The Franz Josef Land archipelago was declared Soviet territory 90 years ago, in 1926. Mikhail Lomonosov suspected its existence, but the Austro-Hungarian expedition was the first to land on this shore. At that time, many believed that Franz Josef Land extended to the North Pole. Lenta.ru tells about the history of this geographical discovery and the struggle for the archipelago.

Franz Josef Land is an archipelago of almost two hundred islands. The closest place to the North Pole is from Rudolf Island - less than 900 kilometers. Cape Fligeli on this island is the northernmost point of Russia. Most of the archipelago is located north of the 80th parallel. It is very cold here, the average annual temperature is minus 12 degrees Celsius.

Summer is very short. The air warms up to a maximum of plus 12 degrees Celsius. The vegetation is the simplest - mosses, lichens, polar willow. Harsh conditions and permafrost do not allow a person to stay on the archipelago for a long time without external support. In particular, this is what caused the discovery of Franz Josef Land so late.

Lomonosov spoke about the possibility of the existence of land east of the Spitsbergen archipelago. Unfortunately, the attempts of Russian sailors to reach an unknown land in the 18th century were not crowned with success. Impassable ice got in the way.

In 1865, a hundred years after Lomonosov's death, naval lieutenant and future vice admiral Nikolai Schilling, based on an analysis of ice drift between Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen, returned to the issue of the islands east of Spitsbergen. The geographer Pyotr Kropotkin drew attention to the research and asked the government to allocate funds for the expedition. The tsarist authorities did not support the initiative of the anarcho-communist theorist.

Foreign researchers were also interested in the Arctic. In the summer of 1872, Austro-Hungarian lieutenants Julius Payer and Karl Weyprecht on the sailing-steam ship Admiral Tegetgoff, trying to find a northern route from the Barents Sea to the Bering Sea, fell into an ice trap near Novaya Zemlya. After drifting for a whole year, on August 30, 1873, they found themselves at the archipelago. They named its northernmost island in honor of the son of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Joseph I.

“We were brought here by chance,” Payer admitted. Together with Weyprecht, he explored new territories for two years and compiled the first map. Having again fallen into an ice trap, the sailors left the Admiral Tegetgoff and reached Novaya Zemlya by boat. Local Pomors escorted them to Norway. Payer and Weyprecht were skeptical about the practical benefits of the lands they discovered and never returned to them. They were the first to erroneously indicate that Franz Josef Land extends all the way to the North Pole.

The Dutch landed on the archipelago in 1879, and the Scots in 1881. Since 1884, the islands were explored by the Englishman Frederick Jackson. In 1895, the Norwegians Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen visited the archipelago on their way to the North Pole. Later, also in the hope of reaching the extreme northern point of the planet, the Americans set foot on Franz Josef Land.

The Russians reached the archipelago only in 1901, on the first Russian icebreaker Ermak. The team of Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov raised the Russian flag over the islands. In 1913, the expedition of Georgy Sedov reached the archipelago, which, unfortunately, was not successful. The following year, Ishak Islyamov went in search of her and also planted a Russian flag on Franz Josef Land.

It was Islyamov who first declared that the archipelago belonged to the Russian Empire. A future participant in the white movement, he proposed renaming the islands to the Land of the Romanovs. But soon the empire collapsed. Destiny northern islands It was the Soviet government that decided. On April 15, 1926, the USSR Central Executive Committee issued a decree that all Arctic islands adjacent to the country’s land borders are also part of it.

Photo: Vladimir Baranov / RIA Novosti

The decree was brought to the attention of the leading powers, but the USSR was not yet recognized. Italy and Norway claimed the islands. The Scandinavians planned to install a radio station on Franz Josef Land. However, the harsh northern conditions did not allow them to do this. Four ships sent on an expedition in 1929 were trapped in ice. Their helpless drift was observed by the Soviet polar expedition on the icebreaker Sedov.

A year later, the Norwegians tried again, but were ordered to leave Soviet waters. Having disembarked from the ship "Sedov", the author of the cosmogonic hypothesis and the head of the Main Northern Sea Route, Otto Schmidt, planted a Soviet flag made of iron on Cape Flora of the Yuri Kuchiev Island. “By virtue of the powers given to me, I declare Franz Josef Land to be the territory of the USSR!” - said the future academician Schmidt.

The development of Franz Josef Land requires great effort and continuous presence on the territory of the archipelago. A hundred years ago, very few countries could afford this. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia reduced its activity on the islands. Nevertheless, it is there that the world’s northernmost post office “Arkhangelsk 163100” and the border post “Nagurskoye” are located, as well as polar stations and a geophysical laboratory.

The famous Lomonosov predicted the existence of these islands, and after him Kropotkin spoke about it. Even in 1871, he proposed his own expedition project to the Russian Geographical Society, but the government did not provide him with the necessary funds. Therefore, the archipelago was discovered by chance during the Austrian expedition of Julius Payer and Karl Weyprecht. This happened in 1872. Only two years later, scientists compiled a map of the vast archipelago. The newly discovered land was named by Austrian travelers after the Austrian emperor. Where is it located?

The Franz Josef Land region is part of a small natural area, which is also called the polar desert zone, they have a small area. For example, on Hayes Island there is a meteorological station called the Krenkel Observatory; it is considered the northernmost on the planet. Franz Josef Land has a typically arctic climate. In summer, the average temperature reaches from 1.2 to 1.6 degrees. But in January, the average temperature drops to -24 degrees, although drops of up to -52 degrees occur.

