Wrangel Island: an oasis in the ice. Wrangel Island: nature reserve, location on the map of Russia, climate, coordinates
The island got its name in honor of the Russian navigator and statesman Ferdinand Wrangel.
Russian military and statesman, navigator and polar explorer, admiral (1856), head of the Naval Ministry.
He came from an ancient family of Baltic Germans.
On the this moment Wrangel Island is part of the reserve of the same name and is included in the list of objects world heritage UNESCO.
Surprisingly, Wrangel Island is located exactly at the junction of the Western and Eastern hemispheres of our planet. It stretches for 150 km in width, 125 km in length, and an area of 7,600 square kilometers. Its central and southern parts are predominantly mountainous. The largest peak is located here, namely Mount Sovetskaya with a height of 1096 meters. Plain tundra with numerous medium-sized rivers and lakes prevails mainly in the north.
In 1926, a polar station was created on the island, and a permanent one, and a settlement called Ushakovskoye was created, which existed until 1994. Since this year, there is no permanent population on the island now. After all, times were not easy back then. Perestroika, lack of funding, the collapse of the USSR, as well as the country's complete loss of interest in the study and development of such northern villages and regions. But, by the way, it still had the best effect on the well-being of the island. After all, now there is a unique reserve, included in the UNESCO list in 2004.
The winter period on the island lasts 8 months. From November to January itself, there is a polar night. During this period, the island is dark, frosty and relatively quiet, except for the various howls of strong arctic local winds. True, by spring and summer this wonderful island begins to come to life. In the tundra you can see carpets of poppies, of which there are already more than 7 different species, colorful and beautiful colors. Near the coastal cliffs, one can observe thousands of birds, and polar bears with wonderful babies come out of the numerous lairs at this time. By the way, Wrangel Island serves as a home for polar bears in the Arctic. In addition, it hosts the only nesting territory of the last white Asiatic geese remaining on Earth, including the largest population of the unique Pacific walrus, approximately 100,000 individuals.
By the way, from Anadyr in July or August there is a great opportunity to take a cruise on a small but comfortable and cozy icebreaker to this amazing island, moreover, with a landing on it and even accommodation for 3 days. But most of the tourists here you can see Americans or Canadians. There are practically no Russians.
Since the middle of the 17th century, Russian explorers have heard from the inhabitants of Chukotka about a certain island in the Arctic Ocean, but it appeared on the maps only 200 years later. In 1911, the island was declared Russian territory, although after that there were several attempts by Britain to annex it to their lands. But the great remoteness, ice hummocks and nature itself protected this region from the encroachment of foreigners on this primordially Russian northern land.
In 1976, a reserve was created on Wrangel Island, which includes, in addition to the island itself, the territory of the nearby Herald Island and the adjacent 12-mile sea area. The main task of this reserve is the preservation and study of the fauna of the island part of the Arctic.
Marine hydrometeorological station Wrangel.
The climate of the reserve "Wrangel Island" is quite severe. From February to March, temperatures rarely rise above -30 degrees, and the wind that accompanies snowstorms reaches speeds of 40 meters per hour or more. Even in summer frosts and snowfalls occur here. Ice massifs on the islands are preserved almost all year round.
The relief of Wrangel Island is mountainous, mountains occupy more than half of the island's territory. At the sea they break off with rocks. In places where the coast is more gentle, there are sand and pebble spits. In addition, there are streams on the island - more than one and a half thousand, and about 900 lakes.
Herald Island is a high remnant, which on all sides breaks into the sea with rocky steep ledges.
Most representatives of the animal and plant world, which are under the protection of the Wrangel Island Reserve, are unique. The reason for this is the exceptional combination of historical and landscape-climatic conditions, as well as the inaccessibility of the island. Even relic species of animals are found here. On the islands, which are part of the ancient land that united the Eurasian and North American continents in ancient times, American and Euro-Asian species of flora and fauna are still preserved. Most of the flora of Wrangel Island belongs to the arctic tundra subzone. In some places of the island there is a real polar desert. In the southwest and in the center of the island, flowering plants grow quite safely. Here you can see real relic steppes.
Amphibians and reptiles are completely absent on the territory of the reserve, but 169 species of various birds nest here, for example, common eider and comb, Icelandic sandpiper, peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon.
By the way, the largest white goose colony in Eurasia is located on Wrangel Island.
Siberian and ungulate lemmings, as well as arctic foxes, common to this region, make up the bulk of land mammals. Occasionally, a wolverine, fox or wolf appears. Walruses often appear on the island - the largest rookery of these animals is located here. The island serves as a kind of "maternity hospital" for them. Polar bears are frequent guests at such rookeries.
A fairly large number of musk oxen live on the island. These huge, thickly furred animals, the local frosts do not care. This is their home and they feel great on the island.
Domestic reindeer were brought here on purpose. They took root perfectly, eventually became somewhat wild and now form part of the fauna of the island.
Gray whales, fin whales, and beluga whales are not uncommon in the local waters. Sometimes whales swim from Greenland.
