Reserve Wrangel Island: animals and plants. Wrangel Island - a beautiful report and a depressing reality

“Wrangel Island” is the northernmost environmental complex in Russia. Its name comes from the surname of the famous domestic conqueror of the seas, Ferdinand Wrangel, although local residents call the island itself Umkilir - “Land of Polar Bears”.

It is also considered one of the largest nature reserves and covers an area of ​​2.2 million hectares. At the same time, the sea area occupies half of the territory, but only 800 thousand hectares belong to the protected zone. “Wrangel Island” belongs to a pair of large islands in the Chukchi Sea - Herald and Wrangel. They are located in the east of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The decree establishing the state reserve was promulgated in 1976.

Peculiarities

Initially, the reserve was created to study the ecosystems of the island regions of the Arctic. In addition, this complex was aimed at preserving rare animals and plant species, among which there are many endemics. Thus, a year before this zone was declared a protected area, a musk ox was acclimatized to it. The modern protection zone was established in 1983, and at sea - in 1999. The last change occurred in 2012, associated with an increase in the coastal protection area.

The main part of the reserve is a mountainous landscape with elements of the Arctic tundra. The island has over a hundred small rivers and streams, as well as approximately 1,000 small lakes. The islands have a windy and frosty climate, which partially complicates the work of scientists and impedes the tourist opportunities of the reserve.

It is characteristic that the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve was the first environmental protection zone in the USSR where fishing activities were allowed among the indigenous population. Some of the island's lands are of value to archaeologists. Here they discovered not only the remains of ancient mammoths, but also the remains of the life of a caveman.

A limited excursion program on the island consists of travel on ATVs and all-terrain vehicles. Tourists visit Doubtful Bay, Devil's Ravine, and Mount Perkantum.

The wealth of flora on the island

The flora of the reserve is unique in the number of endemics. In total, about 500 plant species have been recorded on these lands, which is several times more than the standard indicators of the Arctic tundra. Among the interesting endemics, it is worth highlighting several species of poppy, cinquefoil, cinquefoil, and grasshopper. Scientists also count 300 species of mosses and lichens in this area. The main part of the mountains is occupied by grass, shrub and lichen cover. You can find swampy areas, and in the southern latitudes of the island - forest plantations. The tops of the mountains are rock mounds.

Wildlife of the reserve

Due to harsh climatic conditions, the fauna of the environmental complex is significantly limited. There are no representatives of amphibians and reptiles in the special zone at all. Fish live only off the coast. The key advantage of the reserve is the large number of birds, including sea birds that constantly build nests on the island. Of interest to researchers are the white goose, brent geese, eiders, and waders. The seashores are distinguished by such an interesting phenomenon as bird colonies consisting of cormorants, kittiwakes and guillemots.

Speaking of mammals, it should be noted that there are many lemmings, deer, stoats, arctic foxes and wolverines. However, the polar bear is rightfully considered the most famous resident of Wrangel Island. The maximum number of his ancestral dens is located here.

For a long time, scientists have also been monitoring reindeer and musk oxen, which were brought to this territory and long time underwent acclimatization.

The coast of the reserve is a walrus rookery, and in the water area itself you can find beluga whales and gray whales.

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

Features of Wrangel Island

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

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

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

Flora of Wrangel Island

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

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

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

General information about Wrangel Island

Wrangel Island is located in the eastern part of the Arctic Ocean, 200 km from the Chukotka Peninsula. Separated from the mainland by the Long Strait, the island is washed from the west by the East Siberian Sea, and from the east by the Chukchi Sea. Located at 70°51?44?N and 178°46?18?O from Greenwich (coordinates of Rogers Bay). The length of the island is about 140 km, the width is from 30 to 50 km, and the total area is about 4500 sq. km.

The island has oval shape. Its shores are little indented, and there are no bays protruding into the interior of the island. In some places, more or less significant alluvial pebble spits extend from the shores, usually stretching parallel to the shore. These spits form harbors convenient for parking. The best among them is Rogers Harbor, the site of a Soviet colony.

The interior of the island is elevated and mountainous. The central, most massive part of the mountain range, replete with many domed and cone-shaped peaks, is enclosed by the highest point of the entire island - Berry Peak, 760 meters high (according to other sources - 900 meters). In the eastern part of the island, the coast is also elevated, with cliffs reaching 200 meters in places.

A number of scientific data indicate that Wrangel Island in ancient times was one with the mainland. This is indicated, by the way, by the presence of mammoth tusks on the island. The island separated from the mainland due to the subsidence of part of the mainland land, which now makes up the bottom of the Long Strait, the depth of which is only a few tens of meters.

According to its geological structure (granite and shale rocks), Wrangel Island is related to the Chukotka Peninsula and Alaska.

The island is not rich in rivers; moreover, they are extremely narrow and shallow. Only one of them - the Claire River, which flows into the sea in the south-eastern corner at Cape Hawaii - is possible to navigate by boat. There are no glaciers on the island at all; most of its surface is covered by polar tundra.

The island's climate is extremely harsh. Frosts here reach 60°. The average annual temperature for this latitude is unusually low: - 11.2°. Frosts are observed throughout the year, with the coldest month being March. The polar night lasts 64 days here (from November 20 to January 22); the polar day, during which the sun does not set beyond the horizon, is 77 days (from May 15 to July 30).

Despite the very unfavorable climatic conditions, the island is relatively rich in life. The herbarium collected by G. A. Ushakov includes 86 species. But, undoubtedly, the flora of Wrangel Island is not yet exhausted by these representatives.

In summer, a lot of birds fly to the island. Among them are geese, ducks, eiders, guillemots, cormorants, gulls, plovers, and snow buntings. Most birds nest in the so-called bird colonies - lonely high cliffs located near the coast. Among the mammals typical of the island are walruses, seals, polar bears, arctic foxes, and lemmings (field mice). Most of the listed representatives of the fauna of Wrangel Island are profitable fisheries.

Wrangel Island is one of the most inaccessible Arctic islands in terms of ice. Located not far from the coast, but due to special natural conditions always surrounded by an impassable barrier of ice, the island was inaccessible for many decades. The epic discovery of Wrangel Island is a most curious and instructive page not only in the history of Arctic exploration, but also in history geographical research at all.

The discovery of Wrangel Island was preceded by a number of rumors, tales and legends borrowed from the Chukchi. Undoubtedly, all these rumors, telling about some unknown land located north of the eastern shores of Siberia, contained a grain of truth. At the beginning of the 19th century, in order to verify these rumors, an expedition was sent to Nizhnekolymsk under the command of a prominent Russian navigator, Lieutenant F. P. Wrangel. Despite energetic attempts, Wrangel failed to reach the desired land, although he remained fully convinced that the earth really existed; he even pinpointed its location.

Since the end of the first half of the 19th century, in search of the disappeared expedition of the English navigator John Franklin, the Siberian water sector has been intensively visited by foreigners. The head of one of these expeditions, Kellet, confirms that in the place indicated by Wrangel he actually saw some land, but could not get closer to it. In 1867, the American whaler Long was only 18 miles from land, but was also unable to land due to ice obstacles. In honor of Wrangel, who for the first time accurately determined the position of the unknown land, Long gives it the name of Wrangel.

The earth attracts everything more attention, a number of expeditions were sent there, but they were unsuccessful. In 1881, two ships, the Corwin and the Rogers, set off from San Francisco in search of the missing American ship Jeanette. Since the sailors believed that the crew of the Jeannette had landed on Wrangel Island, all their efforts were aimed at reaching the latter. They reach it safely and carry out the first examination.