Features of Franz Josef Land

The Franz Josef Land archipelago includes a total of 191 islands. The largest islands include: George Land, Alexandra Land, Graham Bell and Wilczek Land. It is believed that these islands began to form over 410 million years ago. Deep straits separate the islands from each other. They are characterized by constant strong currents; in a short time, algae clog the narrow passage between the ice and the islands. As a result, ships cannot pass through. Note that Franz Josef Land is approximately 85 percent glaciers. Therefore, there is almost no vegetation on the islands. You can only see lichens and mosses, although there are over 250 species of them here. What hotels in . Choose for yourself.

Since the archipelago is so lifeless, it is often called the lunar archipelago. As for the fauna, there are many animals here. The inhabitants of the islands include arctic foxes, polar bears and others. The local reservoirs are inhabited by: bearded seal, seal, beluga whale, narwhal, walrus, and Greenland walrus. According to eyewitnesses, polar bears calmly walk next to the side of the icebreaker, standing on their hind legs, they carefully examine people. It's an interesting sight. The feathered inhabitants of the islands of Franz Josef Land include: guillemots, kittiwakes, little auks, white gulls, guillemots and glaucous guillemots. On multi-meter rocks and cliffs, they gather in unique bird colonies.

After the first expedition of Austrian travelers, expeditions from other major countries of the world began to arrive on this land. Therefore, the feet of the British, Norwegians, Russians, Americans, Germans, Italians and Poles set foot on the islands. Over the decades, Franz Josef Land has become a place of interesting, sometimes tragic events. It's about about the discovery of the Arctic and Northern sea ​​route. In this harsh region, many found their last refuge.

Franz Josef Land today

On this moment no one lives permanently on the archipelago. There are also no settlements or municipalities here. The temporary population consists of: scientists working at research stations, as well as military personnel of the air defense unit and FSB border guards. These specialists are engaged in Russian missile defense. In 2005, a post office was established on Hayes Island, making it the northernmost of its kind. This post office is open for only one hour, four times a week.

When the International Geophysical Year began, scientists began to intensively study the glaciation of the archipelago. For two years, members of the Russian expedition carried out field work. They were able to obtain the first summary of the glaciology of the territory, which was published in the collective monographic work “Glaciation of Franz Joseph Land”. This publication describes the morphology of glacial complexes, ice formation zones, glacial climate, temperature regime, as well as tectonics and structure of glaciers.

Around that period, members of the expedition led by M.G. Grovald came to the conclusion that the glaciation of these islands is gradually decreasing. For example, over the past thirty years, the archipelago has lost an average of 3.3 square kilometers of ice every year. Before these works the world science community believed that the glaciation of Franz Josef Land was increasing from time to time. Today, ice thickness varies between 100-500 meters. Due to the glaciers that descend into the sea, many icebergs are formed. Quite strong glaciation can be seen in the east and southeast of the archipelago. In this case, ice formation occurs only at the tops of glacier domes. Due to the shrinking glaciers of the archipelago, in about three hundred years the glaciation of the islands may come to a minimum or disappear altogether.

Franz Josef Land is known to many from the songs of Yuri Vizbor, who traveled all over the northern seas from Murmansk to Chukotka and further across the Far East!
And it’s worth it, because Franz Josef Land (abbreviated as ZFI) breaks many Russian and world records: it is the northernmost point of the Russian island land, the closest land to the North Pole, the northernmost border post of the Russian Federation, the northernmost post office and the northernmost airfield in world, the northernmost theater of combat in the Patriotic War, the most extreme of our islands!
And this list can go on for a long time!
And, of course, the northernmost Orthodox Cross - to our heroes, explorers and travelers who, without sparing their bellies, expanded the borders of our boundless Motherland!



Geography: island point: Cape Fligeli on Rudolf Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago is located all the way to the north - 81° 49" N, the distance from Cape Fligeli to the North Pole is only 900 km.

Rudolf Island is the northernmost of the Franz Josef Land islands. Cape Fligeli on the island is the northernmost point of land, belonging to Russian Federation, at the same time the northernmost point of Europe. The island administratively belongs to the Arkhangelsk region. Area 297 km?. Almost completely covered by a glacier.

The island, like the entire Franz Josef Archipelago, was discovered in 1873 by the Austro-Hungarian expedition of explorer J. Payer, and was named after Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. In 1936, the base of the first Soviet air expedition to the North Pole was established on the island. From there, in May 1937, four heavy four-engine ANT-6 aircraft brought the Papaninites to the top of the world.

The military played a leading role in the development of many remote territories of our country. Somewhere in the Far North and Far East garrisons are still the main type settlements. True, in post-Soviet times the number of such garrisons and the population in them sharply decreased. However, our geography textbooks still do not write anything about “military” development, even in cases where it has long been no longer a secret. This is a little surprising, since for many both old-developed areas and newly developed regions, parts of various law enforcement agencies perform the functions of city-forming enterprises.

Franz Josef Land was discovered at the end of the 19th century. Austro-Hungarian expedition, which set off in 1872 in search of the Northeast Passage, and perhaps to reach the North Pole, and in 1873, pressed by ice to the shores of the hitherto known land, named after the then Emperor of Austria-Hungary*. Z.F.I., as it is usually called in the North, has an area of ​​approximately 16 thousand km2 and consists of 191 islands.

The first permanent settlement on Novaya Zemlya appeared in 1877. It is called Malye Karmakuly. In 1896, a hydrometeorological station was created in Malye Karmakuly, which exists to this day and is the oldest polar station in Russia.

Straits
The Arkhangelsk Strait passes between the Polar Pilots Peninsula and the Armitage Peninsula. South of the Arkhangelsk Strait is the Cambridge Strait, which washes the southern part of the island.