The island is also of geological value - parking lots were found here ancient man, as well as traces of a small mammoth population that survived its mainland relatives by almost 6 thousand years. By the way, mammoths lived on Wrangel Island relatively recently - only 3.6 thousand years ago.
Geographical position
"Wrangel Island"— the state natural reserve, occupies the northernmost position (located mainly to the north of 71 ° N) from the protected areas of Russia.
Created in 1976. The total area is 2,225,650 ha, including the water area of 1,430,000 ha. The area of the protected zone is 795,593 hectares. It occupies two islands of the Chukchi Sea - Wrangel and Herald, as well as the adjacent water area, and is located on the territory of the Shmidtovsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Approximately 2/3 of the territory of the Wrangel island is occupied by mountains. The climate in the region of the islands is arctic with a significant influence of cyclonic activity. The frost-free period on the islands usually does not exceed 20-25 days.
How to get there
Today, Wrangel Island is one of the most inaccessible nature reserves in the world. To visit it, several special government permits are required.
Getting to the island is not easy: in winter you have to fly by helicopter, and in summer you can sail on an icebreaker.
Climate
The climate in the region of the islands is arctic with a significant influence of cyclonic activity. The frost-free period on the islands usually does not exceed 20-25 days. Winter with constant frosts and strong winds that give rise to snowstorms dominates most of the year. The cool summer is short-lived, it is often interrupted by frosts and snowfalls, but despite this, during the polar day, a stormy life flares up on the islands.
Population
Officially, the village of Ushakovskoye on Wrangel Island was declared uninhabitable in 1997. However, several people refused to leave. The last 25-year-old female islander named Vasilina Alpaun was killed by a polar bear in 2003. After her, only the man Grigory Kaurgin, who practices shamanism, remained on the island from the civilians. The presence of people on the island was again ensured by the Russian military from the troops of the Eastern Military District (VVO), who on October 1, 2014 settled in the military camp created for them.
Nature
The flora of Wrangel Island has no analogues in the Arctic in terms of its richness and level of endemism. To date, 417 species and subspecies of vascular plants have been identified in the reserve. This is more than is known for the entire Canadian Arctic Archipelago and is 2-2.5 times higher than the number of species in other Arctic tundra areas of similar size. About 3% of the flora of Wrangel Island are subendemic species. Among the vascular plants, 23 taxa are endemic to the island. In terms of the number of endemics, Wrangel Island has no equal among the Arctic islands, including Greenland. A number of endemic plants (Oxytropis ushakovii, Papaver multiradiatum, and Papaver chionophilum) are common on the island. Endemic species also include a variety of beskilnitsa, a subspecies of the Lapland poppy, poppies Gorodkov and Ushakov, Potentilla Wrangel. The number of known species of mosses (331) and lichens (310) on Wrangel Island also exceeds other areas in the Arctic tundra subzone.
Sedge-moss tundras predominate, the middle and lower belts of the mountains are occupied by grass-lichen and shrub-forb tundras. There are swamps with the participation of sphagnum, low and creeping willow thickets along the ground. In the upper belts of mountains there are extensive stony placers.
Natural conditions do not favor the richness of the fauna.
There are absolutely no amphibians and reptiles in the reserve; fish (cod, capelin and some others) can only be seen in coastal waters. But on the island there are 169 species of birds, most of which are vagrant, nesting is registered for 62 species, of which 44 species nest regularly on the islands, including 8 species of seabirds. For example: gulls, guillemots, etc. Among the birds, we must first of all mention the white goose, which forms its only large autonomous nesting colony of several tens of thousands of pairs that has survived in Russia and Asia. Black geese regularly nest (moreover, thousands of non-breeding geese come here to molt from mainland Chukotka and Alaska), common eider and comb eider, Siberian eider, pintails and sandpipers in very small numbers. On the steep sea shores there are bird colonies, numbering in the 60s, according to famous researcher North S. M. Uspensky, 50-100 thousand thick-billed guillemots, 30-40 thousand kittiwakes, 3 thousand cormorants. V. V. Dezhkin in the book “In the world of protected nature”, published in 1989, writes “Now there are fewer of these birds”, and on the official website of the reserve, the total number of seabird colonies is estimated at 250-300 thousand nesting individuals.
The basis of the bird population is tundra species, most of which have circumpolar ranges and are common to all arctic tundras. These are Lapland plantain, snow bunting, tules, turnstone, Icelandic sandpiper and a number of other species. At the same time, there are cases of nesting of species uncharacteristic for the Arctic, such as turukhtan, red-throated sandpiper, ipatka and puffin, talovka warbler, for which Wrangel Island is the northernmost nesting point. Ipatka in recent years began to nest on the colonies of seabirds of Wrangel Island regularly and its numbers are growing.
