Little Diomede Island

The Diomede Islands are named after Saint Diomedes. The Inupiaq name {{lang|ik|Iŋaliq}} means "the other one" or "the one over there".{{cite book|author=Milepost|title=Alaska Wilderness Milepost|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myg1Kzs3alIC|year=1990|publisher=Graphic Arts Center|isbn=978-0-88240-289-5|page=327|quote=[N]ame for the village is Inalik, meaning 'the other one' or 'the one over there{{'-}}}}. The two islands are respectively nicknamed "Yesterday Island" (Little Diomede Island) and "Tomorrow Island" (Big Diomede Island) because the International Date Line runs between them, making the date on Little Diomede Island always one day behind the date on Big Diomede Island.

File:Bering Strait.jpeg

Little Diomede Island is located about {{convert|25|km|mi|order=flip}} west of mainland Alaska, in the middle of the Bering Strait. It is only {{convert|0.6|km|mi|1|order=flip}} from the International Date Line and about {{convert|2.4|mi|km}} from the Russian island of Big Diomede. According to the United States Census Bureau, the island has a total area of {{convert|2.8|sqmi|km2|1|abbr=on}}, all of it land. On the western shore of the island is the village of Diomede, also known as Iŋaliq. The highest point on Little Diomede Island is {{convert|494|m|ft|0|order=flip}} (about halfway along the west coast, about {{convert|1.5|mi|km}} south-east of the village, facing the southern tip of Big Diomede). The island has very scant vegetation.

Big Diomede Island, located {{convert|2.33|mi|km}} west of Little Diomede Island, is part of Russia. Thus the two islands are separated by an international boundary. The International Date Line also runs between the two islands.

Big Diomede is within the view of Little Diomede, meaning Russia can technically be seen from Alaska.[https://thealaskafrontier.com/can-you-see-russia-from-alaska/ Can You See Russia From Alaska? Yes, View Russia From Here], The Alaska Frontier

Image:dateliner cam.jpg

Image:Bering Strait.jpeg

Little Diomede island is composed of Cretaceous age granite or quartz monzonite.[http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3131/sim3131_pamphlet.pdf Till, A. B., et al., Bedrock Geologic Map of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, and Accompanying Conodont Data, Pamphlet to accompany Scientific Investigations Map 3131, USGS]{{Cite journal |last1=Gualtieri |first1=Lyn |author2=Julie Brigham-Grette |author2-link=Julie Brigham-Grette |date=March 2001 |title=The Age and Origin of the Little Diomede Island Upland Surface |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic54-1-12.pdf |journal=Arctic |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=12–21 |doi=10.14430/arctic759 |jstor=40512273 |access-date=2012-05-20 |archive-date=2020-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055127/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic54-1-12.pdf |url-status=dead }} The location of the settlement is the only area which does not have near-vertical cliffs to the water. Behind the settlement, and around the entire island, rocky slopes rise at about 40° up to the relatively flattened top in {{convert|1148|-|1191|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The island has scant vegetation.

The island, along with its surrounding waters, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because of its significant seabird colonies, including those of black-legged kittiwakes, and of parakeet, least and crested auklets.{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/31130 |title=Diomede Islands Colonies|author= |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-10-20}}

Summer temperatures average {{convert|40|to|50|F|C}}. Winter temperatures average from {{convert|6|to|10|F|C}}. Annual precipitation averages {{convert|10|in|mm|lk=in|abbr=out}}, and annual snowfall averages {{convert|30|in|cm|0|abbr=out}}. During summer months, cloudy skies and fog prevail. Winds blow consistently from the north, averaging {{convert|15|kn|mph km/h}}, with gusts of {{convert|60|to(-)|80|mph|km/h|lk=in|abbr=out}}. The Bering Strait is generally frozen between mid-December and mid-June.

Although slightly south of the Arctic Circle, the island has a dry-summer polar climate (Köppen ETs), because the driest high-sun month (April) has less than one-third as much precipitation as the wettest high-sun month (October). The winters are icy and cold – colder than those of Nome despite the island location due to greater proximity to extremely cold Siberian air masses. The extreme moderating effect of the thawed Bering Sea produces very cool summers, with the result that most plants are unable to grow. The hottest summer ever experienced temperatures up to only {{convert|73|F|C|1}}.