In 1911, Wrangel was visited by the Russian hydrographic vessel Vaigach. The result of the Vaigach voyage was a significant expansion of our knowledge about the island.

In 1913, the American polar explorer Stefanson, challenging the Russians' right to the island, organized an expedition there on the Karluk ship under the command of the outstanding sailor and polar explorer R. Bartlett. Having fallen into impassable ice, the Karluk dies north of Wrangel Island; Some of the crew manage to reach the island across the ice.

In 1914, “Vaigach” tried again, but unsuccessfully, to reach Wrangel Island. In 1916, the Russian government issued a decree annexing Wrangel Island to the territory of its state.

Tentative map of the Asian coast from Kolyma to the Bering Strait

Since 1921, foreigners have begun to challenge our rights to the island. In the autumn of the same year, a group of colonists under the leadership of the Canadian Crawford went to the island and annexed it to the possessions of Canada. Protest Soviet government Canadian does not lead to the desired results. In August 1924, the icebreaker “Red October” was sent from Vladivostok, overcoming extremely difficult obstacles, to the island and restored our rights to it. The Canadians' loot was confiscated, and they themselves were removed from the island.

After the Red October campaign, a new, extremely fruitful era began in the history of the island. On July 15, 1926, on the steamship “Stavropol” under the command of G. A. Ushakov, the first group of settlers of 6 Russians and 50 Chukchi and Eskimos went to the island. In 1929, the Litke ice cutter replaced the winter workers, installed a new batch here and built a radio station for communication with the mainland. In 1934, Krasin delivered a third shift to the island and erected a number of new buildings.

The significance of Wrangel Island for us is not limited to its commercial wealth. Undoubtedly, in the not too distant future the island will attract even greater attention in connection with the Northern by sea, when the function of an important nodal point falls on the island.

Wrangel Island, in addition, is a convincing indicator of the technical and economic power of our country, which has enough funds and energy to develop and use even the most remote and inaccessible polar regions.

Wrangel Island is washed by the East Siberian Sea on the western side and the Chukchi Sea on the eastern side. Herald Island is a mountain outcrop located 60 km east of Wrangel Island in the Chukchi Sea.
Wrangel Island is located north of Chukotka, between 70-71° N latitude. and 179° W. - 177°E Important feature geographical location The island is the fact that it is the only large landmass located at high latitudes in the northeastern sector of the Asian Arctic, in the continental shelf zone, the boundary of which ends approximately 300 km north of the island. At the same time, Wrangel Island is located close not only to Asia, but also to North America, and to the Bering Strait separating these continents, which serves as the only highway connecting the Pacific and Arctic oceans and a breeding ground for many species of marine animals.

The island is separated from the mainland by the Longa Strait, whose average width is 150 km, which ensures reliable isolation from the mainland. At the same time, the area of ​​Wrangel Island is large enough to provide biological and landscape diversity. Other Arctic islands and archipelagos are separated from Wrangel Island by hundreds of kilometers.

Until the last rise in the level of the world's oceans, Wrangel Island was part of a single Beringian landmass.

The greatest length diagonally from northeast to southwest (between Capes Waring and Blossom) is about 145 km, and the maximum width from north to south (traverse Pestsovaya Bay - Krasina Bay) is slightly more than 80 km. Approximately 2/3 of the island's area is occupied by mountain systems with the highest altitude being 1095.4 m above sea level. (Sovetskaya).
Wrangel Island is one of the highest islands in the Euro-Asian sector of the Arctic and the highest island without glaciation in the Arctic in general. The island is characterized by highly dissected relief and a wide variety of geological and geomorphological structures.
Wrangel and Herald Islands, due to climatic conditions, landscape characteristics and vegetation cover, belong to the arctic tundra subzone (the northernmost subzone of the tundra zone).

GEOGRAPHY OF WRANGEL ISLAND
Wrangel Island (Chuk. Umkilir - “island of polar bears”) is a Russian island in Severny Arctic Ocean between the East Siberian and Chukchi seas. Named in honor of the Russian navigator and statesman of the 19th century Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel.

It is located at the junction of the western and eastern hemispheres and is divided by the 180th meridian into two almost equal parts.
Administratively it belongs to the Iultinsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
It is part of the reserve of the same name. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2004).

Archaeological finds in the area of ​​the Devil's Ravine site indicate that the first people (Paleo-Eskimos) hunted on the island as early as 1750 BC. e.
Russian pioneers knew about the existence of the island since the middle of the 17th century from the stories of local residents of Chukotka, but it appeared on geographical maps only two hundred years later.

Opening
In 1849, British explorer Henry Kellett discovered a new island in the Chukchi Sea and named it Herald Island after his ship Herald. To the west of the island, Gerald Kellett observed another island and marked it on the map. The island received its first name: “Kellett's Land”.

In 1866, the first European visited the western island - Captain Eduard Dallmann (German: Eduard Dallmann), who conducted trade operations with the residents of Alaska and Chukotka.
In 1867, American whaler by profession and explorer by vocation Thomas Long - perhaps unaware of Kellett's previous discovery, or having misidentified the island - named it in honor of the Russian traveler and statesman Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel.
Wrangel knew about the existence of the island from the Chukchi and during 1820-1824 unsuccessfully searched for it.

In 1879, near Wrangel Island, the route of the expedition of George De Long lay, who tried to reach the North Pole on the ship USS Jeannette. De Long's voyage ended in disaster, and in search of him in 1881, the American steam cutter Thomas Corwin, under the command of Calvin L. Hooper, approached the island. Hooper landed a search party on the island and declared it US territory.
In September 1911, the icebreaking steamship Vaygach from the Russian hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean approached Wrangel Island. The Vaygach crew filmed the coast of the island, landed and raised the Russian flag over it.

Herald Island, a satellite of Wrangel Island

Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-1916
On July 13, 1913, the brigantine of the Canadian Arctic expedition “Karluk”, led by anthropologist V. Stefanson, left the port of Nome (Alaska) to explore Herschel Island in the Beaufort Sea. On August 13, 1913, 300 kilometers from its destination, the Karluk was caught in ice and began a slow drift to the west. On September 19, six people, including Stefanson, went hunting, but due to ice drift they were no longer able to return to the ship. They had to make their way to Cape Barrow. Later, accusations were made against Stefanson that he deliberately abandoned the ship under the pretext of hunting in order to explore the islands of the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
25 people remained on the Karluk - the crew, members of the expedition and hunters. The brigantine's drift continued along the route of George De Long's barque Jeannette until it was crushed by ice on January 10, 1914.
The first batch of sailors, on behalf of Bartlett and under the command of Bjarne Mamen, set out for Wrangel Island, but mistakenly reached Herald Island. The first mate of the Karluk, Sandy Anderson, remained on Herald Island with three sailors. All four died, presumably due to food poisoning or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Another party, including Alistair McCoy (participant of Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in 1907-1909), undertook an independent trip to Wrangel Island (a distance of 130 km) and went missing. The remaining 17 people under the command of Barlett managed to reach Wrangel Island and went ashore in Draghi Bay. In 1988, traces of their camp were found here and a memorial sign was erected. Captain Bartlett (who had experience participating in the expeditions of Robert Peary) and the Eskimo hunter Kataktovik together set off across the ice to the mainland for help. Within a few weeks they successfully reached the Alaskan coast, but ice conditions prevented an immediate rescue expedition.

The Russian icebreaking steamships Taimyr and Vaigach tried twice in the summer of 1914 (August 1-5, then August 10-12) to break through to help, but were unable to overcome the ice. Several attempts by the American cutter “Bear” were also unsuccessful.