The world of mammals is poorer, and its most typical representatives are the Siberian lemming and Vinogradov's lemming, which in the years of high abundance are of great importance in the ecosystems of the reserve. Arctic fox, ermine, wolverine, feral reindeer, wolves live, red foxes wander. But the most eminent inhabitant of both islands is the polar bear. The Wrangel and Herald Islands are known as the world's largest concentration of polar bear birth dens. V. V. Dezhkin writes: “In some years, up to 200-250 she-bears were set up in the reserve.” On the website of the reserve there is information that “from 300 to 500 she-bears annually lie in dens on the islands. Approximately 100 ancestral lairs of this number are arranged on a small about. Gerald". In the spring, with slightly stronger offspring, they embark on a journey through the expanses of the Arctic.
Ungulates are represented in the reserve by two species - reindeer and musk ox. Reindeer were brought to Wrangel Island in the late 1940s and early 1950s: domestic reindeer were brought in two batches from the coast of Chukotka. At present, they represent a unique in history and biological characteristics of the island population of feral reindeer, the number of which in certain periods reached 9-10 thousand individuals. In 1975, a year before the establishment of the reserve, 20 musk oxen were brought to Wrangel Island, caught on american island Nunivak. The period of adaptation of musk oxen on the island and their development of the entire territory passed with difficulties and was extended for several years, after which the survival of the original herd was no longer in doubt and the population began to grow rapidly. At present, the number of musk oxen on the island is about 800-900 individuals, according to the situation in the autumn of 2007 - perhaps up to 1000. According to paleontological data, both species of ungulates lived on the territory of Wrangel Island in the late Pleistocene, and reindeer and much later - only 2 -3 thousand years ago.
Finally, walruses, the most interesting and valuable marine animals, haul out on the coasts of the reserve. Their protection and study are the task of local scientists. The Pacific walrus lives here, for which this water area is the most important summer feeding area. In certain years, in the summer-autumn period - from July to the end of September-beginning of October - most of the females and young of the entire population accumulate near the islands. Walruses stay at the ice edge and prefer to crawl out to rest on ice floes, as long as they are in the water area. When the ice disappears near the most forage shallow areas, walruses approach the islands and form the largest coastal rookeries in the Chukchi Sea on certain spits. At the same time, up to 70-80 thousand animals were recorded at the coastal haulouts of walruses on Wrangel Island, and, taking into account the animals swimming in the water, up to 130 thousand walruses gathered here. For wintering, walruses migrate to the Bering Sea.
Throughout the year, ringed seals and bearded seals are common in coastal waters. The ringed seal is the main food for polar bears during all year round, providing a complete predator life cycle.
In the summer-autumn period, the water area adjacent to the Wrangel and Herald Islands— area of feeding and migration of cetaceans. The gray whale is the most numerous here. In recent years, the number of gray whales in the summer-autumn period off the coast of Wrangel Island has increased markedly. Every year, large herds of beluga whales pass along the coast of Wrangel Island on their autumn migration. According to satellite tagging data, it was found that beluga whales approach Wrangel Island in autumn, which gather to give birth in the Mackenzie River Delta (Canada).
Map of Wrangel Island.
Wrangel Island is a fairly large island located almost at the junction of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas of the North Sea. Arctic Ocean, remote to the northwest from the Chukotka Peninsula by the Long Strait, noticeably 150 kilometers away. The island was named after the American whaler Thomas Long in honor of the Russian statesman and traveler Wrangel Ferdinand Petrovich. Local residents - the Chukchi called the island Umkilir, which in Russian means "island of polar bears."
The total area of the island exceeds 7600 square kilometers.
Wrangel Island is territorially part of the Iultinsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and is subject to the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
Photograph of Wrangel Island from space.
Story.
According to archaeologists, ancient people, namely the Paleo-Eskimo tribes, appeared on the island more than 1700 BC. Most likely, they did not have settled settlements on the island, and visited it only for the purpose of hunting.
At the beginning of 1849, the British explorer Henry Kellett, who had previously discovered, in the Chukchi Sea, an island unknown to Europeans was discovered in the Chukchi Sea, which he called Kellett Land.
In the middle of 1866, the first European landed on this island - the German captain Eduard Dallmann, who traded with the inhabitants of Chukotka and Alaska.
In August 1867, the captain of the American whaling expedition, Thomas Long, having no information about the discovery of Kellett, gave him the name in honor of Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, who had been looking for this island for a long time, but never found it.
In the summer of 1879, not far from Wrangel Island, the route of the polar American expedition of George Washington De Long was laid, who tried to reach the North Pole on the schooner Jeannette. Naturally, this expedition ended unsuccessfully, and in June 1881, the Thomas Corwin steam cutter was sent to search for it under the command of Calvin Hooper, who landed on Wrangel Island and, raising the US state flag over it, proclaimed it the territory of this state.
In early September 1911, members of the crew of the Russian icebreaker Vaigach landed on Wrangel Island, carried out a hydrographic survey of the island and raised the Russian flag over it.
Typical landscape of Wrangel Island.
In the autumn of 1913, members of the Canadian Arctic expedition landed on Wrangel Island, following on the Karluk brigantine, which was jammed with ice near the island. Several people from the expedition died, the survivors were rescued only in September 1914 by the Canadian schooner King and Wing.