Bays and bays of Alexandra Land

Omelaya Bay
St. John's Bay
Topographers Bay (between Cape Melekhov and the western coast of the Polar Pilots Peninsula)
Dezhnev Bay
Northern Bay
Ostrovnaya Bay
Weyprecht Bay
Nordenskiöld Bay


Capes of Alexandra Land
Enumeration from the westernmost point clockwise:
Cape Mary Harmsworth
Cape Nimrod
Cape Strelka
Cape Nagursky
Cape Zamanchiviy
Cape Thomas
Cape Melekhova
Cape Dvoinoy
Cape Babushkina
Cape Ledyanoy
Cape Abrosimov
Cape Finger
Cape Ludlova
Cape Lofley

mid-polar summer in the Polar Region

LAND OF VILČEK
Wilczek Land is an island in the Arctic Ocean, the second largest island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. Named after Hans Wilczek, who financed the Austrian expedition of Karl Weyprecht and Julius Payer that discovered the island in 1873.
Located in the eastern part of the archipelago. Separated from the western group of islands by the Austrian Strait, from the Graham Bell Island lying northeast by the Morgan Strait. The surface of the island is a plateau with relative heights of 400-600 m and is almost completely covered by a glacier. The area of ​​the island is about 2000 km², the highest point is 606 m.

Nearby small islands
9 km south of Perseus Bay lies the island of Klagenfurt, named after the Austrian city of Klagenfurt.
Close to east coast The Gorbunov Islands are located, named after the Russian naturalist Grigory Petrovich Gorbunov.
Four small islands lie 1.5 km to the southeast:
Wood
Dawes
McCulta
Tillo
Climate
The climate is harsh, arctic. On average, only 18 days with temperatures above 0 °C are recorded per year. Average annual temperature air is −12 °C, the maximum recorded temperature is +12 °C, the minimum is −42 °C. The average annual precipitation is 280 mm.

GRAHAM BELL ISLAND
Graham-Bell is the most east island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, in northern Europe. Part of the polar possessions of Russia is part of the Arkhangelsk region. Area - 1.7 thousand km².
It was discovered in 1899 during a sleigh ride by American meteorologist Evelyn Baldwin, named after Alexander Graham Bell.
The highest point is 509 meters, the Vetreny glacier dome.
The largest lake on the island is Small, the second largest is Severnoye.
The northernmost point of the island is Cape Aerosemki, the easternmost point is Cape Semerykh (Cape Peschany). The easternmost point of the island and the entire archipelago is Cape Olney, to the north of which Cape Kolzat is located; extreme southern point- Cape Leiter.
In the west there is a large bay - Matusevich Bay. In the east there is a small Ilistaya Bay with many small sandy islands.
The nearest islands are Pearl Island and Trekhluchevoy. In the west, Graham Bell is separated from the island of Wilczek Land by the Morgan Strait.

Cape Trieste, Champ Island

JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF FRANZ JOSEPH
The Franz Josef Land archipelago is not only the most remote Northern part Russia, but also, perhaps, one of the most unexplored tourist spots in the world. No, the specialists there undoubtedly worked and tried to figure out a lot of things, but for tourists this region of our country is still “Terra incognita”.
Indeed, firstly, the opportunity to visit these islands for domestic and foreign travel enthusiasts appeared literally a couple of decades ago. Secondly, you can get there either by air, for example, by helicopter, or by sea-ocean, from Murmansk, but this is far, or from Arkhangelsk - this, of course, is closer, but in both cases, tourist trips to the Polar Region region do not happen often . Thirdly, it is possible to visit them for a very limited time, about three months a year.

But there is also a fourth thing. A trip there in any acceptable way costs decent money, in other words, well, you need a lot of money, so inquisitive foreigners from different regions of the Earth, for whom such amounts are not critical, visited the archipelago significantly more than Russians, although our compatriots also went there began to get there, and the further, the more.

Miracles on the FJL are found on literally every island, but among all of them there is one very amazing piece of land. And its name is also unusual - Champ, so short, but very sonorous. It turned out that it was named after William Champ, who in 1905, being the personal secretary of the American millionaire Ziegler, went as the head rescue operation to search for the missing polar expedition, financed by the same Ziegler.

So the Arctic island named Champa is one of the most unique places on Earth - it is all strewn with strange, perfectly round stones, called “spherulites”, and they range from small, pocket-sized ones to giants with a diameter of more than two meters and weighing many tons. The nature of their origin has not yet been explained by science. We were told all this at one of the briefings, and they even showed us photographs. Very impressive photos, I must say. Imagine how we longed to go there!

It was to this unusual island that our ship rushed. And everything would have been fine, but the closer we got to the island, the denser the fog became, and the less likely it was for us to land. The main danger in such weather was bears, because the animals could approach completely silently, the fog was not a hindrance for them, and it was very difficult to organize 100% security for tourists. And examining the island in such fog is a very dubious pleasure.
It was decided that “50 Years of Victory” would stand for a while near the island of Champa, and we would all wait, suddenly the gods would be merciful and the fog would clear.
After making such a decision, tourists, in order to distract them from sad thoughts, were invited to the lecture hall for another unusual and amazing event - a Charity Auction, the northernmost of all that have ever been held in the world, all proceeds from it should go to polar bear conservation fund.

We were still a little bored, but then everyone was invited to come for dinner, and we went to the restaurant. A big surprise awaited us there - a Russian dinner, all the waitresses were dressed in Russian National costumes, on the buffet table, along with the usual salads and appetizers, lay traditional Russian products - jars of black caviar, bottles of a wide variety of vodka, which was not there: Stolichnaya, and Tsarskaya, and Five Lakes, and so on, and so forth. . There was only a Bad one, but that doesn’t happen in jokes either.
Everything was fine, there was only one problem - both the cans and bottles, as they were closed, remained closed until the end of dinner. Maybe they were dummies? We still don't understand.