Of the 15 people remaining on Wrangel Island, three died: Mallok from a combination of reasons such as overwork, hypothermia, gunren and eating spoiled pemmican; Mamen as a result of kidney failure, apparently caused by the same pemmican; Braddy, according to some members of the group, was killed by Williamson, who staged an accident while cleaning a revolver. The reason is the difficult psychological atmosphere in the group’s camp. The murder was never proven; Williamson denied all charges. The survivors earned their living by hunting and were rescued only in September 1914 by an expedition on the Canadian schooner King & Wing.

Northern Lights over Wrangel Island

Stefanson's expeditions of 1921-1924
Inspired by the survival experience of the Karluk crew and the prospects for marine fishing off Wrangel Island, Stefanson launched a campaign to colonize the island. To support his enterprise, Stefanson tried to obtain official status from first the Canadian and then the British government, but his idea was rejected. The refusal, however, did not prevent Stefanson from declaring support for the authorities and then raising the British flag over Wrangel Island. This ultimately led to a diplomatic scandal.

On September 16, 1921, a settlement of five colonists was founded on the island: 22-year-old Canadian Alan Crawford, Americans Halle, Maurer (participant of the Karluk expedition), Knight, and an Eskimo woman, Ada Blackjack, as a seamstress and cook. The expedition was poorly equipped, as Stefanson relied on hunting as one of his main sources of supply.
Having successfully survived the first winter and having lost only one dog (out of seven), the colonists hoped for the arrival of a ship with supplies and a replacement in the summer. Due to severe ice conditions, the ship was unable to approach the island and the people remained for another winter.

In September 1922, the White Army gunboat Magnit (a former messenger ship armed during Civil War) under the command of Lieutenant D. A. von Dreyer, but the ice did not give her such an opportunity. Opinions differ about the purpose of Magnit's campaign to Wrangel Island - it is to suppress the activities of Stefanson's enterprise (expressed by contemporaries and participants in the events), or, on the contrary, to provide assistance to him for a fee (expressed in the newspaper of the FSB of Russia in 2008). Due to military defeat White movement In the Far East, the ship never returned to Vladivostok; the Magnit crew went into exile.
After the hunt failed and food supplies ran low, on January 28, 1923, three polar explorers went to the mainland for help. Nobody saw them again. Knight, who remained on the island, died of scurvy in April 1923.
Only 25-year-old Ada Blackjack survived. She managed to survive alone on the island until the ship arrived on August 19, 1923.

In 1923, 13 settlers remained on the island for the winter - American geologist Charles Wells and twelve Eskimos, including women and children. Another child was born on the island during the wintering period. In 1924, concerned by the news of the creation of a foreign colony on the Russian island, the USSR government sent the gunboat Red October (the former Vladivostok port icebreaker Nadezhny, on which guns were installed) to Wrangel Island.

"Red October" left Vladivostok on July 20, 1924 under the command of hydrographer B.V. Davydov. On August 20, 1924, the expedition raised the Soviet flag on the island and removed the settlers. On the way back, on September 25, in the Long Strait near Cape Schmidt, the icebreaker was hopelessly jammed by ice, but a storm helped it free. Overcoming heavy ice led to excessive fuel consumption. By the time the ship dropped anchor in Providence Bay, there was only 25 minutes of fuel left, and there was no fresh water at all. The icebreaker returned to Vladivostok on October 29, 1924.

Soviet-American and then Chinese-American negotiations on the further return of the colonists to their homeland through Harbin took a long time. Three did not live to see their return: the expedition leader, Charles Wells, died in Vladivostok from pneumonia; two children died along the subsequent journey.

DEVELOPMENT OF WRANGEL ISLAND
In 1926, a polar station was created on Wrangel Island under the leadership of G. A. Ushakov. Together with Ushakov, 59 people landed on the island, mostly Eskimos who had previously lived in the villages of Providence and Chaplino.
In 1928, an expedition was made to the island on the icebreaker “Litke”, on which the Ukrainian writer and journalist Nikolai Trublaini worked as a boiler room attendant, who described Wrangel Island in a number of his books, in particular “To the Arctic - through the Tropics”. In 1948, a small group of domesticated reindeer was brought to the island and a branch of the reindeer-breeding state farm was organized. In 1953, administrative authorities adopted a resolution on the protection of walrus rookeries on Wrangel Island, and in 1960, by decision of the Magadan Regional Executive Committee, a long-term reserve was created, which was transformed in 1968 into a reserve of republican significance.

LIES ABOUT THE GULAG
In 1987, former prisoner Efim Moshinsky published a book in which he claimed that he was in a “corrective labor camp” on Wrangel Island and met Raoul Wallenberg and other foreign prisoners there. In reality, contrary to legend, there were no Gulag camps on Wrangel Island.

Wrangel Island (reserve)
In 1975, musk oxen from Nunivak Island were introduced to the island, and the executive committee of the Magadan region allocated the lands of the islands for a future reserve. In 1976, to study and protect the natural complexes of the Arctic islands, the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve was founded, which also included the small neighboring Herald Island. In connection with the reserve, a reserve protection zone 5 nautical miles wide was established around the islands. The total area of ​​the reserve was 795.6 thousand hectares. In 1978, the Scientific Department of the reserve was organized, whose employees began a systematic study of the flora and fauna of the islands.
In 1992, the radar station was closed, and the only settlement left on the island was the village of Ushakovskoye, which was deserted by 2003.
In 1997, at the proposal of the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the State Committee for Ecology of Russia, the area of ​​the reserve was expanded to include the water area surrounding the island with a width of 12 nautical miles, by order of the Russian government No. 1623-r dated November 15, 1997, and in 1999, around the already protected water area, by decree of the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug No. 91 dated May 25, 1999, a protective zone 24 nautical miles wide was organized. Wrangel Island

Modernity
Various military exercises are regularly held on the island.
In 2014, the Eastern Military District, as part of the northern delivery, will for the first time deliver more than 2.5 thousand tons of various cargo to Cape Schmidt and Wrangel Island.
On August 20, 2014, sailors of the Pacific Fleet under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Evgeniy Onufriev, who arrived on Wrangel Island to carry out hydrographic work on the ship "Marshal Gelovani", raised the Naval Flag over the island, thus establishing the first base of the Russian Pacific Fleet on it.

NATURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND
The island's area is about 7670 km², of which about 4700 km² is mountainous. The shores are low, dissected by lagoons, separated by sand spits from the sea. In the central part of the island the terrain is mountainous. There are small glaciers and medium-sized lakes, arctic tundra.

Climate
The topography of Wrangel Island determines significant thermal differences within its boundaries. Thus, at different points on the southern coast, the average July temperature ranges from 2.4 to 3.60C, which corresponds to the range of the Arctic tundra subzone; on the northern coast, a similar indicator fluctuates around 10C (as in the polar deserts), and in the intermountain basins of the central part of the island, it reaches 8-100C, which is typical for the southern edge of the tundra zone.

The climate in the area of ​​the islands is arctic with a significant influence of cyclonic activity. For most of the year, cold Arctic air masses dominate here, which differ low temperatures and low moisture and dust content. In summer, they are displaced by warmer and more humid air masses from the Bering Sea. Dry, dusty or continental air masses from Siberia are also not uncommon here. The average annual air temperature is - 11.3°C. The coldest month is February (- 24.9°C), the warmest month is July (2.5°C).