Canadian polar explorer Viljalmur Stefanson founded settlements on the island in 1921, while declaring it a territorial property of Great Britain. The settlement with varying success existed on the island until July 20, 1924. It was on this day that it was practically forcibly evacuated by the Soviet gunboat "Red October", whose task was to liquidate the settler camp and assert the jurisdiction of the USSR on the island.
In August 1926, under the command of the Soviet polar explorer G. A. Ushakov, a polar station was founded on Wrangel Island, at which 59 people lived at that time.
In September 1928, an expedition from the Soviet icebreaker Litke landed on Wrangel Island. The expedition at that time included the outstanding Ukrainian prose writer and journalist Mykola Trublaini (Mykola Trublaini), who colorfully described Wrangel Island in several of his works, in particular “To the Arctic - through the tropics”.
In 1960, according to the decision of the Magadan Regional Executive Committee, a long-term reserve was founded on Wrangel Island, which in 1968 was transformed into a reserve with republican significance.
At the beginning of 1992, a radar station was liquidated on Wrangel Island, while only one remained on the island. locality- the village of Ushakovsky, which by the end of 2003 was also empty.
West coast of Wrangel Island in spring.
Origin and geography of the island.
Wrangel Island is significant in area, so its geographical coordinates It is customary to determine the geographical center, namely: 71 ° 14′ N. sh. 179°24′ W d.
The coastline of Wrangel Island in the south is quite flat, but it forms several bays and bays, the Yuzhny and Krasina bays are among the largest. In the north, the coastline forms several spits and peninsulas. The Adrianov and Bruch spit are considered the largest, and the Mushtakov spit with the island of Nakhodka form the largest bay in the north of the island - Pestsovaya Bay.
The relief of Wrangel Island is quite diverse. In the north of the island, the Tundra Academy lowland extends. Low is and South coast islands. But closer to the center, the low-lying terrain turns into small mountains and plateaus. Among the mountain ranges of Wrangel Island, the Central Mountains, the Evsifeev Mountains, the Unnamed and northern mountains, as well as the Eastern and Western plateaus. highest point Islands is Mount Sovetskaya, located in the Central Mountains, reaching a height of 1096 meters above sea level.
Concerning the origin of the island, disputes still do not subside. According to one version, the island should be classified as tectonic, according to the second - to islands of continental origin.
The geological structure of Wrangel Island consists mostly of basalts and granites interspersed with quartzites. Of the minerals, small deposits of coal and marble have been explored here, the development of which is extremely unprofitable due to the removal of the island and climatic conditions.
There are a lot of rivers and lakes on Wrangel Island. The largest rivers of the island along their length are Mamontovaya and Kler. The lakes of Wrangel Island, by their origin, are mostly classified as glacial, the largest of them are lakes Kmo, Gagachie, Komsomol and Zapovednoe.
Mountainous areas of Wrangel Island in winter.
Climate.
The climate on Wrangel Island is quite severe and very typical for the Arctic latitudes. For most of the year, masses of arctic cold dry air pass over the island. In summer sometimes from the side Pacific Ocean more humid and warm air. Less frequently, dry and moderately heated air masses come from Eastern Siberia.
Winters on the island are long and are characterized by rather frosty weather, associated with strong and gusty northern winds. The average air temperature in January is about -22 -25 °C, the coldest months are February and March. At this time, the temperature can even drop to -30 -35 °C, accompanied by frequent and strong snowstorms with strong and gusty winds of 40 meters per second and above.
Summer on the island is quite cool with frequent frosts and snowfalls. July is considered the warmest month of the year. In this period average temperature air averages +2 °C to +4 °C. AT mountainous areas islands, protected from piercing winds, the climate is a little warmer and drier.
The average relative humidity on the island is about 83 percent, and the annual amount of precipitation in the form of snow, light rain and drizzle is about 135 millimeters.
Panorama from the sea to the deserted village of Ushakovsky.
Population.
Wrangel Island is currently uninhabited. The last inhabitant of the island, who lived in the village of Ushakovsky, was eaten by a polar bear at the end of 2003.
During the Soviet Union, several settlements were founded on the island, the largest of which was the village of Ushakovsky. At the beginning of 1980, about two hundred people lived in Ushakovsky, among whom were meteorologists, geologists, research scientists, fishermen, military and border guards. Local authorities functioned here, a small boarding school, Kindergarten, boiler room, post office, hospital, shops, local cinema club, and even a natural history museum. For a long time, the Rogers Bay polar station and the Rogers airport operated here, where planes and helicopters AN-2, MI-6, MI-2 and MI-8 could land. It is noteworthy that in the houses local residents there was electricity from a small diesel power plant.
During the 90s of the last century, the island was deserted. All polar government programs were curtailed, and people began to be taken to the continent.
In 1987, a book by the famous Russian political prisoner Moshinsky was published, in which for some reason he talks about a correctional camp on Wrangel Island. The fact is that there have never been correctional institutions on the territory of the island, if only because it is almost impossible to deliver special contingent here.
