Ushakov Island
{{Short description|Island in Russia}}
{{Infobox islands
| name = Ushakov Island
| local_name = {{langx|ru|link=no|Остров Ушакова}}
| native_name =
| image_name =Ushakova.PNG
| image_caption = Ushakov island is practically covered with ice and snow the whole year round
| image_size =
| map_image = Kara seaUV.PNG
| nickname =
| pushpin_map = Arctic
| location = Arctic Ocean
| coordinates = {{Coord|80|48|N|79|29|E|display=inline, title}}
| archipelago =
| total_islands =
| major_islands =
| area_km2 = 324
| length_km =25.5
| width_km = 17.5
| highest_mount =Ice cap HP
| elevation_m =294
| population = 0
| population_as_of =
| density_km2 =
| ethnic_groups =
| country = Russia
| additional_info =
}}
Ushakov Island ({{langx|ru|Остров Ушакова}}, Ostrov Ushakova) is an isolated island located in the Arctic Ocean, Russian Federation.Summary of the Arctic Archipelagos and Islands. Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
The average yearly precipitation ranges from {{convert|200|mm|0|abbr=off}} at a height of {{convert|50|m|0|abbr=off}} and between {{convert|350|mm|0|abbr=off}} and {{convert|400|mm|0|abbr=off}} around the highest point of the island's ice cap.
Geography
Ushakov Island is located close to the region of permanent sea ice midway between Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya, at the northern limit of the Kara Sea.{{cite web|url=http://mapcarta.com/15322376|title=Ostrov Ushakova|work=Mapcarta|access-date=9 November 2016}}
This island lies close to the limit of permanent ice; it is desolate and subject to severe Arctic storms. Its total area is {{convert|324|km2|0|abbr=off}}.
This island belongs to the Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of Russia. Owing to its extreme northerly location, the sea surrounding Ushakov Island is covered with pack ice in the winter and is full of ice floes during the summer. The closest land is Vize Island {{convert|140|km|0|abbr=off}} further south.Google Earth
=Ice cap=
Ushakov Island is covered by an ice cap.[http://nag.iasc.info/images/publications/magics/iasc_mb1996.pdf Arctic Glaciers; Ushakov Island] The highest point of this glacial feature is {{convert|294|m|ft|abbr=on}}.V. V. Bogorodsky, C. R. Bentley, P. E. Gudmandsen: Radioglaciology, D. Reidel, Dordrecht 1985, {{ISBN|978-94-010-8830-5}}, {{doi|10.1007/978-94-009-5275-1}}, [https://books.google.com/books?hl=de&lr=&id=EgDwCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA5 S. 5] The rocky ground below the icemass is flat and part of it lies below sea level. The edges of the ice cap form {{convert|20|m|ft|abbr=on}} to {{convert|30|m|ft|abbr=on}} high icy cliffs along the shore.Andrey F. Glazovskiy: Russian Arctic, Chapter 2.7 in: Jacek Jania, Jon Ove Hagen (Ed.): [http://nag.iasc.info/images/publications/magics/iasc_mb1996.pdf Mass Balance of Arctic Glaciers] (PDF; 132 kB), IASC Report No. 5, Sosnowiec-Oslo 1996. The surface of the ice cap has become {{convert|2|km2|0|abbr=off}} smaller between 1950 and 2000, but the ice volume has grown from {{convert|35|km3|0|abbr=off}} to {{convert|38|km3|0|abbr=off}}. The average thickness of the ice having increased from {{convert|107|m|ft|abbr=on}} to {{convert|118|m|ft|abbr=on}}.Aleksey I. Sharov, Roland Pail, Roland Perko, Daniel Rieser, Florian Heuberger, Christoph Gisinger: [http://www.iapg.bgu.tum.de/mediadb/910679/910680/Sharov10.pdf Variations of the Arctic Ice-Snow Cover in Nonhomogeneous Geopotential] (PDF; 660 kB). In: Proc. ESA Living Planet Symposium, Bergen, Norway 28 June – 2 July 2010 (ESA SP-686, December 2010)
=Climate=
Ushakov island has an ice cap climate (EF), bordering on a tundra climate (ET; average high in July is above freezing, meaning some snow can melt), owing to its location at 81 N and ~20 miles from the limit of permanent sea ice. Summers are very cold and dry, while winters are extremely frigid and virtually without precipitation.