The frost-free period on the islands usually does not exceed 20-25 days, often lasting only about 2 weeks. An average of 152 mm of precipitation falls here annually, about half of which occurs in the snowy months. For winter period Characterized by strong and prolonged north-easterly winds, the speed of which often exceeds 40 m/s. At the same time, the snow precipitation is significantly redistributed depending on the shape of the relief and the direction of the wind, forming a very uneven snow cover - from its absence in windy areas to multi-meter thicknesses in the lowlands and on leeward slopes. Substantial part snow precipitation is blown by the wind into the sea.

Meso-climatic differences are well expressed on the territory of Wrangel Island. The central sector of the island is characterized by a more continental climate compared to the coastal (western and eastern sectors), which are characterized by lower summer temperatures, later snow melting and a much greater frequency of cloudy weather and fog.

Relief
Approximately 2/3 of the island's territory. Wrangel is occupied by mountains. In the central part of the island, to the north and south of the Central Mountains, two longitudinal wide (up to 3 km) valleys can be traced in the latitudinal direction. The highest point of the island is Mount Sovetskaya 1096 m. The central mountainous part of Wrangel Island is a mid-mountain area, towering above the entire island.
The mid-mountain massif is strongly dissected by numerous valleys. The peaks of the mountains, with the exception of a few of the highest ones with alpine-type outlines, have a predominantly plateau-like shape. From the west, north and south, the middle mountains are surrounded by a strip of low mountains and hillocks, which are strongly dissected peneplains with altitudes from 200 to 600 m. The low mountains are also densely dissected by valleys, among which there are several particularly large ones, forming extensive intermountain basins. The mountain structures of the island from the north and south are bordered by accumulative plains, composed mainly of alluvial deposits, with ridges and ridges rising 10-15 m above the general level.

The northern valley is confined to a large latitudinal fault, and the southern valley is confined to the boundary of strata of different ages and different facies. The northern and southern parts of the island are occupied by low-lying tundra. The northern lowland Tundra of the Academy is a slightly hilly lowland with absolute elevations from 5-10 to 30-50 m. The flat tundra in the southern part of the island is identical in surface character to the Tundra of the Academy. The absolute heights of its heights at the foot of the Central Mountains reach 100 m. On the western side of the island there is a narrow coastal plain.

The flat shores of the island are predominantly of the lagoon type and are characterized by an abundance of sand and pebble spits and bars. Where mountain structures face the sea, Various types abrasion coasts, characterized by rocky cliffs up to several tens of meters high. Herald Island is a high outlier composed of granites and gneisses, ending on all sides in the sea with steep rocky ledges up to 250 m high. Both islands are characterized by various cryogenic forms of nano- and micro-relief, among which various polygonal and spotted forms predominate. In the low-lying areas of the plains of Wrangel Island, thermokarst basins are also developed, and in the intermountain valleys there are complexes of bayjarakhs, formed as a result of the melting of polygonal ice wedges.

In accordance with the landscape-ecological zoning of the territory of Russia (Isachenko, 2001), Wrangel Island is part of the Chukotka-Koryak group of provinces of the Far Eastern sector of the subarctic zone. However, most researchers (Alexandrova, 1977; Khromov, Mamontova, 1974, etc.) attribute it to the Arctic zone. The island as a whole is characterized by the development of arctic-type landscapes, including polar-desert and arctic-tundra subtypes. In accordance with the botanical and geographical zoning of the Arctic (Alexandrova, 1977), Wrangel Island belongs to the Wrangel subprovince of the Wrangel-Western American province of the Arctic tundra. All main types of Arctic landscapes are represented on Wrangel Island. Plains, abrasive and accumulative in origin, according to morphological types give a wide range, including lowland and elevated, flat, hilly and sloping.
On the territory of the island, Markov (1952) and V.V. Petrovsky (1985) identified 5 regions characterized by relatively homogeneous geological and geomorphological conditions and characteristics of plant communities: the Academy tundra, the Southern region, the Western region, the Central region and the Eastern region.

Wrangel Island, Chukchi Sea coast

Hydrology and hydrography
In total, the island has more than 140 rivers and streams with a length of more than 1 km and 5 rivers with a length of more than 50 km. All watercourses are fed by snow. Of approximately 900 lakes, most of of which is located in the Academy Tundra (north of the island), 6 lakes have an area exceeding 1 km². On average, the depth of lakes is no more than 2 m. Based on their origin, lakes are divided into thermokarst lakes, which include the majority, oxbow lakes (in the valleys of large rivers), glacial, dammed and lagoon lakes. The largest of them are: Kmo, Komsomol, Gagachye, Zapovednoe. The entire surface of the island is dissected by an intensively developed river network. All more or less large rivers originate within large mountain ranges, where their valleys are usually narrow, with steep slopes and canyons in some areas. Mountain streams and rivers have a relatively shallow depth with a small channel width. Their valleys are deeply incised and differ in an equilibrium profile that has not yet been established. Mountain rivers that flow across the strike of the structures have steep rocky banks almost throughout their entire length. With access to the plains, the channels of watercourses expand sharply: the streams are divided into several branches, meanders, reaches, and rifts appear. The watercourses of the Academy Tundra are characterized by a calm flow in winding channels. The erosion incision in them is weakly expressed. There is an abundance of oxbow lakes, especially in the floodplain area.

The water area of ​​the East Siberian and Chukchi seas adjacent to the Wrangel and Herald islands is distinguished as a separate Wrangel chemical-oceanographic region, characterized by special types surface waters with low salinity, high oxygen saturation and high content of nutrients. A flow of warm Pacific waters comes here from the Bering Sea, forming a clearly defined layer at a depth of 75-150. Warm Atlantic waters also penetrate into the northern part of the water area, at a depth of about 150 m.

The ice regime of the water area adjacent to the islands is characterized by the almost constant presence of ice in the summer. The edge of drifting ice, during the period of its minimum distribution, is located in the immediate vicinity of the islands, or slightly to the northwest (in exceptional cases, far to the north). In the Long Strait, throughout the warm period, an ice mass known as the Wrangel ice mass remains. In the East Siberian Sea, not far from Wrangel Island in the summer, there is a spur of the Aion oceanic ice massif. In winter, to the north or northwest of the island, the Zavrangelskaya stationary polynya operates.

East-Siberian Sea. Due to shallow depths, the temperature is characterized by a uniform distribution from the surface to depth. In winter it is -1-20C, in summer +2+50C, in bays up to +80C. The salinity of water varies in western and eastern parts seas. In the eastern part of the sea at the surface it is usually about 30 ppm. River flow in the eastern part of the sea leads to a decrease in salinity to 10-15 ppm, and at the mouths of large rivers to almost zero. Near ice fields, salinity increases to 30 ppm. With depth, salinity increases to 32 ppm in the Chukchi Sea. The temperature in winter is -1.70C, in summer it rises to +70C. From the southern part of the island, the tides are small, about 15 cm. In winter, increased salinity (about 31-33 ‰) of the under-ice layer of water is characteristic. In summer, salinity is less, increasing from west to east from 28 to 32 ‰. At the melting edges of the ice, salinity is lower; it is minimal at river mouths (3-5 ‰). Typically, salinity increases with depth.
The Chukchi Current running from west to east from the East Siberian Sea and the Heraldovskaya and Longovskaya branches of the Bering Sea Current running north, northwest and west into the Long Strait are described.

Geology
The island is composed of various sediments (metamorphic, sedimentary, igneous, etc.) of a wide age range - from the late Precambrian to the Triassic, which are overlain by Neogene-Quaternary sediments, filling depressions in the north and south. Excellent exposure, easy passage of the tundra and in most cases moderate elevations, good decipherability of objects make the island convenient for geological study. In addition, contacts between strata of different ages are in most cases well expressed in the relief.