Polar bears against the backdrop of the foothills of the Central Mountains of Wrangel Island.
Flora and fauna.
The vegetation of Wrangel Island is very characteristic of these geographic and climatic places classified as arctic deserts. In addition to mosses and lichens, a fairly large number of vascular herbaceous plants are found here, among which 135 are classified as rare. Many endemic (Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's bluegrass, Lapland's poppy and Wrangel's cinquefoil) and sub-emdemic (Gorodkov's poppy, beskilnitsa, Wrangel's hollywort) plants also grow here. Small shrubs grow in the midlands of the central part of the island, among which a certain amount of Richardson's willow stands out.
The fauna of the island is unusually rich and diverse from insects to large mammals, despite the severity of the climate.
Insects are represented by several species of bumblebees, mosquitoes, butterflies, flies and gadflies.
More than 20 species of polar birds regularly nest on Wrangel Island, and about 20 more species fly here to nest from other places. Among the permanent inhabitants of the island are white geese, Icelandic sandpipers, eiders, tules, fork-tailed gulls, burgomasters, snowy owls and long-tailed skuas. Among the vagrant birds, we should highlight sandhill cranes, as well as Canada geese and American small passerines - finches.
Among the mammals of the island, Vinogradov's lemming, which in these places is considered emdemic, the Siberian lemming and the arctic fox, should be distinguished. The polar bear lives here in significant numbers, the population of which has grown especially recently, wolves, ermines, wolverines, and foxes are also found here, as well as feral dogs that people brought here as sled dogs. In Soviet times, reindeer and musk ox were brought to Wrangel Island. Currently, their population has grown significantly. In the coastal areas of the island, seals and walruses arrange their rookeries, the population of which is the largest in the Russian Arctic.
There were no fish in the rivers and lakes of the island before because of their shallow water, but recently there have been facts of entry into the rivers for spawning of a large number of salmon, including pink salmon and chum salmon.
Vegetation of Wrangel Island in the month of July.
Tourism.
Tourism is a word alien to Wrangel Island. Until recently, the island remained forgotten by the Russian authorities, and only in August 2011, the polar ship Mikhail Somov approached it, which landed an expedition on the island to clean the coast of the island from barrels of spent fuel. Perhaps this is the first step in the revival of the former infrastructure of the island after many years of neglect.
Eastern coast of Wrangel Island.
So called Wrangel Island L.V. Gromov, one of the first geologists who explored its bowels in the 1930s. During the Pleistocene epoch, which began about one million years ago, a vast landmass appeared and disappeared again several times, connecting Asia and America and called "Beringia". AT last time it existed 25 thousand years ago, during the Sartan glaciation, and disappeared again 10-12 thousand years ago, forming a modern geographical picture of the world. Beringia was the center of the formation of specific tundra-steppe landscapes and the accompanying "mammoth" fauna, typical representatives of which were the mammoth itself, as well as the woolly rhinoceros, saiga, musk ox, reindeer, cave lion and cave bear. It was here that the main path of the settlement of the primitive man of the American continent lay.
Before the beginning of the polar night. Spit Doubtful, November 1997
Wrangel Island thanks to its geographic location and relief features most fully preserved some features of the ancient Beringian landscape. In the center of the island there are many relic sites of tundra-steppe vegetation. A number of plants and insects, as well as some species of birds living on the island, are more characteristic of the tundra. North America than for our Asian north. Among them are real relics of the Pleistocene, which today are not found anywhere except Wrangel Island. Of the plants, these are the Wrangel bison, the one-flowered arthropod, Wrangel's cinquefoil, and of the insects, the weevil beetle rinchenus. On the island, the remains of many Pleistocene animals that lived here were found: rhinos, musk oxen, wild horses, reindeer, primitive bison, and, of course, mammoths, whose tusks and teeth lie in abundance in river channels and stick out of coastal cliffs. The most recent sensational discovery is also connected with mammoths - on Wrangel Island they outlived their mainland counterparts by 7-8 millennia and died out only 3.5 thousand years ago, during the heyday of Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations, a little short of our era! In truth, Wrangel Island is one of the last " lost worlds" on the ground.
highest peak Wrangel Island Mount Sovetskaya. April 1999 "Snowstorm Island"
This definition belongs to G.A. Ushakov, head of the first Soviet settlement on Wrangel Island. Indeed, the island is considered to be one of the windiest places on the globe. The speed of a hurricane "boron" in the area of Rogers Bay can reach 40 or more meters per second. Completely windless days on the island are the greatest rarity. Even if there is calm in one place, then a strong wind can blow in any of the many mountain canyons. Sometimes the boundary between the calm and the windy zone is so pronounced that it is possible to go from blizzard to calm and back to blizzard with a few steps.
mountain range Dream Head is one of the main "maternity hospitals" for polar bears. April 1999 Due to its size (145 kilometers long and 83 kilometers wide) and diverse relief (from the vast coastal plains to the Central Mountains with peaks more than a kilometer above sea level), Wrangel Island has a peculiar climate that distinguishes it from most Arctic islands. The influence of the sea affects the coast, and in winter it is not too cold here (-25 - 30 ° C), but the average temperature of the hottest month - July, varies from only 1.5 to 3.5 ° C. At the same time, the central part of the island , surrounded by mountains, has a pronounced continental climate: in summer, intermountain basins warm up to 8-10 ° C, and even over 20 ° C, while in winter there are regular frosts down to -40 -50 ° C. Simply put, Wrangel Island - a real little "mainland"!