{{Weather box
|metric first= 1
|single line= 1
|location= Ushakov Island (1981-2010 normals, extremes 1973-2020)
|Jan record high C= -2.4
|Feb record high C= -0.8
|Mar record high C= -0.8
|Apr record high C= 0.3
|May record high C= 2.0
|Jun record high C= 4.0
|Jul record high C= 5.0
|Aug record high C= 5.2
|Sep record high C= 3.7
|Oct record high C= 0.8
|Nov record high C= -1.0
|Dec record high C= -2.0
|year record high C= 5.2
|Jan high C= -23.1
|Feb high C= -23.6
|Mar high C= -24.1
|Apr high C= -18.9
|May high C= -8.7
|Jun high C= -1.0
|Jul high C= 0.6
|Aug high C= 0.0
|Sep high C= -3.6
|Oct high C= -10.8
|Nov high C= -19.2
|Dec high C= -23.4
|year high C= -13.2
|Jan mean C= -26.2
|Feb mean C= -26.4
|Mar mean C= -26.8
|Apr mean C= -21.6
|May mean C= -10.6
|Jun mean C= -2.2
|Jul mean C= -0.3
|Aug mean C= -1.1
|Sep mean C= -5.4
|Oct mean C= -13.5
|Nov mean C= -21.9
|Dec mean C= -26.1
|year mean C= -15.4
|Jan low C= -29.2
|Feb low C= -29.1
|Mar low C= -29.5
|Apr low C= -24.3
|May low C= -12.4
|Jun low C= -3.4
|Jul low C= -1.1
|Aug low C= -2.2
|Sep low C= -7.1
|Oct low C= -16.1
|Nov low C= -24.6
|Dec low C= -28.8
|year low C= -17.6
|Jan record low C= -43.1
|Feb record low C= -47.0
|Mar record low C= -43.5
|Apr record low C= -42.2
|May record low C= -24.6
|Jun record low C= -13.3
|Jul record low C= -7.3
|Aug record low C= -12.0
|Sep record low C= -25.0
|Oct record low C= -37.0
|Nov record low C= -37.0
|Dec record low C= -44.7
|year record low C= -47.0
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm= 5.9
|Feb precipitation mm= 3.1
|Mar precipitation mm= 4.9
|Apr precipitation mm= 9.7
|May precipitation mm= 7.6
|Jun precipitation mm= 4.7
|Jul precipitation mm= 22.8
|Aug precipitation mm= 17.3
|Sep precipitation mm= 8.3
|Oct precipitation mm= 18.3
|Nov precipitation mm= 3.7
|Dec precipitation mm= 2.5
|year precipitation mm= 107.4
|unit precipitation days= 1 mm
|Jan precipitation days= 1.36
|Feb precipitation days= 0.77
|Mar precipitation days= 1.44
|Apr precipitation days= 1.60
|May precipitation days= 2.25
|Jun precipitation days= 1.46
|Jul precipitation days= 1.56
|Aug precipitation days= 2.45
|Sep precipitation days= 2.69
|Oct precipitation days= 2.46
|Nov precipitation days= 1.26
|Dec precipitation days= 0.51
|year precipitation days= 19.60
|source 1= Météo climat stats{{cite web |url=http://meteo-climat-bzh.dyndns.org/listenormale-1981-2010-1-p184.php|title=Moyennes 1981-2010 Russie|language=fr|accessdate=16 March 2022}}
|source 2= Météo Climat {{cite web|url=http://meteo-climat-bzh.dyndns.org/station-244.php|title=Météo Climat stats for Ile Ouchakov |publisher=Météo Climat|accessdate=16 March 2022}}
}}
History
{{see also|Russian Hydrographic Service}}
This island was the last piece of undiscovered territory in the Soviet Arctic. It was finally located in 1935 when the few remaining unexplored areas in the northern Kara Sea were surveyed by Soviet hydrographic and oceanographic operations on icebreakers to study the sea and ice.
The expedition that discovered the island was led by polar explorer, cartographer and oceanographer Georgiy Alekseevich Ushakov aboard Icebreaker Sadko, after whom the island was named. The first wintering in Ushakov Island was undertaken in 1954–55 and a polar station was established in 1954. This was abandoned during the 1980s and when an expedition visited the island in 2001, they found two small buildings partly sunken into the ice.[https://web.archive.org/web/20101214130107/http://dead-cities.ru/city/Ostrov_Ushakova полярная станция Остров Ушакова] {{in lang|ru}}. Archived. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
See also
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.ec-arctic.ru/eng/expeditions/ The route over the drifting ice of Kara Sea from Frantz-Josef Land Archipelago to Ushakov Island]
{{Kara Sea Islands}}
Category:Islands of the Kara Sea
Category:Exploration of the Arctic
Category:Polar exploration by Russia and the Soviet Union
Category:Populated places of Arctic Russia