Wrangel Island is composed of two main complexes: metamorphic formations and deposits of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic cover.

METAMORPHIC FORMATIONS are exposed in the axial part of the Central and Mammoth Mountains. Sedimentary and volcanic rocks, strongly dislocated and metamorphosed in greenschist and epidote-amphibolite facies, intruded by dikes and small intrusions of mafic and felsic composition, are distinguished as the Wrangel complex [Ivanov, 1969], the lower part of the Berry Formation [Tilman et al., 1970; Ganelin et al., 1989; Bogdanov, 1998], Gromovskaya and Inkalinskaya formations [Kameneva, 1975]. The total thickness is estimated at 2000 m. G.I. Kameneva, based on microfossil finds, attributed the Gromov Formation to the Middle and Upper Riphean, and the Inkalin Formation to the Vendian. ON THE. Bogdanov, S.M. Tilman and V.G. Ganelin and co-authors are inclined to consider these formations as the result of dynamometamorphism of Devonian or Early Paleozoic rocks, which is confirmed by K-Ag dating of 457 ± 25 million years. During the work of the Soviet-Canadian expedition, determinations of zircons were obtained indicating a Late Proterozoic age: 699 ± 1 million years (zircons from mafic rocks), as well as 609 ± 10, 633 ± 21 and 677 ± 163 million years (zircons from granites). Our field observations (2006) most likely indicate that the metamorphic complex contains both ancient and Paleozoic formations.

The PALEOZOIC-MESOZOIC COVER is composed of Silurian-Devonian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic deposits. The contact of the Wrangel complex with the non-metamorphosed cover is most likely tectonic. In the upper reaches of the river. Predators, it is clearly expressed in relief by a ledge and a conjugate saddle, covered with vegetation with numerous outcroppings of black shales.

Silurian-Devonian. Terrigenous and carbonate deposits of this age are known only in the northern part of the island. The total thickness is 400-500 m.

Devonian. It is represented by sandstones, often quartzites and shales with horizons of conglomerates, gravelites and limestones. M.K. Kosko et al describe an unconformable Devonian stratigraphic contact with conglomerates at the base on rocks of the Wrangel Complex. Thickness 600-2000 m.

Lower Carboniferous. In the upper reaches of the river. Predator, the lower part of the section is composed of dark gray and black shales with interlayers of dark organogenic limestones. Above is a unit of alternating greenish-gray and brown calcareous sandstones, siltstones and shales. Gradational layering is clearly visible. Along the strike there are marly-calcareous packs, interlayers and lenses of carbonate rocks and dolomites with gypsum. This part of the section is characterized by variegated brown, yellow, gray, green and pinkish colors.

Carbon. Pelitomorphic and organogenic limestones with horizons of terrigenous rocks, the number of which increases in the northern direction. The total thickness of sediments is 500 -1500 m. In the middle reaches of the river. Unknown there are outcrops of volcanic rocks of acidic and basic composition with relics of spherical separation and lenses of jasperoids.

Permian. Shales with interlayers of bituminous limestones and sandstones. The southern part is dominated by shales, while the northern, shallower part contains lens-shaped conglomerate horizons. The thickness of the deposits is 800 m in the southern part and 1200 m in the northern part [Kosko et al., 2003].

Triassic. Terrigenous deposits, distributed mainly in the southern part, where they can be traced in a wide strip from Cape Ptichiy Bazar to the eastern coast. The Triassic is characterized by turbidites and an internal folded-scale structure.

Triassic turbidites overlie various horizons of Paleozoic sediments. Some researchers tend to consider these relationships as an unconformable stratigraphic contact, others as a thrust. In the places studied by the authors (Khishchnikov River, Somnitelny Creek, Zanes Cape) the contact is tectonic. At the same time, a long history of contact formation cannot be ruled out.

Initially, stratigraphic relationships could exist, then a thrust with a general northern vergence typical of Wrangel was formed, and at the very later stages faults could arise, including along the thrust plane, caused by general extension and the formation of young sedimentary basins on the shelf south of the island.

Soil cover
The entire territory of the reserve is located in the permafrost zone. The soil cover of the islands is relatively well formed. Arctic-tundra turf and tundra or arctic gley soils predominate. In the most continental central regions of the island, soils that are completely uncharacteristic of the Arctic islands are also common - steppe cryoarid and tundra-steppe, characteristic of the sharply continental regions of Siberia and the north of the Far East. Typical salt marshes of lithogenic origin, i.e., are also described on the island under the name arctic-tundra saline soils. Owing their existence to the exudate water regime, which is typical for arid territories and completely atypical for the Arctic. In the central regions of the island, the type of carbonate arctic-tundra soils, which is endemic to Wrangel Island, is quite widespread.

On Herald Island, seabird colonies at an altitude of 100-200 m have well-formed peat-humus zoogenic soils, on which the vegetation cover is unusually lush.

Flora
The first researcher of the vegetation of Wrangel Island, B. N. Gorodkov, who studied the eastern coast of the island in 1938, classified it as a zone of arctic and polar deserts. After a complete exploration of the entire island from the 2nd half of the 20th century. it belongs to the arctic tundra subzone of the tundra zone. Despite the relatively small sizes Wrangel Island, due to the sharp regional characteristics of its vegetation, it stands out as a special Wrangel subprovince of the Wrangel-Western American province of the Arctic tundra.

The vegetation of Wrangel Island is distinguished by a rich ancient species composition. The number of species of vascular plants exceeds 310 (for example, on the much larger New Siberian Islands there are only 135 such species, on the Severnaya Zemlya islands there are about 65, on Franz Josef Land there are less than 50). The flora of the island is rich in relics and relatively poor in plants common in other subpolar regions, of which, according to various estimates, there are no more than 35-40%.
About 3% of plants are subendemic (silver grass, Gorodkov poppy, Wrangel's cinquefoil) and endemic (Wrangel's bluegrass, Ushakov's poppy, Wrangel's cinquefoil, Lapland poppy). In addition to them, another 114 species of rare and very rare plants grow on Wrangel Island.

Similar composition flora allows us to conclude that the original Arctic vegetation in this area of ​​​​ancient Beringia was not destroyed by glaciers, and the sea prevented the penetration of later migrants from the south.
The modern vegetation cover on the territory of the reserve is almost everywhere open and low-growing. Sedge-moss tundra predominates. In the mountain valleys and intermountain basins of the central part of Wrangel Island there are areas of willow thickets (Richardson's willow) up to 1 m high.

bird market, Wrangel Island

Quite often, birds from North America fly or are blown into the reserve, including sandhill cranes that regularly visit Wrangel Island, as well as Canada geese and various small American passerines, including finches (myrtle warblers, savannah buntings, gray and Oregon juncos, black-browed and white-crowned Zonotrichia).
The mammal fauna of the reserve is poor. The endemic Vinogradov's lemming, previously considered a subspecies of the hoofed lemming, the Siberian lemming and the arctic fox live here permanently. Periodically, and in significant numbers, polar bears appear, whose maternity dens are located within the boundaries of the reserve. At times, wolves, wolverines, stoats and foxes enter the reserve. Along with people, sled dogs settled on Wrangel Island. A house mouse has appeared and lives in residential buildings. Reindeer and musk ox were brought to the island for acclimatization.