Sunset over Mount Atterton. September 1994 "Island of Discord"
The village of Ushakovskoye in September 1989 This name was given to Wrangel Island by William McKinley, using a bitter play on words: Wrangel (Wrangel) and Wrangle (quarrel, discord). McKinley was the meteorologist for the Canadian Arctic Expedition aboard the Karluk. The ship received a hole and sank in January 1914. Part of the team crossed the ice to Herald Island, where they died. The rest of the people (17 people) went to the northern coast of Wrangel Island, losing four more along the way. Captain Bartlett, accompanied by one of the Eskimos, crossed the ice of the Long Strait on foot, reached Providence Bay through the whole of Chukotka, from there on a random ship moved to Alaska and returned in September of the same year at the head of a rescue expedition. Bartlett accomplished an unparalleled feat that will forever remain in the Arctic tablets.
The first "Robinsonade" on the island was accompanied by fear and despair. People did not trust each other, hid food from prying eyes, and often quarreled. Two people died of inflammation of the kidneys, one shot himself, another went mad. The survivors remembered Wrangel Island only as a nightmarish, hellish place...
The history of the island was strange and bizarre. Those who wanted to find him, who overcame many obstacles on the way to him, could not even see him. And the discovery and the first studies of it were made along the way, between times, and both happened during the search for the dead expeditions ... The island changed one name after another: Doubtful Island, Tikegen Land, Kellet Land, New Columbia, and, finally, the island Wrangel… Changed the state flags: English, American, Canadian, Russian, Soviet, and, finally, Russian… Became an arena for political and human passions, tragic events that were destined to play a role in the history of Russia, and indeed the whole world.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries, Russian explorers and Cossacks often reported on unknown lands located not far from the Chukchi coast. Most often, the American continent was meant, but among the descriptions and sketches of that time one can also catch hints of Wrangel Island. The first cartographic image of the island is considered to be a drawing by the Yakut clerk Ivan Lvov, made in 1710-1714. Probably, taking this drawing as a basis, Mikhail Lomonosov himself very accurately indicated the location of a certain “Doubtful Island” in 1763 on his map. At that time, there were many reports of lands lying north of Chukotka, so the search for Wrangel Island was intricately intertwined with the discovery of the Bear Islands at the mouth of the Kolyma, as well as with the search for the mythical lands of Sannikov and Sergeant Andreev. Finally, in 1821-1823. several sleigh trips on the ice in the East Siberian Sea were made by Fleet Lieutenant F.P. Wrangel, who collected the most accurate information about the location of the island from the words of the Chukchi who lived in the vicinity of Cape Shelagsky. During the third campaign from the Aachim Peninsula, Wrangel reached the latitude of the island and was some 100 km from it. West Bank when a huge hole blocked his path. From high hummocks he tried to see the ground, but in vain. Wrangel did not see the land, later named after him. If he had taken a direction to the northeast, he would have come to the area of Cape Blossom and discovered his island, but fate decided otherwise ...
Islanders. There is an Eskimo Yuri Alpaun,
sitting Chukchi Grigory Kaurgin.
Krasin Bay, August 1990
After 26 years, the sailor of the English ship "Herald" under the command of Captain Kellet, cruising in the Chukchi Sea in search of the missing expedition of John Franklin, was the first European to see the mountains of Wrangel Island. On the same day, Herald Island was discovered 60 km to the northeast. For the first time, the American whaling barque "Nile" of Captain T. Long approached the coastline of Wrangel Island in 1867, after whom the strait between the island and the mainland was named. In 1879, the Jeannette, jammed with ice, drifted past Wrangel Island, the crew of which later died on the Yakut coast. The search for this disappeared expedition in 1881 led to Wrangel Island at once two American ships "Thomas Corvin" and "Rogers", commanded by Captains Hooper and Berry. It is these navigators who have the priority of the first explorers of the island, and the English names of capes, rivers and mountains are still largely preserved on the map, having survived the Soviet era.
The development of the island was accompanied by no less tragic events, and it happened as a result of another strife. Friction arose between the USSR and Canada, which in those years was a British dominion. Here is how it was. Until 1924, Russian ships made only three attempts to reach Wrangel Island. In 1876, the clipper ship Horseman failed due to heavy ice blocking her path. In 1911, members of the famous hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean landed on the southwestern coast of the island from the Vaigach icebreaker. Again, the Vaigach tried to break through the ice to the island in 1914 to save the crew of the Karluk, but broke the screw and retreated.
However, the "Robinsonade" of 1914 attracted the attention of the famous Canadian polar explorer Vilyalmur Stefanson, the head of the expedition, which included the Karluk, to Wrangel Island. He believed that Canada, and with it the British Empire, could claim the Wrangel and Herald Islands, despite the Russian note of 1916, which secured the ownership of these islands by Russia. In 1921, Stefanson sent a five-man detachment under the leadership of Alan Crawford to the island to explore and establish a fishing base that would allow Canada to declare hitherto desert island with their property. And again - a tragedy! In the autumn of 1923, when the ship "Donaldson" came to take out Crawford's party, it turned out that there was practically no one to take. All Europeans, including the chief, died, only the Eskimo Ada Blackjack survived. Nevertheless, another shift was landed on the island - 13 Eskimos, led by the former hairdresser Wells. The attempts of Canadians to colonize Wrangel Island became known in Moscow. In 1924, she was sent to the island gunboat"Red October" under the command of B.V. Davydov. The Canadian colonists were removed from the island, Wells died of pneumonia upon arrival in Vladivostok, and the Eskimos were sent to Alaska.
But the end was not put on this. In the same 1924, having enlisted the support of the United States government, businessman Karl Loman, the founder of domestic reindeer breeding in Alaska, equipped 3 ships at once on Wrangel Island. This campaign ended in failure, only the ship "Herman" reached the island of Herald. A Soviet-American confrontation over Wrangel Island was avoided.
Finally, in 1926, a Soviet settlement of 51 Eskimos and 9 Russians was founded on the island in Rogers Bay, headed by the first "chief of the island" G.A. Ushakov (who was later the first explorer of Severnaya Zemlya, the head of the high-latitude expedition on the steamer Sadko and the head of the Main Directorate for Hydrometeorology under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and then worked for many years at the Academy of Sciences). The village that grew up on this site was named Ushakovsky, in honor of its founder. Now no one raised the question of the nationality of the Wrangel and Herald Islands. However, as recently as 1986, the US Senate considered the application of the state of Alaska for the rights to these islands ...
Many more tragic events have seen Wrangel Island in its lifetime: the crash of the Chelyuskin, which was trying to bring a team of winterers to the island; famine and epidemic among the Eskimos in the winter of 1934-1935, when 12 people died; textbook "murder case" of doctor N.L. Wolfson, thanks to which the "star" of the investigator and writer L.R. Sheinin and the notorious public prosecutor A.Ya. Vyshinsky; the first "enemies of the people" shot in the Soviet Arctic: the head of the polar station Semenchuk and the musher Startsev... And later there were enough ridiculous deaths and mutual insults. "Island of Discord" was and remains a severe examiner of a person for humanity.
"Polar Bear Maternity Hospital"
Polar bear footprints in the Dream Head mountains. March 1999
So called Wrangel Island zoologists S.M. Uspensky and F.B. Chernyavsky, whose names are associated with the first detailed studies of the ecology of the polar bear in the Chukchi Sea. The phrase has taken root among journalists and popularizers, and it is really based on an indisputable fact: the Wrangel and Herald Islands are the breeding grounds around? all she-bears of the Chukchi-Alaska population. Every year there are from 200 to 400, and sometimes more than 500 birth lairs. On some convenient snowy slopes, their density reaches the highest values in the entire Arctic - up to 4-5 per square kilometer. Such an abundance of lairs is facilitated by the seclusion of the islands and the ice conditions around them. At the end of summer and autumn, the southern edge of the ice passes nearby, on which, in large numbers concentration of polar bears. In September-October, pregnant bears in search of a place for a lair go to the nearest land - the Wrangel and Herald Islands. Bear cubs are born in December, and already in March and April, bear families leave for the ice.
The teddy bear is playing. Scythe Doubtful, September 1991
The island is not only the main breeding ground for polar bears. These largest predators of the planet are common here throughout the year. Especially a lot of bears can be seen on the coast at the end of summer and autumn in those years when the Chukchi Sea is completely clear of ice. During this period, bears usually concentrate on capes and spits protruding into the sea, where walrus rookeries are located. A bear cannot catch an adult walrus, so predators try to catch small walrus cubs. The most experienced hunters resort to the safest and most lucrative way: they scare away the walruses, which in a panic begin to descend into the water, inflicting serious injuries on each other. Many, sometimes more than a hundred, suppressed walruses remain on the shore. Up to one and a half to two hundred white predators gather for a grand feast. The bears eat to their heart's content, sleep off, explore the surroundings, make acquaintances, play for a long time in the snow drifts. Such a carefree life continues until the supply of meat runs out ...
The bears feed on the carcasses of dead walruses. Spit Doubtful, October 1996
For polar bears, Wrangel Island is not only a "maternity hospital", but also a "restaurant" and a "club" for communication, in some way - a bearish "capital".