After dinner, we were assured that if the fog cleared at night, and this was expected around two in the morning, then they would lift us up and we would go on an excursion on Zodiacs; there would be no darkness, because the polar day overboard does not stop even at night .
We were sleeping soundly, but then the loudspeaker sounded:
— We invite everyone to an excursion to Champ Island.
While this message was being duplicated in other languages, we managed to get dressed, and only at the door did we pay attention to the TV screen. What we saw amazed us; it turned out that it really was 2 am.
“They give it to me,” it burst out from us at the same time.
On upper deck we stood in a long line, it turned out that almost all the foreigners had already gathered, and the Chinese were standing first, apparently they were all sleeping without undressing, otherwise how could they get ready so quickly.

Boarding began, “Zodiac” after “Zodiac” was filled with tourists, but did not leave, but gathered nearby in a flock, we moved closer and closer to the ramp, the sixth boat was filled, and they all immediately disappeared into the fog. Yes, yes, it was precisely in the fog, which did not decrease at all, that it seemed to thicken even more.
“Maybe it’s just here, around the ship, that there’s such a fog, but the shore is clear?” — someone’s voice sounded behind him.
We looked at each other, such a simple thought did not occur to us. Well, this is probably really true, I thought, otherwise, why are they dragging us there in the middle of the night?
The boats left, we were told that we would have to wait at least an hour for their return. This means that they will reach the shore, disembark there, walk around a bit and get back into the Zodiacs to return on board, and only after that we will sail. Some of the tourists left, deciding that waiting in the middle of the night was not justified, but we were so curious, we so wanted to see these round stones, and, to hide one, secretly put it in our pocket, that we stayed, and we were right. This is what ultimately happened.

We stood leaning on the railing, anxiously waiting for the boats to return. Our eyes were directed into the foggy distance towards the stern of the ship, we were not bothered by extraneous sounds, nothing distracted us, we were, how would it be more correct to say, probably fixated on the very process of waiting. Imagine yourself, they wake you up in the middle of the night and say: you need to stand and wait for an hour. What would you do if you agreed to stand and wait for an hour at 2 am?

About another half hour passed, active movement began on the yachts, apparently they received the “Okay” and began to prepare the rubber boats for launching, but then our “Zodiacs” emerged from the fog, and we turned our attention to them. Tourists were climbing up the ladder, mostly they were silent and somehow sad and sad. One of the Russians who made it to the first approach explained to us that there was no less fog there, there was nothing to see, they didn’t see any living creatures except birds, in general, it wasn’t worth swimming.

But we considered it unreasonable to refuse the trip, after having already waited so long, and even at such a time, and settled on the sides of the boat, which was driven by Dmitry. There was only one more boat next to us; there were no more passengers. A few minutes later, the icebreaker disappeared into the fog, the second boat stayed nearby, but sometimes it also began to dissolve in space and then its contours could hardly be seen through the oncoming waves of dense fog. We moved on a whim, the Zodiacs were not equipped with any navigation devices, but we were not supposed to pass by a rather large island, and from the icebreaker we could correct our route via radio, because they saw us perfectly well, or rather not us, of course , but the point that corresponded to our location on the locator screen.

The fog cleared a little, and it became clearer and further away. In front of us appeared the shore of the island, covered with a glacier sliding into the sea; one of the icebergs, which had recently broken off from this glacier, was floating very close by. The iceberg housed many birds, which chose it as a mobile recreation center. Some of the birds swam on the water.
Dmitry pointed the boat towards the iceberg so that we could get a good look at the birds. And then two fast and agile figures appeared between the shore and the boat in the sea - they were young walruses. The animals, not paying any attention to us, dived, disappearing for a long time under water.
The walruses dived once again and disappeared under water for a long time. Dmitry started the engine and began to move in the direction where the walruses had recently been.
- We won't scare them? - someone asked.
- Yes, no, on the contrary. They are curious and will come closer to the noise.
That's how it all happened. The walruses surfaced next to our boat and swam nearby for a while, as if posing so that we could get a good look at them. Interesting fact: According to evolutionary theory, a walrus is a bear that has gone underwater. We tried to find similarities between a bear and a walrus, sometimes it worked, but more often the walrus looked like anyone, but not a bear.

journey through the FJL - icebreaker Captain Dranitsyn

GALL ISLAND
At this time we were walking at cruising speed towards Gallya Island, one of the southernmost islands of the archipelago. It was there that we planned our final helicopter landing on the mesa of Cape Tegethoff. Table Mountain is the scientific name for all peaks with a truncated, flat top. There are an innumerable number of such mountains in the world; their formation is explained by the weathering of the sedimentary rocks from which they are composed. We saw a lot of them at FFI. But it seemed to me that the tops of the mountains there were simply licked off by a glacier or pressed down so that a flat surface was formed.

The sea was calm, the fog was swirling somewhere in the distance, visibility was very acceptable, so for a very long time we, those who were on navigation bridge, saw a huge iceberg lying alone on the surface of the sea.
The captain immediately appeared and ordered to slow down and approach this handsome man. And there was something to see. Lump blue ice lay motionless on the sea surface, it seemed that it was just lying at the very top, stretching out in length for a good hundred or so meters and rising up to the height of a ten-story building, such a hill appeared in front of us.
Behind the iceberg we could already see the islands we were aiming for, but there was no time for them. We saw a real iceberg for the first time and were eager to examine it from all sides. The reason for the sinking of the Titanic became clear; if it ran into such an obstacle at full speed, nothing would survive, not a single ship, perhaps even one like our icebreaker.
The icebreaker came almost close to the ice mountain, and then lightly poked its nose into the edge of this wall, and immediately pieces and pieces fell from it, the wall turned out to be weak.
There was mass photography taking place against the backdrop of this miracle of nature. People took the most bizarre poses just to catch the angle they liked. We didn’t lag behind everyone either.
We stood high above the water level and looked down, so we clearly saw that the mountain was going straight under the water. It was impossible to determine how far, or rather, deep, it continues under water, but it is obvious that the experts are right, and most of the ice is down there, under water, but I don’t know about 90%, it seems to me that this figure is somewhat exaggerated.
The nuclear-powered ship slowly walked around ice mountain, it was obvious that nature knows its business well, the ice was all eaten away by the mild sun, fog and rain. It was clear that this piece of ice would not float in the ocean for long; it would soon come to an end, and the volume of sea water would not be replenished much.
We swam around the iceberg and saw its other side, it seemed like this creature human hands, such a flat, slightly inclined, upward-sloping surface appeared before us, like the take-off deck of an aircraft carrier, and immediately the handsome “Admiral Kuznetsov” appeared before our eyes.
That's it, the iceberg was left far behind, and we continued on our way to Gallya Island. In front of us lay a seemingly endless strip of islands covered with snow and ice; perhaps this is exactly what the Austrian sailors, the discoverers of these islands, saw.
The ship dropped anchor near the famous Cape Tegethoff. Well, since I wrote that the cape is famous, I need to explain why. The fact is that the history of the development of the Franz Josef Land archipelago began from this cape. After all, it was to the area of ​​Hallya Island, or, to be more precise, to this very cape on August 30, 1873 that the ice brought the schooner “Admiral Tegethoff” of the Austrian expedition - the discoverers of the Polar Region. In memory of their landing, a monument to the schooner was erected on the cape.

We looked from the deck of the nuclear-powered ship at the sharp kekurs sticking straight out of depths of the sea, which the famous Russian polar explorer Viktor Boyarsky figuratively called “Dragon Fangs”, and indeed they really resemble something similar, however, we were not able to see the dragons themselves, but their fangs could only be like this and no other, and the place, it would seem, is right - it was created for them.

The long wait began for our turn for the helicopter tour. To be fair, the management changed the order of flights, and this time tourists from the very last group were supposed to fly first. The procedure was structured as follows. First of all, the guards flew to the mountain; you can expect anything from the bears. By the way, the first tourists noticed a polar bear below, but, most likely, he was greatly frightened by the helicopter roar, and he chose to hide; we never saw him. Together with the guards, Ian and his friend flew there, who led all the landing and landing operations.

The empty helicopter returned to the ship, the Chinese comrades loaded into it, and the carousel began to spin - the helicopter was swinging back and forth, carrying the next group from the icebreaker, then picking up the previous one from the island, and so on until the very end, when it completed last flight, taking Yan and the guards from the island. We were now almost at the end, but the queue, no matter how slowly it crawled - after all, a two-way flight with two takeoffs and landings and a change of tourists took about 10-12 minutes - still got to us, and we sat down in The helicopter, this time next to the pilot to get a better look at everything, went to the island.

So, jumping from rock to rock, we moved from the landing site, perhaps the only truly flat place suitable for a helicopter, to the edge of the peak, from where we could take decent photographs of the cape, the sea and the ship, and then back to the landing site .
From above, of course, the view of the cape is very good; two rock outcrops, 25 and 60 meters high, are clearly visible. There is a border at the cape - they go to the south, and to the north lies Surovaya Bay, which is already part of the Arctic waters, like this. It must be said that this border is not clearly demarcated.
Slowly moving along the mountain, we tried to find at least some signs of life, but around there were only stones, stones, ice and snow, but no, in one place there was a tiny island of greenery that pleased us with its love of life.

It’s all over, the helicopter has come for us, it’s time to go down to the ship, but first we need to examine the island from above.
Down from the top of the table mountain of Gallya Island stretch beautiful rocks, named in memory of the outstanding Soviet geologist Academician Alexander Nikolaevich Zavarnitsky, Zavarnitsky Rocks, stretching 15 kilometers deep into the island, reaching maximum height at 500 meters.
Well, the helicopter’s rotor froze, everyone returned on board, and we can move on. We were surprised to hear the announcement that the icebreaker was turning around and we would go back to Champ Island. We really liked this solution, maybe we will still be able to get to the island with the stone balls.
Moving on, we cast our last glance at the “dragon’s fangs”; from this point they could be mistaken for a kind of gate blocking the path to Gallya Island and the cape itself with two remnants decorating it.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Savatyugin L.M., Dorozhkina M.V. Archipelago of Franz Josef Land: history, names and names. - St. Petersburg: AAII, 2012. - 484 p. — ISBN 978-5-98364-054-2
Sergey V. Popov, Vladilen A. Troitsky Franz Josef Land Archipelago // Toponymy of the seas of the Soviet Arctic / Ed. L. A. Borisova. - Leningrad: Geographical Society of the USSR, 1972. - P. 85-128. — 316 p. — 1000 copies.
Franz Josef Land: Collection of articles / USSR, Scientific and technical. ex. VSNKh No. 352. - M.: State Technical Publishing House, 1930. - (Proceedings of the Institute for the Study of the North; issue 47).
Mikhail N. Ivanychuk 14 months on the land of Franz Joseph. Impressions of a winterer. - Kharkov: Ukrainian robotnik, 1934. - 122, p.
http://greenbag.ru/russia/
Martynov V. | New Earth- military land | Newspaper "Geography" No. 09/2009
Island of Captain Kuchiev | Ship side April 2, 2008 | Publishing house "Northern Week"
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The northernmost branch of the Russian Post.
Two million barrels await Putin's partners in the Arctic - Science - GZT.RU
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http://www.photosight.ru/
photo by V. Balyakin, O. Parshina, A. Zolotina, S. Anisimov

Franz Josef Land, whose islands (there are 192 in total) have a total area of ​​16,134 square meters. km, located in the Arctic Ocean. The main part of the Arctic territory is part of Primorsky. Geographically, it is divided into 3 large parts: eastern, central and western. The first includes the islands of Wilczek Land (2 thousand sq. km) and Graham Bell (1.7 thousand sq. km). They are separated from the rest by the Austrian Strait. The largest in number is located in the central part. It is washed by the British Channel and the Austrian Strait. The western region includes the entire alliance - George's Land with an area of ​​2.9 thousand square meters. km. Franz Josef Land for the most part has a flat, plateau-like surface. Her average height reaches 400-490 m, and the highest point is 620 m.

Detection

The existence of a group of islands east of Spitsbergen was predicted by more than one great Russian scientist: first Lomonosov, and then Schilling and Kropotkin. Moreover, the latter presented it to Russian in 1871 geographical society its plan for an expedition to study them, but the government refused to allocate funds. The Franz Josef Land archipelago was discovered only by chance. This happened when the Austro-Hungarian expedition under the leadership of J. Payer and K. Weyprecht set out in 1872 to explore the Northeast Passage. However, their ship was trapped by ice, and gradually it drifted west from Novaya Zemlya. In 1873, on August 30, the schooner Admiral Tegetgoff landed on the shores of an unknown land. At the same time, Payer and Weyprecht explored its northern and southern outskirts. Before this, where Franz Josef Land was located, no one knew. In April 1874, Payer managed to reach a point with a coordinate of 82°5" north latitude. He also drew up a preliminary diagram of the found archipelago. At that time, it seemed to researchers that it consisted of a number of large areas. The discovered land received the name of the famous Franz Joseph I, Austrian Emperor.

Development

In 1873, Payer and Weyprecht explored the southern part of the territory, and in the spring of 1874 they crossed it from south to north on sleds. At the same time, Franz Josef Land was schematically depicted for the first time. The map, as it turned out later, had many errors. In 1881-1882 Scotsman B. L. Smith visited the open area on the yacht Eira. And in 1895-1897. The English geographer Frederick Jackson conducted many important surveys of the southwestern, middle and southern parts of the alliance. It subsequently turned out that the group consists of a much larger number of islands than expected. However, they were smaller in size compared to the designations on Payer's map.

Around the same period of time, Nansen and Johansen visited the northeastern and middle parts of the archipelago. In June 1896, the Norwegian Nansen accidentally discovered on the island. Northbrook wintering quarters of Frederick Jackson. In the summer of 1901, the southwestern and southern shores The islands were visited and examined by Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov. During the work, the approximate size of the entire territory was established. Then in 1901-1902. American scientists Baldwin and Ziegler continued to conduct research work. Following them from 1903 to 1905. In order to reach the Pole across the ice, a new expedition was organized. It was led by Ziegler and Fial. In the period from 1913 to 1914, a group of geographers G. Ya. Sedov carried out work in Tikhaya Bay near Hooker Island. In the summer of 1914, the last surviving members of Brusilov's expedition - Albanov and Konrad - managed to reach the old Jackson-Harmsworth base. It was located on Cape Flora. Northbrook. There the geographers were saved by the visiting schooner "Saint Foka".

Joining Russia and further development

In 1914, in search of G. Ya. Sedov’s group, an expedition led by Islyamov visited the islands. He declared the area part of Russian territory and raised the flag. In 1929, in Tikhaya Bay. Hooker, Soviet scientists opened the first research station. Thanks to her, Franz Josef Land has since begun to annually host Soviet polar expeditions. In the 50s In the 20th century, air defense units were reorganized. One of them was received by Franz Josef Land. The military base was located on the island. Graham-Bell. The 30th separate radar company and a separate air command post are located here. The latter served ice airfield. But these are not all the strategic objects that Franz Josef Land had. Alexandra Island hosted the 31st separate radar company "Nugarskaya". These units belonged to the northernmost military units of the Soviet Union. In the early 90s. they were liquidated. In 2008, during research on a nuclear icebreaker called Yamal, it was discovered that it had separated from the island. Northbrook part of the land. In honor of the Arctic captain, it was named after Yuri Kuchiev. On September 10, 2012, the AARI expedition on the nuclear icebreaker "Russia" discovered another separated part from the island. Northbrook.

Population

Franz Josef Land has no municipalities or permanent residents. The temporary population includes FSB border guards and employees of research stations. From time to time, military personnel of air defense units also live here. They carry out missile defense in the northern direction of Russia. According to press reports, in 2005, the outermost post office “Arkhangelsk 163100” was opened on Hayes Island. Its operating time was supposed to be only 1 hour, from 10 to 11 a.m. from Tuesday to Friday. According to data as of September 2013, the Arkhangelsk post office (Heys Island, Franz Josef Land) is listed under the index 163100. His working hours are from 10 to 11 every Wednesday.

Glaciers

They cover most of the surface of the archipelago (87%). The thickness varies from 100 to 500 m. Icebergs subsequently form from glaciers descending into the sea. The eastern and southeastern parts of the entire territory are more susceptible to icing. New formations appear only at the very tops of ice sheets. At the same time, according to the results of ongoing research, the cover of Franz Josef Land is declining very quickly. If the observed rate of its destruction remains the same, glaciation of the territory may disappear forever after 300 years.

Franz Josef Land. Hot, cold?

The group of islands experiences a typical Arctic climate. The average annual temperature on the island. Rudolph reaches -12°C. In July, in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island the air warms up to -1.2°C, and on Heisa Island, where the observatory is located. Krenkel (the northernmost meteorological station in the world), - up to +1.6°C. The average temperature in January is approximately -24°C, and the lowest reaches -52°C. Maximum wind gusts - 40 m/sec. In the zone of accumulation of ice sheets, an average of 250 to 550 mm of precipitation falls annually.

Flora and fauna of the Arctic

The vegetation cover of the archipelago is dominated by mosses and lichens. Cereals, saxifrage and polar poppy are also found. Among the mammals you can see polar bear. Less common is the white arctic fox. The coastal waters are home to walrus, beluga whale, narwhal, seal and seal. Birds are richer in the fauna of the archipelago - there are only 26 species of winged birds. Among them are guillemots, common kittiwakes, guillemots, ivory gulls, little auks, glaucous gulls, etc. In summer they form bird colonies.

Tourist trips to the North Pole

How much does a cruise to the Franz Josef Land archipelago cost? Tours to the Arctic can be purchased for RUB 875,076. ($24,995). Yes, a very expensive pleasure! The package may include a trip with an expedition team to the Franz Josef Land Nature Reserve. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most unusual and luxurious holiday options. Excursion program invites its guests to reach the “Top of the World” - 90 degrees N. w. on board the world's most powerful nuclear icebreaker "50 Let Pobeda". The conquest of the icy expanses ends with a polar barbecue on the ice cover, a cheerful round-the-world dance and swimming in the Arctic Ocean. On the way back, travelers will be offered helicopter excursions to the islands of the archipelago, the incredible panorama of which will surely captivate you with its beauty. 540 miles from the North Pole is home to huge numbers of seals, arctic birds, walruses and polar bears. In case of planning such tourist trip one should take into account the fact that the journey takes place in a hard-to-reach, little-explored and remote part globe. As a result, the program route can be considered only as a general, introductory plan for the expedition, since it may change under the influence of such external factors as ice conditions, weather, etc. As ten years of practice show, not a single expedition tour to the Arctic repeats the previous one exactly. The nature of the North Pole makes its own adjustments. This is the peculiarity and specificity of expedition cruises.

General travel plan

Day 1

Arrival in Murmansk, boarding the icebreaker. At the pier, waiting for a group of travelers to board, stands the world's most powerful nuclear icebreaker with the lyrical title "50 years of Victory". After some time the ship will leave Mainland and will go towards new impressions, passing by

Day 2

In the Barents Sea. An integral part of every expedition is preparing passengers for the peculiarities unusual journey. Members of the organizational team will familiarize vacationers with the safety rules on board the ship and helicopter, and will also talk about all the nuances associated with disembarking in the Arctic.

Day 3-5

Direct course to the Arctic. The next three busy days spent on board the ship will introduce passengers to interesting historical facts And amazing nature this region.

Day 6

Arrival at the North Pole. On the way to the destination, the captain, with slow, precise maneuvers, will bring the icebreaker to the cherished coordinate - 90° north latitude. After the ship stops, vacationers will go down onto a suitable ice floe and carry out the already traditional ritual of “circumnavigation.” Then another interesting ritual follows - travelers will be asked to write notes, which are subsequently placed in metal capsules and immersed in the depths of the Arctic Ocean.

Day 7-9

Destination - Franz Josef Land. Despite the fact that the main task of the expedition has already been completed, many interesting and impressive events will still await travelers. Well-preserved buildings allow us to trace the most important historical events, which took place on the archipelago many years ago. Among them it is worth noting the house on the island. Bell, built in 1881 by members of Lee Smith's expedition, and the ruins of the old camp on the island. Northbrook. It was there in 1896 that a significant meeting between Nansen and Jackson took place. It is also worth visiting Cape Norway, where Nansen F. and Johansen carried out joint research work for 7 long months; to honor the memory of the scientist G. Ya. Sedov, whose image became the prototype of the main character in the creation of the novel “Two Captains” by Kaverin. The pristine expanses of the Arctic and the originality of the landscapes are presented to its guests by Franz Josef Land. Photos taken in this area invariably amaze with their uniqueness and beauty. Glaciers resembling lunar craters, combined with colorful carpets of mosses and bright poppy flowers, create an amazing, indescribable atmosphere of harmony. An indispensable component of the Arctic landscape are also the thousands of bird colonies and walrus rookeries that fill the coastal horizon of the Franz Josef Land archipelago. Photos in the lap of polar nature will allow you to capture a unique moment in life and keep it in your memory for many years.

Day 10-11

In the Barents Sea. It's time to return to Murmansk. On the way back, the captain will invite travelers to dinner in his apartment. There passengers will be able to relax in interesting company and listen to entertaining real stories about service on an icebreaker from a primary source.

What is included in the total tour price

  • Travel on board the icebreaker "50 Let Pobeda".
  • Scheduled group excursions. This includes all shore trips, historical site visits and other helicopter activities.
  • Excursions on zodiacs (by decision of the expedition leader due to deterioration weather conditions may be cancelled).
  • A program of lectures prepared by famous naturalists and specialists of the region.
  • Four meals a day (including fresh baked goods for an afternoon snack); coffee and light snacks throughout the day; drinking water.
  • Rubber boots for rent during the cruise.
  • Information materials for reference and an expedition diary with photographs on DVD.
  • Postal fees and technical costs.
  • Special jacket for expedition.
  • Medical insurance against accidents on board the ship.

Map of the Franz Josef Land archipelago.