Reindeer lived here in the distant past, and the modern herd comes from domestic reindeer brought from the Chukotka Peninsula in 1948, 1954, 1967, 1968, 1975. The deer population is maintained at up to 1.5 thousand heads.
There is evidence that musk oxen lived on Wrangel Island in the distant past. In our time, a herd of 20 heads was brought in April 1975 from the American island of Nunivak.
The island has the largest walrus rookery in Russia. Seals live in coastal waters.

In the mid-1990s, in the journal Nature, one could read about a stunning discovery made on the island. Reserve employee Sergei Vartanyan discovered here the remains of woolly mammoths, whose age was determined to be from 7 to 3.5 thousand years. Despite the fact that, according to popular belief, mammoths went extinct everywhere 10-12 thousand years ago. Subsequently, it was discovered that these remains belonged to a special, relatively small subspecies that inhabited Wrangel Island back in the days when Egyptian pyramids, and which disappeared only during the reign of Tutankhamun and the heyday of the Mycenaean civilization. This places Wrangel Island among the most important paleontological monuments on the planet.

remains of the village of Domnitelny

Settlements
Ushakovskoe (non-residential)
Zvezdny (non-residential)
Perkatkun (non-residential)

Population
Officially, the village of Ushakovskoye on Wrangel Island was declared uninhabited in 1997. However, several people refused to leave him.
The last 25-year-old female islander, Vasilina Alpaun, was killed by a polar bear in 2003.
After her, the only civilian left on the island was the man Grigory Kaurgin, who practices shamanism. The presence of people on the island was again ensured by the Russian military from the troops of the Eastern Military District (VMD), who on October 1, 2014 settled in the military town created for them.

WRANGEL ISLAND RESERVE
"Wrangel Island" - state nature reserve, occupies the most northern position (located mainly north of 71° N) of the protected areas in Russia.
The Wrangel Island State Nature Reserve was established by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated March 23, 1976 No. 189. The total area is 2,225,650 hectares, including the water area of ​​1,430,000 hectares. 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 in the Shmidtovsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
This northernmost of the reserves of the Far East occupies two islands of the Chukchi Sea - Wrangel and Herald, as well as the adjacent water area, and is located in the Eastern region of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Landscape
Approximately 2/3 of the island's territory. Wrangel is occupied by mountains. Arctic tundra and mountains are the dominant landscape. The hydrographic network of Wrangel Island consists of about 150 relatively small rivers and streams, only 5 of which have a length of over 50 km, and about 900 medium-sized shallow lakes.

The flora of Wrangel Island has no analogues in the Arctic in 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 sizes. About 3% of the flora of Wrangel Island consists of 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. Endemics also include a variety of anthrax, a subspecies of Lapland poppy, Gorodkov and Ushakov poppies, and Wrangel's cinquefoil. 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 zones of the mountains are occupied by grass-lichen and shrub-forb tundras. There are swamps with sphagnum, low and creeping willow thickets. In the upper belts of the mountains there are extensive rocky areas.
Natural conditions are not conducive to the richness of the fauna.

There are absolutely no amphibians or 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 vagrants; nesting is registered for 62 species, of which 44 species nest on the islands regularly, including 8 species of seabirds. For example: gulls, guillemots, etc. Among 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 preserved in Russia and Asia. Brent geese nest regularly (moreover, non-breeding geese fly here in the thousands to molt from mainland Chukotka and Alaska), common eider and crested eider, and in very small numbers Siberian eider, pintails and waders. On the steep seashores there are bird colonies, which in the 60s, according to the famous explorer of the North S.M. Uspensky, numbered 50-100 thousand thick-billed guillemots, 30-40 thousand kittiwakes, 3 thousand cormorants. V.V. Dezhkin in his book “In the World of Reserved 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 bulk of the bird population consists of tundra species, most of which have circumpolar ranges and are common throughout the Arctic tundra. These are the Lapland plantain, the snow bunting, the tule, the turnstone, the Icelandic sandpiper and a number of other species. At the same time, there are known cases of nesting of species uncharacteristic for the Arctic, such as the turukhtan, the ruby-throated sandpiper, the puffin and puffin, and the common warbler, for which Wrangel Island is the most northern point nesting. Ipatka in last years began to nest on the seabird colonies 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 years of high numbers have very great importance in the ecosystems of the reserve. Arctic fox, ermine, wolverine, wild reindeer, wolves live, and red foxes wander in. But a particularly famous resident of both islands is the polar bear. Wrangel and Herald Islands are known as the world's largest concentration of polar bear maternity dens. V.V. Dezhkin writes: “In some years, up to 200-250 bears had dens in the reserve.” On the reserve’s website there is information that “every year from 300 to 500 bears lie in dens on the islands. Approximately 100 ancestral dens from this number are located on a small island. Herald." In the spring, with slightly stronger offspring, they set off 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 40s and early 50s: they were brought in two batches of domesticated reindeer from the coast of Chukotka. Currently, they represent a unique historical and biological features an 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 captured on the American island of Nunivak were brought to Wrangel Island. 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 actively grow. Currently, the number of musk oxen on the island is about 800-900 individuals, according to the situation in the fall of 2007 - possibly up to 1000. According to paleontological data, both species of ungulates lived on the territory of Wrangel Island in the late Pleistocene, and reindeer much later - only 2 -3 thousand years ago.

Finally, walruses, the most interesting and valuable sea animals, set up rookeries on the coasts of the reserve. Their protection and study are the tasks 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 and beginning of October, - most of the females and young animals of the entire population accumulate near the islands. Walruses stay near the edge of the ice and prefer to crawl out onto the ice floes to rest, as long as they are in the water area. When ice disappears near the most feeding shallow areas, walruses approach the islands and form the largest coastal rookeries in the Chukchi Sea on certain spits. At the same time, a total of up to 70-80 thousand animals were recorded in the coastal rookeries of walruses on Wrangel Island, and taking into account the animals swimming in the water, up to 130 thousand walruses gathered here. Walruses migrate to the Bering Sea for the winter.

Ringed seals and bearded seals are common in coastal waters throughout the year. The ringed seal is the main food for polar bears throughout the year, providing a complete life cycle predator.
In the summer-autumn period, the water area adjacent to Wrangel and Herald islands is a feeding and migration area for 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 noticeably increased. Every year large herds of beluga whales pass along the shores of Wrangel Island during their autumn migration. Based on satellite tagging data, it was established that beluga whales approach Wrangel Island in the fall and gather to give birth in the Mackenzie River delta (Canada).
The purpose of creating the reserve is to preserve and study the typical and unique ecosystems of the island part of the Arctic, as well as such animal species as the polar bear, walrus, the only breeding population of the white goose in Russia, and many other species of Beringian flora and fauna with high level endemism. In 1974, the musk ox was acclimatized on the island.

