Wrangel Island. It is located at the intersection of the 180 degree meridian, which separates the western and eastern hemispheres. To the east of it, sixty kilometers away, is Herald Island. The area of Wrangel Island is only eight square kilometers. The Long Strait separates these islands from the mainland; this strait is covered with a thick layer of ice throughout the year. For this reason, the island remained unknown to people for a long time. By the way, the island itself was discovered in the forties of the 19th century. It happened when famous geographer F.P. Wrangel, on the north coast of Chukotka, watched the flights of bird flocks. Later he suggested that between the Chukchi and East Siberian seas there is unknown land. Gradually, Wrangel carefully studied and checked his assumption, then accurately indicated the location on the map large island, which was named after him. In 1976, a nature reserve was founded on the territory of this island. Since 1968, the Soviet people have established a complex reserve regime here. This reserve also includes Herald Island. Natural world Wrangel Island leaves a huge impression on eyewitnesses. Where they are, look here.

Features of Wrangel Island

Interestingly, on the island the sun does not appear above the horizon at all from November 18th, and the phenomenon continues until January 25th. For many, this time is known as the polar night. It is also impossible to say exactly where the sea begins and the land ends. Some things are only visible under the aurora or moonlight. Because moonlight reflected from the ice, the landscape is painted in many shades. However, for many the most best time on the island is period northern lights. At this time, everything around changes beyond recognition. Suddenly appearing light rays in the dark sky illuminate numerous crystals of ice and snow. This results in the formation of arches, fans and banners. Where to find .

During the polar day, the reserve takes on a completely different look. At this time, the sun does not go below the horizon from May to July. By the way, this does not make the climate very hot, but it noticeably revives animals and some plants. In other words, they develop more vigorously. A particularly amazing sight is the variety of birds that fly to the island to nest. Traditionally, during this period the snow melts and the Arctic islands are more reminiscent of blooming oases in the ice kingdom. Wrangel Island is different unique nature. Some species of animals and plants can be seen here. Visit. You won't regret it.

The island's climate is gradually softening. Global climate warming is also affected by Pacific Ocean. The average annual temperature is -11 degrees, slightly lower than the sea water temperature. Wrangel Island is more characterized by cloudy, windy weather, which is often accompanied by fog. The reserve is rich a large number lakes, shallow rivers and streams. Since in winter time All reservoirs freeze, there are practically no fish here. There are approximately 310 species of plants, among which you can often see lichens and mosses growing on mountain slopes and plains.

Flora of Wrangel Island

Most of the island's plants are dwarf. After all, their average height reaches only ten centimeters. True, there is a meter-long shrub willow - the tallest plant. Since many plants do not have time to go through all their life cycles, they are perennials. In other words, they store immature seeds, flowers and leaves under the snow. This is an amazing phenomenon: evergreens grow in the Arctic desert. For example, these are crowberry, lingonberry and dryad. The unique plants of Wrangel Island include: Ushakov poppy, Wrangel cinquefoil and Lapland poppy. The island has a region with peculiar tundra and steppe vegetation, this place is called mammoth prairie.

Many local animals generally prefer the sea to the land. This can be explained by several reasons. After all, there is more food for animals and birds on the shore, and no one bothers them here. Note that protected island surrounded by a security zone. Scientists from various fields work in the island's natural laboratory. They observe unstudied plants and animals. Therefore, it should not be surprising that Wrangel Island has become a complex nature reserve.

According to some evidence, musk oxen lived on the island in the past. Today twenty heads were brought here from the island of Nunivak, in America. Wrangel Island is also known for the largest walrus rookery in Russia. By the way, Wrangel Island is included in the list of paleontological monuments of the earth.

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