Franz Josef Land is an island archipelago of the Arctic Ocean, located northwest of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, east of the Spitsbergen archipelago and northeast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The island received its name from its discoverers in honor of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary.

The archipelago consists of more than 190 islands and rocks. Conventionally, the archipelago is divided into three parts: the eastern part, slightly removed from the rest of the group of islands through the Austrian Strait, which includes the most large islands Wilczek and Graham Bell Land, central, located between the British Channel and the Austrian Strait and containing the largest number of islands, and western, located west of the British Channel, including the most big Island archipelago - George's Land.

The total area of ​​the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago exceeds 17 thousand square kilometers.

The archipelago is territorially part of the polar domains of the Russian Federation and is administratively part of the Arkhangelsk region.

South coast of Northbrook Island.

Story.

About the possible existence of an archipelago north of Kola Peninsula Lomonosov and other Russian geographers also spoke out, but they were never able to organize an expedition to search for undiscovered islands. The archipelago was discovered quite randomly on August 30, 1873 by an Austro-Hungarian expedition led by polar explorers Karl Weyprecht and Julius Payer, who tried to open a passage to the east along the Admiral Tegenhoff schooner. northern seas. The expedition's schooner was covered in ice in the area of ​​the Novaya Zemlya islands and carried by the current to the shores of an unknown archipelago. Weyprecht and Payer were able to initially partially explore some of the islands of the archipelago and give it a name in honor of the then Austro-Hungarian Emperor (Kaiser) Franz Joseph I.

IN different times and periods, the archipelago was explored by the expeditions of Benjamin Lee Smith, Frederick Jackson, Nansen and Johansen, Wellman and Baldwin and many other famous polar explorers.

In 1901, the archipelago was explored by the first Russian expedition on the icebreaker Ermak under the command of Vice Admiral Makarov; it is claimed that it was during this period that the Russian flag was first raised on the islands of the archipelago.

In 1913-14, on the way to north pole The famous Russian polar explorer G.Ya. Sedov died and was buried on the islands.

In the summer of 1914, Islyamov’s expedition set out in search of Sedov, who, having visited the archipelago, declared it Russian territory and also raised the Russian flag on the coast.

During Soviet times, research on the archipelago began in 1929, when a research station was first opened on the coast of Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island.

From the 50s to 1990 of the 20th century, radar tracking stations of the Soviet Army were based on the archipelago, which were considered the northernmost army unit in the USSR.

Foothills of the plateau on Hooker Island.

Origin and geography of the island.

The islands of the Franz Josef Archipelago are scattered over a fairly large area, so geographical coordinates calculated according to the general geographical center of the archipelago: 80°40′00″ N. w. 54°50′00″ E.

Cape Wings of Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of both Russia and the Franz Josef Land archipelago itself, Cape Mary Harmsworth is the westernmost point of the archipelago, the cape of the same name on Lamont Island is the southernmost, and Cape Olney of Graham Bell Island is the easternmost.

The archipelago is a remote part of the Eurasian geological plate, therefore, by its origin, it belongs to the mainland islands. The terrain on most of the islands of the archipelago is replete with low plateaus, which reach an average height of 300-500 m. Highest point Islands is the Forbes Glacier, reaching a height of approximately 620 meters.

The geological structure of the islands of the archipelago consists of siltstones, sandstones and limestone rocks with a basalt cover. Among the mineral resources, small deposits of brown coal were discovered on the islands.

The surface of the vast majority of the islands is covered with glaciers, and where there are none, there are a large number of lakes on the frozen ground, which even today remain nameless.

The southern coast and the glaciers leading down to the ocean on McClinton Island.

Climate.

The climate on Franz Josef Land is distinctly arctic. The average temperature throughout the year does not rise above −12 °C. During the summer months, the average temperature ranges from −1.5 °C to +2 °C. In winter, the air temperature can drop to −50 °C with an average of −24 °C. Winter time is also characterized by strong winds and storms. Precipitation falls mainly in the form of snow and its amount is quite small, which is quite consistent with this climatic zone, their absolute value ranges from 250 mm to 600 mm per year.

Population.

It would be more correct to say that the islands are uninhabited. There is no permanent residence on the island. Naturally, there are no cities or towns on the islands. The so-called temporary population is represented by scientists and researchers at scientific and meteorological stations, as well as border guards of the FSB of Russia, who serve at the northernmost border outpost in Russia. On average, the number of people staying on the islands at the same time does not exceed 80-100 people.

View of the plateau and Forbes Glacier.

Flora and fauna.

Severe climatic conditions the archipelago does not contribute to the flourishing and fragrant flora and fauna. The vegetation here is mainly represented by mosses and lichens. Sometimes you can find polar poppy and polar willow on the islands, but they are a real rarity here. Some types of mushrooms are also found on the islands.

Mammals are represented on the archipelago by the polar bear and the arctic fox, but recently their population has declined greatly.

Living in the coastal waters of the islands, marine animals are more widely represented. Rings, seals of several subspecies, and sometimes walruses are quite common here.

On the islands, which is typical for these latitudes, there is always a large number of birds, among them guillemots, kittiwakes, white gulls and many other species, numbering more than 20, are found in large numbers.

Foothills of the plateau on the island of Alexandra Land.

Tourism.

In terms of tourism, the archipelago will be of interest only to rare lovers extreme recreation. Naturally, the people arriving on the island, mainly by rotary-wing aircraft, consist exclusively of scientists and military personnel, who in these harsh conditions clearly have no time for entertainment and relaxation. But it’s still worth noting that even with all this, there is something to see here. These include numerous summer bird colonies, glaciers sliding towards the coast, and numerous lakes in the summer.

Eastern coast of Vilcek Island.