Particularly valuable natural objects

Thomas Creek Valley with Adjacent Slopes
high concentration of polar bear birth dens, high density of family groups and female polar bears in the autumn

Cape Blossom area
walrus rookery on the spit; high concentration and activity of polar bears in autumn; concentrations of pink and white gulls on autumn migration; area where walruses and gray whales feed in coastal waters

Scythe Doubtful
walrus rookery; a place of high activity and concentration of polar bears in autumn

Southern coast near Domnitelnaya Bay
cryophyte-steppe and tundra-steppe plant communities; rare and endemic plant taxa; yellowjacket nesting sites; area of ​​concentration for migration of pink and white gulls; area of ​​high polar bear activity in autumn

Mouth area of ​​the Mammoth River and Jack London Lake
high concentrations of molting brent geese; concentrations of waders on autumn migration; a large colony of Sabine-tailed Gull; area of ​​high polar bear activity in autumn

Middle reaches of the Mamontovaya River
cryophyte-steppe and tundra-steppe plant communities; relict communities of Arctic continental halophytes; high density of snowy owl nests and Arctic fox reproductive burrows; numerous small colonies of snow goose and other lamellar-billed birds around the nests of snowy owls; nesting sites of yellow shank and Baird's sandpiper; high density and variety of types of lemming settlements

Gusinaya River Valley
relict tundra-steppe communities, willow growths; high nesting density of snowy owls; numerous colonies of white goose around the nests of snowy owls; Baird's sandpiper nesting sites; high concentration and diversity of lemming settlement types

Whale mountain range
nesting area of ​​Baird's sandpiper, yellow shank, concentration of molting brent geese; a large colony of Sabine-tailed Gull; high diversity of lemming settlements

West coast (section from Cape Thomas to the mouth of the Sovetskaya River)
high concentration of polar bear maternity dens on the coastal slopes of the mountains, high activity of polar bears in the autumn; large colonies of seabirds (kittiwakes, thick-billed guillemots, Bering cormorants, mottled guillemots); Baird's sandpiper nesting sites; unique and highly aesthetic geological structures (I-VI); arctic continental halophytes

Cape Warring area
high concentration of polar bear birth dens; high activity of polar bears in autumn; large colonies of seabirds (kittiwakes, thick-billed guillemots, Bering cormorants, mottled guillemots); highest densities of Baird's Sandpiper, Ringed Sandpiper; location of rock crystal and calcite; unique geological structures

Upper reaches of the Unknown River (key section “Upper Unknown”)
the most stable and densely populated breeding colony of snowy owls known in the species' range; mixed reproductive populations of snowy owl and arctic fox; very high concentration of lamellar-billed colonies around snowy owl nests; high concentration of micropopulations and communities of relict, endemic and rare plant taxa; willow growth

The main breeding colony of the white goose in the upper reaches of the Tundravaya River
the only large colony of snow geese remaining in Eurasia; with an accompanying unique ecosystem formed in a given habitat under the influence of zoogenic factors

Herald Island
the highest concentration of polar bear natal dens known in the species' range; walrus rookery; the largest colonies of seabirds with a community of associated species in this sector of the Arctic; unique and highly aesthetic geological structures

Drem Head mountain ranges, Western Plateau, Warring, part of the Eastern Plateau in the area of ​​​​Cape Pillar
the main areas of concentration of polar bear maternity dens on Wrangel Island, areas of high concentration and activity of polar bears in the autumn

Lower reaches of the Tundra River
high concentration of white geese with chicks during the molting period; the most stable and densely populated reproductive colony of arctic foxes known in the species' range; high-density nesting area for the common gull; high concentration and diversity of lemming settlement types

Lake basins in the Academy Tundra from the Medvezhya River to the Hydrographs River and the lower reaches of the Neizvestnaya, Pestsovaya, Krasny Flag and Hydrographs rivers
areas of concentration of white geese with chicks during the post-breeding molt period; main nesting sites for the ragged gull

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Leontyev V.V., Novikova K.A. Toponymic dictionary of the north-east of the USSR. - Magadan: Magadan Book Publishing House, 1989, p. 384.
Wikipedia website.
Magidovich I. P., Magidovich V. I. Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. - Enlightenment, 1985. - T. 4.
Shentalinsky V. The shore of non-random meetings. Magazine "Around the World" (September 1988). Retrieved March 2, 2010. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012.
Krasinsky G.D. On a Soviet ship in the Arctic Ocean. Hydrographic expedition to Wrangel Island. - Publication of Litizdat N.K.I.D., 1925.
Klimenko I. N. Expedition to Wrangel Island, or two lives of the icebreaker “Reliable”. Primorsky State United Museum named after V.K. Arsenyev.
Wiese V. Yu. Seas of the Soviet Arctic: Essays on the history of research. — Ed. Glavsevmorputi, 1948. - 416 p.
Shentalinsky V. A. Home for man and wild beast. - Thought, 1988. - 236 p.
Shentalinsky V. A. Ice captain. - Magadan Book Publishing House, 1980. - 160 p.
Vitaly Shentalinsky. Reserved autumn on Wrangel // Around the World. - 1978. - No. 9 (2635).
Vitaly Shentalinsky. Shore of non-random encounters // Around the world. - 1988. - No. 9 (2576).
Gromov L.V. A fragment of ancient Beringia. - Geographgiz, 1960. - 95 p.
Mineev A.I. Five years on Wrangel Island. - Young Guard, 1936. - 443 p.
Mineev A.I. Wrangel Island. - Glavsevmorput Publishing House, 1946. - 430 p.
Gorodkov B.N. Polar deserts about. Wrangel // Botanical Journal. - 1943. - T. 28. - No. 4. - P. 127-143.
Gorodkov B.N. Soil and vegetation cover of Wrangel Island // Vegetation of the Far North of the USSR and its development. - L.: Nauka, 1958. - V. 3. - P. 5-58.
Gorodkov B.N. Analysis of the Arctic desert zone using the example of Wrangel Island // Vegetation of the Far North of the USSR and its development. - L.: Nauka, 1958. - V. 3. - P. 59-94.
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo: S. Anisimov, V. Timoshenko, A. Kutsky.

Wrangel Island is on the border of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, part of the Russian Federation. Area approx. 7.3 thousand km2. Height up to 1096 m. It is located at the junction of the western and eastern hemispheres and is divided by the 180th meridian into two almost equal parts. It is separated from the mainland (northern coast of Chukotka) by the Long Strait, which is about 140 km wide at its narrowest part. Administratively it belongs to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. It is part of the reserve of the same name. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It received its name in honor of the Russian navigator and polar explorer Ferdinand Wrangel.

The territory of Wrangel and Herald Islands, with the exception of the low-lying plains of Wrangel Island, remained dry throughout the Cretaceous period and the entire Cenozoic era. During powerful Pleistocene transgressions, the territories of the islands were repeatedly separated from the mainland, and during periods of regression of the seas, coinciding with ice ages, they were part of the vast Beringian landmass, which united the shelves of the East Siberian, Chukchi and Bering seas and connected Asia and North America. At the same time, the territory of the modern islands was located almost in the center of the Arctic part of Beringia, located north of the modern Bering Strait. It is especially important that throughout the Pleistocene the islands never experienced cover glaciation (there are only traces of mountain-valley glaciation in the central part of Wrangel Island), nor were they ever completely flooded (transgressions covered only the plains of Wrangel Island, and even then no more than half their length). That is, organic world The islands have developed continuously since the end of the Mesozoic era.

During the periods of the existence of the Beringian landmass, the territory of the modern islands found itself at the crossroads of migratory flows of plants and animals leading from Asia to America, from America to Asia and from Central Asia to the Arctic region (thanks to the existence during this period of a single “tundra-steppe” hyperzone throughout central arid to the highest latitude regions of Eurasia and North America) and, as is generally accepted, in the center of the largest area of ​​​​evolution of modern Arctic biota. During periods of transgressions, when most of the shelf land was under water, the islands served as a refugium for many species and communities common on drained shelves. In addition, periodic isolation contributed to the activation of speciation processes on the islands themselves. All this was the reason for the initially high biological diversity of the territory.

The last separation of the islands from the mainland occurred about 10 thousand years ago, which coincided with the global restructuring of Arctic landscapes - the collapse of the single tundra-steppe zone and the massive expansion to the north of hypoarctic flora and fauna. The latter, due to island isolation, appeared on the islands in a very weakened form, which, together with the peculiarities of the physical-geographical situation (landscape diversity, while maintaining the “refugia” of continental conditions), ensured the survival of many relict elements here as populations individual species, and entire communities. At the same time, thanks to the same diversity of natural conditions, relatively heat-loving hypoarctic elements survived here, having managed to penetrate the island and other similar territories at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, but in most cases disappeared as a result of the late Holocene cooling. Until the mid-Holocene, large mammals remained on the island, including the local subspecies of mammoth, which became extinct over the last 5-2 thousand years.

It is known that about 3.5 thousand years ago the island was inhabited by sea hunters, whose culture is classified as Paleo-Eskimo. The results of studies of the only known Neolithic site on the southern coast of Wrangel Island indicate that this ancient population The islands used exclusively marine resources (no remains of terrestrial animals were found in the cultural layer of the site). By the time the Wrangel and Herald Islands were discovered by Europeans, there was no indigenous population on them. There were no traces of large land mammals.

The existence of a large island in this sector of the Arctic Ocean was predicted by M.V. Lomonosov. In 1763, Mikhailo Vasilyevich showed on a map of the polar regions north of Chukotka the large island “Doubtful”. The location of this supposed land turned out to be close to the real Wrangel Island. Indigenous residents of Chukotka - subjects Russian Empire, the existence of the island was known long before its discovery by Europeans. The first European who informed the world about the existence of the island was Lieutenant of the Russian Navy Ferdinant Petrovich Wrangel. He learned about the existence of land north of Chukotka from a Chukotka elder. In 1821-1923, the expedition of F. P. Wrangel undertook three trips into the ice in order to find this land. Each time, vast expanses of open water blocked the squad's path, forcing them to turn back to the mainland. The island was not found, but Wrangel was sure that it existed and put it on the map, showing the location correctly in latitude, but slightly shifted to the west.

In 1849, Captain Kellett, commanding the ship Herald, sent to search for the missing expedition of J. Franklin, approached a previously unknown island and landed on it, giving the island the name of his ship, but not even taking its coordinates. To the west of Herald Island, members of Captain Kellett's crew saw the tops of other mountains, considering them islands, but did not continue the geographical survey.
The European who formally discovered Wrangel Island in 1867 was the American whaler Thomas Long. Knowing about the geographical works of F.P. Wrangel, Captain Long gave the island the name of a Russian officer.

The first landing of Europeans on the island occurred only in 1881 - people from the crew of the American ship "Corwin", under the command of Lieutenant Berry, set foot on land (Captain Kellett landed on Herald Island in 1849, in search of the expedition of J. Franklin).

In 1911, the first Russian expedition reached Wrangel Island on the ship "Vaigach", planting the Russian flag on the island, and in 1916 the tsarist government declared the island to belong to the Russian Empire.

Despite this, the Englishman Stephenson in 1921, taking advantage of the devastation in our north, landed an occupation force on the island, raised the British flag and declared that this island was now the possession of Great Britain. The occupation detachment intended for replacement the following year could not be delivered to the island, since the ice did not allow the English steamer to approach the island. The British detachment located on Wrangel Island died from scurvy.
In September 1922, the gunboat Magnit, which was guarding our Russian territories, leaving the port of Nome in Alaska, headed to Wrangel Island to restore Russian ownership of the island and raise the St. Andrew's flag on it. In the twentieth of September, having passed Cape Dezhnev, Magnit waited for about two days for a change northern winds, which drove a mass of ice into the Bering Strait, thanks to which he could not break through.
A second attempt was made a few days later, but was also unsuccessful due to constant northerly winds. Further attempts were unsuccessful: ice began to threaten the integrity of the ship. Due to the need to return to guard the shores of the Kamchatka region and the lack of hope of breaking through the ice, the gunboat Magnit was forced to leave the northern waters.
Thus, the idea of ​​​​restoring Russia’s rights to own Wrangel Island belongs to the gunboat Magnit, led by its valiant commander, Lieutenant D. A. von Dreyer. The gunboat "Magnit" is the last ship of the Russian Navy under the St. Andrew's flag to leave Russian waters on November 2, 1922.
In 1923, the British delivered a new occupation detachment to Wrangel Island, and in 1924, the Soviet government sent an armed expedition there and restored Russia’s rights to this island, which caused rather tense relations between Moscow and London.
In 1924, the gunboat “Red October” planted the Soviet flag on the island, and two years later the Soviet government adopted a resolution on sovereignty over Wrangel Island. In 1926, the first Chukchi settlement was created on Wrangel Island, and A. Ushakov was appointed head of the island, who was replaced three years later by A. I. Mineev, who worked on the island for five years. A meteorological station was established on the island and regular scientific research began.

In 1928, the air route to Wrangel Island was mastered. A stable all-season connection between the island and the mainland made it possible to expand the colony. The villages of Ushakovsky, Zvezdny, Perkatkun, a school, a hospital, a bathhouse, a pig farm, warehouses for food and goods, fur warehouses, boats for hunting at sea, and a radio station were built. A weather station was equipped at Cape Blossom, and a number of advanced scientific station bases were built on the northern coast of the island. The airfield at Rogers Bay was expanded. Wrangel Island became the forward base for many scientific expeditions exploring the eastern Arctic region. From Rogers Bay, an expedition departed for the Pole of Inaccessibility in April 1941 on the N-169 aircraft (ship commander I. Cherevichny, navigator V. Akkuratov). Aircraft were based on Wrangel Island to ensure the drift of the North Pole-2 station.

The first settlers of the island were mainly indigenous inhabitants of Eastern Chukotka, who were resettled on the island to organize hunting. From the moment they arrived on the island, hunting for arctic fox, walrus, polar bear, white geese, geese and other species of animals began here. In 1948, a small group of domesticated reindeer was brought to the island and a branch of the reindeer-breeding state farm was organized. In addition to the main settlement in Rogers Bay (Ushakovskoye village), in the 60s the village of Zvezdny was built in the bay. Doubtful, where an unpaved alternate airfield was built military aviation(liquidated in the 70s). In addition, a military radar station was established at Cape Hawaii. In the center of the island, near the mouth of the stream. Khrustalny, rock crystal mining was carried out for several years, for which a small village was also built, which was later completely destroyed.

In 1953, administrative authorities adopted a resolution on the protection of walrus rookeries on Wrangel Island, and in 1968, a reserve was organized on the island to protect walruses, polar bears, nesting grounds of the white goose, brant and colonial settlements of seabirds. In 1975, musk oxen from Nunivak Island were introduced to the island and the Executive Committee of the Magadan Region allocated the lands of the islands for a future reserve.
On March 23, 1976, Resolution N°189 of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR was signed on the organization of the Wrangel Island state reserve, including Wrangel and Herald islands, to protect the unique natural complexes of the islands. 12/26/83. A resolution was signed by the Magazhansky Regional Executive Committee on organizing a 5 km wide protective zone around the islands. In 1997, at the proposal of the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the area of ​​the reserve was expanded by including the water area surrounding the island with a width of 12 nautical miles, and in 1999, around the already protected water area, by decree of the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a protective zone with a width of 24 nautical miles was organized. nautical miles.

By the 80s, the state farm branch on the island was liquidated and the village of Zvezdny was practically closed, and hunting was also stopped, with the exception of a small quota of marine mammals for the needs of the local population. In 1992, the radar station was closed and the only settlement left on the island was the village of Ushakovskoye. In 1994, the reserve office, due to problems with life support in the village. Ushakovskoye was transferred to the village of Cape Shmidta on the Chukotka coast, and in 1999 - to the city of Pevek, which created significant difficulties in the work of the reserve.