"Arctic Treasure Island"
This name was given to his book about Wrangel Island by the same zoologist F.B. Chernyavsky. For a scientist-naturalist, the island is, without any exaggeration, a real treasure trove. Among other Arctic territories, there is not one that could compete with Wrangel Island in terms of the diversity of plant and animal species. There are more than 400 species and subspecies of vascular plants alone, which is twice as many as any island and archipelago in the Arctic. The fauna of insects and other arthropods is no less rich. There are 169 species of birds on the island, of which 56 are nesting (this is one and a half times more than in other Arctic tundras). In terms of the number of species of marine and terrestrial mammals, Wrangel Island also stands out among other Arctic islands.
A group of walruses gets out on an ice floe. Krasin Bay, September 1994 Wrangel Island is a "maternity hospital" not only for polar bears, but also for some other mammals and birds. The density of brood Norpes and snowy owl nests is much higher here than in other regions of Chukotka. Reproduction of arctic foxes and owls is usually highly dependent on the abundance of rodents: mice and lemmings. On Wrangel Island, these predators can also feed on a large number of nesting birds, so they breed well even in years with a low number of lemmings. In "fruitful" years for lemmings, the density of owl nests reaches 2-3 per square kilometer, and fox burrows - 20 or more per 100 square kilometers. In Chukotka, owl nests and arctic fox burrows are comparatively rare. Wrangel Island is home to the largest breeding center for seabirds in the Eastern Arctic - "bird markets" at Cape Waring and the cape, which is called the Bird Market.
Fawn. Cape Blossom, May 1997 And, of course, one cannot help but recall the only large colony of white geese in Eurasia in the valley of the Tundrovaya River. Pacific walruses breed in the Bering Sea but migrate to Arctic waters in summer, forming aggregations on the ice edge. In some years, two-thirds of the entire Pacific walrus population gathers in the area of Wrangel Island, and the main part of the animals are females and young animals. Therefore, the island can be deservedly called a walrus nursery. In addition to the walrus, ringed seals, bearded seals (sea hare) live in coastal waters, beluga whales, gray and bowhead whales, fin whales and minke whales regularly appear in coastal waters. In 1975, musk oxen were brought to the island from Alaska, which took root perfectly and reached a population of over six hundred heads. My friend, the French naturalist Pierre Vakulon, visited different Arctic regions, but, having visited Wrangel Island twice, he said that he had never seen such a concentration of polar exotics on such a limited area. It is not surprising that in 1976 the first Arctic reserve in Russia was formed here, which still exists today.
"Pearl of the Arctic"
Arrival of white geese in the valley of the river Tundrovaya. May 1997 This capacious definition of Wrangel Island, quickly picked up by journalists, belongs to the biologist Yu.A. Gerasimov. I don't think it's necessary to prove the legitimacy of this name. The island combines the standard of Arctic nature and a number of unique features that distinguish it from other polar territories. And the exciting story of search, discovery and development brightens its "pearl" brilliance.
Arctic foxes during the rut. Valley of the Gnomes, March 1999 I had the opportunity to live and work on Wrangel Island for more than ten years, to witness the flourishing of human activity and witness its gradual decline. In the late 1980s there were more than 200 inhabitants on the island: military men, polar explorers and, of course, employees of the reserve, who lived and worked in the village of Ushakovsky on the shores of Rogers Bay. The economic crisis in the country could not but affect the fate of this most isolated village in Chukotka. During the 1990s communication with the mainland became more and more problematic, for almost ten years fuel and lubricants, building materials and coal were not imported to the island. Stocks of products accumulated in warehouses in 1991-1992. were taken from the island for their quick and profitable sale. Already in the mid-1990s. due to the high cost of flying time and frequent breakdowns of an old helicopter based in the village of Cape Schmidt, long interruptions in supply began to occur in Ushakovsky. I remember the period when there was no flour on the island for several months, and the inhabitants baked semolina cakes. The absence of sugar and cigarettes was simply chronic, not to mention canned food. For several years, the main food of the islanders was venison, since wild reindeer were shot annually. A few years later, there were interruptions with this product due to a shortage of ammunition. The post office, shop, kindergarten and school were closed in the mid-1990s. People gradually left the island. In 1997, the doctor left, which was a big blow to the remaining residents, especially those who had children. The office of the reserve moved first to the regional center Cape Schmidt, then to Pevek. People born and raised on the island were taken there as well. In 1999, I left Wrangel Island and I ...
Vyuchny Brook, June 1992
In 2002, the family of Lev Nanaun, the son of one of the first settlers who arrived with G.A., left the island. Ushakov in 1926. Now only two permanent residents remain on the island - inspectors of the reserve. Four more people work at the polar station. The reserve's researchers live in Moscow and St. Petersburg, visiting the island only during the short field season. So sadly ended the history of the village of Ushakovsky, another page in the amazing chronicle of Wrangel Island ...
But maybe it's not all that bad after all? After all, the history of Wrangel Island itself does not end there. Unique nature will do just fine without the man who at first inflicted great damage on her, and only during the last 30 years tried to do her justice. The last reason for optimism: in 2004, Wrangel Island, together with the adjacent water area, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The “Pearl of the Arctic” continues to sparkle in the crown of polar ice…