{{Weatherbox|width = auto

|location = Diomede, Alaska

|single line = Y

|Jan high F = 7

|Feb high F = 4

|Mar high F = 5

|Apr high F = 16

|May high F = 32

|Jun high F = 43

|Jul high F = 52

|Aug high F = 55

|Sep high F = 44

|Oct high F = 33

|Nov high F = 22

|Dec high F = 10

|year high F= 27

|Jan low F = −7

|Feb low F = −9

|Mar low F = −8

|Apr low F = 3

|May low F = 23

|Jun low F = 34

|Jul low F = 43

|Aug low F = 43

|Sep low F = 37

|Oct low F = 25

|Nov low F = 11

|Dec low F = −2

|year low F= 16

|Jan record high F = 53

|Feb record high F = 47

|Mar record high F = 42

|Apr record high F = 48

|May record high F = 56

|Jun record high F = 67

|Jul record high F = 72

|Aug record high F = 73

|Sep record high F = 65

|Oct record high F = 54

|Nov record high F = 45

|Dec record high F = 44

|year record high F= 73

|Jan record low F = −44

|Feb record low F = −44

|Mar record low F = −42

|Apr record low F = −32

|May record low F = −11

|Jun record low F = 20

|Jul record low F = 24

|Aug record low F = 30

|Sep record low F = 23

|Oct record low F = −5

|Nov record low F = −28

|Dec record low F = −35

|year record low F= −44

|Jan precipitation inch = 0.41

|Feb precipitation inch = 0.45

|Mar precipitation inch = 0.48

|Apr precipitation inch = 0.27

|May precipitation inch = 0.54

|Jun precipitation inch = 0.73

|Jul precipitation inch = 1.47

|Aug precipitation inch = 2.46

|Sep precipitation inch = 1.99

|Oct precipitation inch = 1.41

|Nov precipitation inch = 0.68

|Dec precipitation inch = 0.52

|year precipitation inch=

|Jan snow inch = 4.3

|Feb snow inch = 4.1

|Mar snow inch = 6

|Apr snow inch = 3

|May snow inch = 2.8

|Jun snow inch = 0.2

|Jul snow inch = 0.3

|Aug snow inch = 0

|Sep snow inch = 1.2

|Oct snow inch = 6.3

|Nov snow inch = 8

|Dec snow inch = 5.3

|year snow inch=

|source ={{Cite web|url=http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx|title = Intellicast | Weather Underground}}

}}

File:Diomedevillage big.jpg

Danish-Russian navigator Vitus Bering (after whom the Bering Strait is named) sighted the Diomede Islands on August 16 (O.S., August 27 N.S.), 1728, the day on which the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Diomedes of Tarsus.{{Cite web|url=http://www.russia.com/islands/diomede-islands/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920223833/http://www.russia.com/islands/diomede-islands/|url-status=dead|title=Russia.com|archivedate=September 20, 2008}}

During the Cold War, the section of the border between the USA and the USSR that separates Big and Little Diomede became known as the "Ice Curtain". Despite this nickname implying chilly relations, when Lynne Cox swam from Little Diomede to Big Diomede (about {{convert|2.2|mi|km}}) in August 1987, she was congratulated jointly by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan.{{Cite web|title=Lynne Cox swims into communist territory|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lynne-cox-swims-into-communist-territory|publisher=History|access-date=7 August 2017}}

There is a heliport, the Diomede Heliport, with regular helicopter flights. In the past, locals carved a runway into the thick ice sheet so that bush planes could deliver vital products, such as medicine and grocery supplies. Due to annual variations of the ice sheet, the runway would change position every year. However, climate change has meant that sea ice has neither been thick nor stable enough to support landing a plane safely on an ice runway (minimum required sea-ice thickness was 4.5 feet, and no open water to the north of the island), so the last Bering Air flight landed there in May 2013 and there has not been an ice runway since.{{Cite web |title=Q&A: On a Bering Sea island, disappearing ice threatens a way of life |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/qa-bering-sea-island-disappearing-ice-threatens-way-life |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=www.science.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Little Diomede |url=https://www.beringair.com/about/our-destinations/little-diomede/ |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=Bering Air |language=en-US}}

Little Diomede was featured in the first episode of Full Circle with Michael Palin, a 1997 BBC documentary series in which the broadcaster Michael Palin traversed many of the countries of the Pacific Rim.{{cite web|url=http://www.palinstravels.co.uk/static-11|title=Palin's Travels - Full Circle|publisher=PalinsTravels.co.uk|access-date=8 March 2016}} The Diomede Islands are also featured in the novel Further Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin, and the miniseries based on the book. In addition, Alexander Armstrong visited the island as part of his 2015 series Land of the Midnight Sun. Little Diomede was also featured in the 1952 film Arctic Flight, starring Wayne Morris and Lola Albright.

{{Portal|Alaska}}

• List of islands of Alaska
• List of islands of the United States
• USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement

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{{Wikivoyage|Little Diomede}}

• [https://kawerak.org/our-region/diomede/ Diomede Community Page]
• [https://www.census.gov/ Census 2000 information]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090221154403/http://diomede.bssd.org/blog/ Diomede School]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081001130001/http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/30/you-can-see-russia-from-here/ You CAN see Russia from here!] – Anderson Cooper 360

{{Chukchi Sea Islands}}

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Category:Bering Strait

Category:Diomede Islands

Category:Islands of Alaska

Category:Important Bird Areas of Alaska

Category:Important Bird Areas of Arctic islands

Category:Islands of Nome Census Area, Alaska

Category:Islands of the Bering Sea

Category:Islands of the Chukchi Sea

Category:Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska