Ruins of the Tower of St. Joseph on the Islands Archipelago. Land Franz Joseph

"Washing country is my native ..." - these lines from the song are known to everyone, but few people really imagine the scope of our immense homeland! To us with his wife in August 2012, there was a chance to see the farthest outskirts of Russia - we took part in the Expeditional Cruise on the Islands of the Land of Franz Josef in the Russian Arctic.

Thermal ship of the ice class ORTELIUS., previously known as "Marina Tsvetaeva", went to the flight from Murmansk on August 21 and after 11 days returned to the same, passing around one and a half thousand nautical miles along the troubled waters of the Barents Sea. We had 6 days on the archipelago - and fortunately, the weather to us mostly favored. The cruise was organized by Oceanwide Expeditions, with which I had already visited Antarctica, Greenland and Svalbard. Booked a cruise literally for a month and a half before sailing, according to the "burning" special offer - the price was about 3.700 euros per person when placed in a double cabin.

Land Franza Joseph, often reduced to the short acronym of ZPI, relatively recently appeared on a wide tourist market. Although now its fame and attendance is greatly inferior to the same Spitsbergen, for example. Until recently, a cruise on atomic icebreaker to the North Pole was almost the only option, which was usually stopped on the day on the shores of Zfi. In Soviet times, the military reigned there practically fearfully, but a few years ago, the Russian Arctic National Park and the territory of Franz-Joseph's land was somehow complained of its composition. The purpose of the development of tourism, including internal - which, of course, rests on the logistics problems, as in the case of many other beautiful corners of Russia. It does not even save the helicopter - without a good ship can almost do not do. Is that an abandoned aerodrome of Soviet times, which now the military is going to restore, will be allowed civilian charter flights. We'll see...

From Murmansk to Franz Joseph's land about 60 hours the course with a speed of 11 knots - so there is time to think about the eternal! Upon arrival at ZFI, our route was as follows:

In principle, we looked at everything that planned - and that in general you can count the guaranteed there to see. Bears, walles, glaciers, seabirds ... There were also disembarks, there were cruises on boat "zodiacs."

The early history of the archipelago of Pottit tragic pages, but undoubtedly the most unusual wintering in the history of the archipelago fell to the share of the famous Norwegian polar explorer Nansen. Returning from an unsuccessful Sunny expedition to the North Pole, he was forced to zoom in Jackson's island with his companion Johansen. They spent winter in a tiny dugout, covered with walrous skins, broken across the only log. Almost all the multi-month polar nights, they lay together in one sleeping bag, feeding out ice cream meat of polar bears and a walrus and heating the lamp with a walror oil. So now, almost 120 years later, the ruins of their "polar station" look

With all my desire, to name this archipelago of the original Russian land - it is hardly for this basis. Unlike the neighboring islands - the new land and Spitsberegin, who have long been visited by Pomoras, Morchedi from the Russian North, the history of "Russian ZFI" has hardly more than a century. After all, the first Russian expedition visited the archipelago only in 1901, and until 1929, when the USSR firmly stated his rights to the archipelago, opening the year-round polar station on its territory, Franz Joseph's land was considered a draw. This is this fateful station located in the bay of quiet on the island of Gucker

Some of these houses are standing since the 1930s, and the station is still inhabited, although there are no winter polar explorers.

Now the station contains one of the groups of "Sanitary Arctic" - people, under a contract with the Government of Russia working to destroy traces of human stay, accumulated over several decades. The work is quite large-scale and designed for several years. It involves several transport vessels, based on them helicopters, severe construction equipment and several hundred people.

The main goal is to take all scrapbook from the Arctic and the garbage that remains from military and polarists, as well as remove traces of spills of petroleum products that poison the fragile arctic ecosystem. The notorious abandoned barrels - the pain of the Arctic, known to everyone who, at least, heard something about the problems of northern ecology.

Due to the extremely heavy ice environment, usually folded on Franz Joseph's land before the start of the active melting period of the polar ice at the end of the twentieth century - the beginning of the twentieth centuries, the local animal world turned out to be almost not ruined by the hunters-hunters - and the local life boils key. This picture is gratifying to see any patriot - the birthplace of the locomot!

It should be noted that local wals, in contrast to the population on Svalbard, are almost not afraid of a person. Moreover, they are also very curious and walked to the boats so closely that it sometimes had to drive them out with a paddle!

It is believed that females with cubs are observed on ZPI, and the males hang out on Spitzbard, who sail from there to the Russian Arctic at the time of the marriage period. Girls here, under the protection of packing ice and Russian legislation, begging careless, as at all times.

The vertex of the Arctic Food Chain and the undoubtedly the most charismatic predator of the Arctic - the polar bear! Medbeds, our country has been rich since sincerversion. It did not go around the abundance of the side and this God the forgotten corner of the land of Russian. White bears prefer to live and hunt on pack ice.

However, the Arctic ice around Franz Joseph's Earth is practically fully fully taunt by August-September. And the White Bear instead of a noble hunting for Greenlandic seals in the endless Ice Desert, it is necessary to land on lifeless rocky islands and, like the scent of the songs, shake on the bird markets, which is coming by Pichalko ...

The most prominent and numerous alive creatures on ZPI are, of course, omnipresent seabirds. But compared to the bird variety of more southern latitudes, they are on Earth Franz Joseph hopelessly. Feed base is quite scarce. In fact, only one kind of fish is found in local waters - a polar cod. And the short northern summer is barely barely allows birds to fade chicks and put them on the wing. Nevertheless, there are hardly the most northern bird colonies in the world. More than a dozen species of birds, mostly moaes and numbers, regularly nest on the islands of this extreme archipelago.

Sea birds hoping to escape from the attacks of the sands, fellow pools and polar bears, prefer to nest on the sheer clutches. Especially where the nature of it has subscribed to them and created a comfortable shelves from basalt columns formed due to the cracking of the magma with a slow cooling of the erupted millions of years ago. Rock Rubini on the island of Gucker - just a gorgeous example of such a bird bazaar!

This is not just a bird bazaar - this is a whole ecosystem affecting its unusual and beauty! Thanks to Natural Vulcanism, which initially created a giant basalt block, towering over the water for three hundred meters. Fortunately, the mother-nature did not limit himself to this and populated up with tens of thousands of Kair, Moevok and Burgomistra! Birds are natural pumps on the pumping of nutrients from the cold ocean to a fruitless rocky landing. They eat fish, previously eating plankton, before that, in turn, the nutrients learned from sea water. Bird lips - Guano - the most valuable fertilizer, especially important in the conditions of the harsh Arctic with its short vegetative period. As a result, an unusual oasis of life arise under the bird nests - ornithogenic landscapes, who please the eyes with a lush greens in this stingy to the edge of the edge.

Curious by the way, that the riot of life is not limited to only the surface of the rock. Water at her foot literally sisse the beautiful creatures, several different species. They are also called pterodes or sea butterflies! I used to see them only in some aquariums, where they usually smoothly flute under rhythmic music, as if dancing - but did not expect that in the Russian Arctic they are found in such quantities, twenty pieces per square meter of the sea surface!

The plant world of Franz-Joseph's land will envy - the eternal Merzlota, just a couple of months a year, thawing into some tens of centimeters deep into the year, kills all the hopes on biodiversity. In fact, only lichens and mosses feel normally. But they are here in suitable places the present expanse! The southern slope, the proximity of the bird colony, which flows the rod, protected from the wind corner - all this is capable of creating such a beauty that will envy any Japanese temple "garden moss".

In the very south of the archipelago, there is a cape with the speaker name of Northbrook - there are the thick "forests" on ZPI! Nature has taken care that all favorable factors come together in this place in this place - the warm breath of Golf Stream even flies here, so the temperature of the water is two more hotels than in other places. However, even here the snow falls in mid-August.

Unlike its Western neighbor, Svalbard, the archipelago of the Franz Joseph Earth seems almost uniform in geological terms. Its islands are often dissected by erosion basalt plateau, the remains of ancient volcanic activity. On the one hand, it causes a certain monotony of a common landscape, but on the other hand, such a structure of the islands leads to the emergence of very picturesque weathering forms. In particular, there are a lot of expansion of boreal bases on the islands. Often, the nature of the brands of them are whole fortress towers, bastions and castles!

Where the permafrost permafrost is dominated, and the average annual temperature is -12 ° C.

Archipelago is located about a thousand kilometers from the North Pole. Most of the Land Franz Joseph is covered with glaciers.

Although, do not confuse ZPI with the North Pole. In the summer, the temperature here still can reach +12 ° C and snow in July usually melts.

During this period, land is exposed, which, literally in a couple of weeks, is covered with moss and lichen, as well as blooming polar poppies, stamping, polar yoy, and other unpretentious plants.

Birds here not so that much, but they are. These are rugs, chicks, kayra, moaes, white seagulls, burgomistra, paint, pieces, gaga, barracks, etc.

An animals meet a polar bear and sands. By the way, did you know that the polar bear belongs to the marine mammal and even the Latin name of the White Bear - Ursus Maritimus translates as "Sea Bear"? In the sea, there are also nerves, sea hare, Greenland seal, walrus, narrow and whites.

The land of Franza Joseph is a region, which is located in a small area of \u200b\u200bthe natural zone, known as the polar desert zone.

People at ZPI have never lived for quite understandable reasons - there are no firewood, nor berries, no mushrooms, nor deer, which can be domesticated, nor other animals on which you can hunt. Feed and warm here just nothing. Even the fin (brought by sea logs) is not lit, unlike the fins on the coast. This happens, apparently, because the grooved firewood simply do not have time to dry, so they are completely "saturated" all year round.

However, in the twentieth century, during the development of the Arctic, a meteorological station and military towns were built on Earth, Franz Joseph, so it turned out that during the awareness of civilization to live here. True, it costs all these considerable money, given the high cost of shipping food, fuel and building materials.

The history of the emergence of the Earth Franz Joseph (geological history)

In Dopalozoic Time there was a huge mainland on the site of the modern Barents SeaStoring to the west to the shores of Greenland. In the Paleozoic period, powerful skills began to occur, after which most of the current Barents Sea began to represent the mainland with a complex mountain relief.

However, erosion and denudation processes Gradually cut off the mountain relief of the mainland, turned it into a flat country, that in Verkhnevonsky time was captured by the waters of the sea.

At the beginning of the Permian time began to occur raising DNA Sea geosynclinal pools, and their crosses. Later, population movements were manifested, accompanied by energetic volcanic activities. Poor-forming processes were created powerful mountain chains of the new earth, the Urals, Canin and individual parts of Spitsbergen. The raising of the shelf is accompanied by volcanic eruptions (basalt covers of Spitsberegen and the lands of Franz Joseph). According to Furside Nansen on the site of the Barents Sea in the tertiary time there was a mountainous country raised above the modern sea level by 500 m.

Quaternary time happened placing powerful glacial coverings. To the maximum phase of glaciation under the action of the island's glacial load and the adjacent space of the bottom of the sea immersed at 300-400 m. In the late- and postleglands took place mailing of glacial covers and complex coastline oscillations. The process of raising the coastline of the Barents Sea continues now. The pace of the general lift of the archipelago over the past 7,000 years is 1-5 mm / year.

By the way, on Earth Franz Joseph still you can find pieces of petrified trees, as well as deer horns, which suggests that once a long time it could rather actively grow and diverse a variety of flora and fauna.

Deer on Earth Franz Joseph lived in the middle-grade time (8-2.5 thousand years ago). It follows that on average Holocene climate archipelago was warmer, and vegetation is richer than now.

The end of the "deer time" can be precisely dated. Oleni horns are not found below the 5-meter level. Consequently, the worsening of the climate, the major advancing of glaciers and extinct deer on the archipelago islands occurred when his shores were 5 m below, i.e. About 2.5 thousand years ago.

The extinction of deer and the major advancing of the archipelago glaciers coincides with the time of the forest zone and the revival of the TundR zone along the northern coast of Russia, as well as with the departure of the thermal-lifting fauna from the coastal waters of Spitsberena.

History of the opening and mastering of the land of Franz Joseph

Theoretical opening of the ZPI

The first thoughts on the need to study the northern territories appeared in the XVIII century. Mikhail Lomonosov in labor entitled "A brief description of different travels around the northern seas and the testimony of a possible passage by the Siberian Ocean to East India," suggested finding the islands to the east of Spitsberena.

At the end of the sixties, the famous Russian meteorologist A.I. Vaekov raised the question of organizing a large expedition for the study of Russian polar seas. This idea was warmly supported by the famous geographer and revolutionary, Anarchism theorist Prince P.A. Kropotkin.

Different considerations, and mostly observations on the ice of the Barents Sea led Kropotkin to the conclusion that "there is still no open land between Svalbard and the New Earth, which extends northwardly Spitsbergen and keeps the ice for himself ... the possible existence of such an archipelago pointed out An excellent, but little-known report on currents in the Arctic Ocean Russian Fleet officer Baron Shilling. " In 1870, Kropotkin was a draft expedition. However, the royal government refused funds, and the expedition did not take place.

Practical opening of the ZPI.

The land of Franz-Joseph was opened by the Austro-Hungarian expedition of Julius Payer and Karl Weiprecht, and by whom was not examined - both the British, and the Scots, and the Americans ... And I still got anyway. In the photo Julius Payer and Karl Weiprecht. By the way, what kind of fur coat is one of them? None of the red-born polar bear?)

In 1901, the Archipelago was examined by the first Russian expedition on the icebreaker "Ermak" under the post of Vice Admiral Makarov. It is alleged that it was during this period on the Islands of the Archipelago for the first time the Russian flag will be raised.

In 1914, in search of G. Ya. Sedov archipelago visited Ishak Islyamov. He declared ZPI to the Russian territory and raised the Russian flag over it.

In some sources (even in the same notorious Wikipedia) they write, which announced the ZFI of the Russian territory precisely Islyam. Although, the flag before it was put to Makarov, so it seems to be that Makarov first presented the rights of Russia to the land of Franz Joseph?

Why such a traveler arose - I do not know, but in order to justice, I will note both facts - and you already decide who was the first.

Considering that the Barentsevian Shelf adjacent to the ZFI is promising for the detection of hydrocarbon raw materials here, the archipelago can become a very profitable "acquisition".

Islyamov, telling the acquisition for the country of the new territory, offered to immediately rename it from the land of Franz Joseph in the land of Romanov, but the offer is stuck in the bureaucratic devils. And there I left in history first one empire, and immediately behind it is different. Ishak Islyamov became a member of the Helsingforsian Muslim Executive Committee of the Army, Fleet and Workers, then fought as part of the White Army, emigrated, headed in Constantinople with a hydrographic part of the Russian marine base.

In 1926, the CEC of the USSR accepted the decree on which all the Arctic Islands, adjacent to the land borders of the state, was announced by the Soviet territory. Three years later, in the summer of 1929, Otto Schmidt during the polar expedition on the icebreaker steamer "Georgy Sedov" Waterflag on the Soviet flag archipelago.

In 1929, the Soviet government decided to establish a research station for strengthening scientific work on the territory of the Arctic. At the same time, the first Soviet Research Station opened in the Bay of the Quiet Island of Gucker. In 1931, the archipelago was announced by the territories of the Soviet Union, since that time, the development of the North Pole with Soviet researchers begins. Since then, the archipelago attended the Soviet polar expeditions annually.

The Soviet government was going to change the name of Franz Joseph as politically not convenient and renamed the archipelago in honor of the Norwegian researcher Fogrotof Nansen or the Russian anarchist Kropotkin, but there was no solution.

In addition to scientists, the military tightly settled on ZPI. In 1936, the first military air base of the USSR was organized on Rudolf Island. And then went, went ... Nevertheless, in the 90s of the twentieth century, due to the well-known economic and political reasons, the military archipelago left, leaving only the border shop "Nurskoye", located on the island of Aleksandra.

The town of the border linear separation of the military unit 9794, which includes the northernmost airport and border shop - works so far. Not so long ago, there was an excellent two-storey building with all the amenities: central heating, sewage, cold and hot water, satellite TV. Inside the complex there is a "winter garden", however, plants and trees there are artificial. The garden is called the "Atrium". There is always a blue sky with cumulative clouds, playground, fountain, shops, billiards, aquarium with alive fish, cinema hall, table tennis.

Only officers and ensigns are served in Nurendskoye. A third of the border guards live on the outpost along with his wives. Fly here from Vorkuta and Arkhangelsk. Dense fogs, low cloudiness, precipitation and strong winds - such weather on Earth Alexandra all year round. There were cases of unsuccessful landings, but an amazing thing: in the entire history, no man on the island died.

Although, on other islands, the victims were. For example, on Grem-Belle, where from the 50s to the 90s of the twentieth century was a unique ice airfield, a couple of times there were air crashes with victims.

The crew of 254 flight detachments made a rise from the airfield Nurendskaya at 08:20 Moscow time with the aim of exploring the ice environment of the northern approaches to ensure the decomposition of an indigirka icebreaker. Communication stopped after 3 hours 40 minutes. After takeoff. October 23, the IL-14 aircraft was found on the north-western slope of the glacier about. Grem-Bell destroyed and burnt. With a fire on the site of the catastrophe, the ice partially melted and therefore the debris was detected by frozen in the glacier. I managed to find only 4 bodies.

In the last report, the crew reported its coordinates, a true course and height of the flight. From about. Gofman plane went north about. Graym-Bell and, having sunk him from the south, entered the Strait of Morgan. In the process of the flight, the crew has repeatedly requested the actual weather of Hism-Bell airfields and medium, but the data was not transmitted due to their absence. Despite the presence in the area about. Grem-Bell of the weather is lower at a minimum for flights in the area of \u200b\u200bthe islands and straits, the crew continued to perform the task and in the Morgana Strait got into heavy meteo conditions.

At 11:50, the crew requested whether the drive of the airfield of Grem-Bell works. Having received a negative answer, the crew requested a touch on a coherent transmitter to determine the bearing. Having defined a bearing, the crew considered that the dangerous narrow scene was already flying. Taking a course at the Grem-Bell airfield, the crew believed that the flight passes over the Supreme Ice of the Strait. Neither a radio suiter nor a radar due to the structural disadvantages did not give the true testimony of the flight height and the actual pattern of the flutter area during flights above the glacial arrays. In fact, the flight took place above the rising slope of the glacier. At an altitude of 150 m in a horizontal flight, the plane faced the slope of the glacier. Separating, he flew 750 m, once again collided with the slope of the glacier at an altitude of 200 m, collapsed and burned down. In memory of the dead, the island's dead, the island was called seven cape.

In the afternoon in simple meteo conditions, when performing landing at the ice base aerodrome, 53 km from Graym-Bell Island occurred with the An-12 aircraft No. 12962 of the Krasnoyarsk GA. The crew of the Norilsk OJSC as part of the commander of the ship Uelagasheva A.D., the second pilot of Menzhulina A.I., the navigator of the crew of Chihacheva V.P., Bortmethniki Lee E.A. and Bldrdist Kalacheva A.A. Performed a transport flight for servicing the high-grade expedition "North-86".

At the preset direct, due to the total whiteness of the freshly buried snow, the ship's commander was not able to determine the distance to the snow-covered ice surface, but continued to approach the landing, allowing the excess of the vertical rate of decline. Not flying before the start of the runway, the aircraft faced the snow brush and suffered a breakdown. The cause of the accident was the error of the ship commander based on landing and in determining the moment of alignment due to its part-time preparedness to flights on this type of work, as well as a violation of the command and flight composition of the carrier tolerance for high-tender expeditions. As a result of the movement and torch of ice 12.05.86, the plane fuselage sank, prepared for evacuation.

And finally, near the airfield lies An-12 № 11994But it was not possible to detect any information about it.

In one of the forums, I found the information that it was just a bad landing - the plane was too early at the lane. But there were no victims there - everything ended well.

If we talk about the victims, then I suspect, the main danger of the archipelago of the Land Franz Joseph arises because of the polar bears. Although, on the other hand, given the huge number of bears on ZPI, deaths because of them there were not much. It is believed that the land of Franza Joseph is the maternity home of the White Bears, so it can be assumed that the serums met with predators constantly. So, the percentage of accidents is actually not at all high.

Well, again, if people are in the ZPI and died, then exclusively because of their own nonsense and negligence. All as everywhere. Here, for example, history:

"The other day flew in the afternoon and back, it is about two and a half thousand kilometers. And then urgent Sanrais on Osirov Grem-Bell, on ZPI. There is some kind of company communication. The soldier looked at the alcohol, Nadybal somewhere, and it became very bad. We took it, and so far they walked on Dickson, he died on his hands from our nurse.

They flew, and we are told: guys, you need to fly there again, urgently. It turns out that when they found out there, then a whole queue to the doctor lined up: and we tried! We are back there, and already the second day went, what a NPP is there. We went to the soldiers: Brothers, say who at least tried a little, do not hide, fly with us, the third time we can no longer! In the air, two became very bad, one of them died already in the hospital. It turned out that there was another one, but we could no longer, the third day went. Ice scout rested on Dixon, it was urgently raised and he flew. And so a whole month. We flew one hundred eighty hours.

Memories of the navigator of polar aviation Mark Solomonovich Edelstein. "

Although, enough about sad. Good on Earth Franz Joseph is also a lot. And few tourists have the opportunity to make sure.

Land Franz Joseph in our time - photos, descriptions, cards

ZPI is the northernmost territory of Russia, located about nine hundred kilometers from the North Pole. Administrative archipelago refers to the Arkhangelsk region. The coordinates of the land of Frankca Joseph: 80.666667, 54.833333.

Wikipedia says that ZPI consists of 192 islands. But it turns out that this expense still had certain doubts and the 192nd Island is still officially "not registered" and does not have a separate name.

The bottom line is that Northbroque Island in the south-west of the archipelago is two land of sushi separated by the strait. Moreover, it was originally considered a single island, but consisting of two parts connected by the narrow cable. However, due to the intensification of coastal processes, the retreat of marine ice ice and melting, the experiments blocked, and the strait was formed between the two sites of the island.

In the summer of 2007, Norwegian Borg Ousland, together with the athlete-athlete from Switzerland, Tomas Ulrich made a memorial expedition - in the footsteps of Furside Nansen and Yalmar Johansen and in the process of survey the island of Northbrook found a strait. They did not silence about their find, and sent a letter to the Russian Embassy in Norway with a statement about the opening of a new island on ZPI. A letter through the Russian Embassy in Norway was transferred to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and from there heeded a disposal to the management of navigation and oceanography of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - to figure out how much the islands in the archipelago.

At the same time, after public statements about the "appearance of a new island among Russia", the deputies of the Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly assigned the name of the famous polar captain Yuri Kuchiev. And under this title, he already appears in Wikipedia, although the solution of the regional meeting on such a question is not legitimate. So now it remains to complete the discovery - to officially recognize and give names to new geographical objects, which will be done by the Navigation and Oceanography Department and the Geographical Name Commission.

Landmarks of Franz Joseph

Most Northern Post Office of Russia, Weather Station - Heis Island

On August 25, 2005, Russian Post announced that Open the Northern Post Office of the world "Arkhangelsk 163100". It is located on the island of Hake. Mail works one day per week: on Wednesday from 10 to 11 hours. And what is important - without a break.

Since the summer of 1957, the Observatory named after Krenkel is located on the island.

Interesting information:

• On the island of Heis, Vladimir Sanin wrote one of his most famous books - "Do not tell you by the Arctic - goodbye."
• On February 12, 1981, when entering the landing on Heis Island, IL-14 crashed, rising equipment and scientists for the observatory failed. A broken aircraft can be seen.

Galle Island, Cape Tegethoff

Cape Tegethoff island Gall is a badge place. The archipelago of Franz Joseph is opened here. On August 30, 1873, the ship "Admiral Tegetthoff" came here, with the expedition of Julius Payer and Karl Waiprecht.

Here are the remains of the winter of the Velman expedition.

The cliffs are also famous on the tip of the island, which rise from the sea itself.

Willchek Island

Another island associated with the tragic events of the expedition of the archipelago of the archipelago, is the island of Wilchek. On a high island there is a grave of one of the participants of the expedition on the ship "Admiral Tegethoff" Otto Krisch, who was a mechanic on the ship and died in 1873 from Qingi.

Camp Island, Cape Trieste

At Cape Trieste are unique stone formations of perfect round shapes - spherolites, or specs. Markazite specs are found on Cape everywhere, and their size from several centimeters to several meters in diameter.

The word "concretion" comes from the Latin Concretio - "Action". These are deposits, mineral formation of a rounded form in sedimentary rocks. In its composition it is sandstone. In the very center of concretion there is an organic core, around which loose material of continental origin accumulated.

Strait Negri.

A narrow strait between the island of Gall and the island of Mc clint. Here are one of the largest glaciers of the archipelago. The strait is often literally scored by icebergs.

Islands of Apollo and table

These islands are not distinguished by anything, and even on maritime maps, only a larger island is usually designated, but, as often happens, all the most interesting is on the island of Radom, quite small and inconspicuous. In this case, is the island of Apollonov. The island is known for the fact that there is one of the largest rooting of the Atlantic walrles, brought into the Red Book of the Russian Federation.

Island Gucker

On the island of Gucker there is an abandoned Soviet polar station "Quiet". The station was opened in 1929, and in 1959 closed, but in those days it was the largest Arctic Research Station of the USSR. Until today, the station has retained its appearance - you can see with your own eyes how the polarks lived in those times.

Rock Rubini Rock

The largest bird market at which more than 50 thousand birds nests. Among them, Maucke, Cayra, Clean, Burgomistra and Luriki. Cayra nest directly on the ledge. Nockets they do not build, but lay eggs on a bare stone surface. The seagulls of the Mauca build nests from herbs, lichen and other vegetation, bonding it with their own litter.

Algera Island

Here in 1901 there was a basic camp of the expedition, which arrived at the archipelago on the America's steam yacht. The expedition financed Millionaire William Tsigler.

Land of Wilcheka, Cape Geller

On the island there are remnants of the wintering fort McKornley and the grave of Burnta Bentsen, who could not survive the wintering of 1898-99. He was in the expedition of Walter Walman, the main purpose of which was the conquest of the North Pole. The main camp of the expedition was at Cape Tegtetthoff of Gall Island. At Cape Geller, a temporary food warehouse was organized. It was built from large flat stones and covered the skins of killed walrles and bears. The temperature inside it in winter was kept below 10 degrees. In January 1899, Burt Bentsen died. However, it was buried only in the spring. Before his death, he asked not to bury him to spring, as it was afraid that his body would become easy prey for the sands and polar bears.

Rudolf Island, Cape Flygeli

The Northern Cape of the archipelago Land Franz Joseph is the extreme island point of the Russian Federation and Eurasia.

Rudolph Island, Greenhouse Bay

In the Bay of Greenhouses there is an abandoned meteorological station, which was built in 1931-1932. It was the second station on the archipelago and worked until 1995.

Jackson Island

Jackson Island and Cape Norway are famous for the fact that Furoof Nansen and Yar Johansen spent here (1895-96). They returned after trying to conquer the North Pole, as they thought, on Svalbard, but came to the land of Franz Joseph. They had time to prepare for winter. They shot a walrus and polar bears, built the dwelling in which they spent the winter, mainly in a lying position in one sleeping bag. In Christmas, they turned inside out shirts, and in the New Year Nansen told Johansen, that after all the experienced together, he could call him just Furoof, and not Mr. Nansen, and shook his hand. But they remained on "you". The Cape has a memorable sign and there are limits of wintering.

Nordbrok Island, Cape Flora

A distinctive feature of the archipelago Land Franz Joseph is the presence of a large number of historical places - the remains of the wintering camps of expeditions, which planned to use the archipelago as a starting pad to achieve the Northern Pole, and some expeditions fell to the archipelago after unsuccessful attempts to conquer the top of the planet. Almost all expeditions on the Earth Franz Joseph stayed at Cape Flora Nordbrook Island.

The island was opened by the expedition of Benjamin Lee-Smith in 1880. Here was his second expedition 1881-1182. Wintering was forced. Initially, Lee Smith planned to winter on Bell Island. In 1894, British Frederick Jackson built the first settlement on Cape Flora - Elmwood. The remains of the expedition buildings can be seen now.

In 1896, the historical meeting of Nansen and Frederic Jackson occurred at Cape Flora. On June 17, two came to the caulation. No one was waiting for them and did not meet, and they did not expect anyone here to meet. These were the famous polar researcher Furoof Nansen and his companion Frederick Yar Johansen. With the legs to the head, they were covered with soot and mud, and with them they had two kayaks and narts. For three years, Nansen and its 12 satellites were planned to conquer the North Pole on the vessel's specially built for swimming in ice and wintering vessels. In 1893, the "Fram" wamps in the island of the north of the Novosibirsk Islands archipelago. The vessel passed significantly south. After two years spent in the ice, "Fram" reached its northern geographic location. 700 kilometers from the Nanous Pole Nansen and Johansen left the vessel and went to conquer the pole on dog sledding and kayaks. On April 8, they reached a record latitude of 86 degrees 14 minutes of northern latitude and were forced to turn to the south to the archipelago of the Franz Joseph. After wintering on the island of Jackson at Cape Norway, they moved to the south and reached the Cape Flora, where they met with the Jackson expedition. This meeting actually saved their lives. At one time, Nansen did not take Frederic Jackson on the "Fram", as it believed that the North Pole should be conquered by Norwegians. Jackson was from the UK.

Land Franz Joseph - Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, in the north of Europe. Part of the polar possessions of Russia is part of the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region. Consists of 192 islands, the total area of \u200b\u200b16 134 km².

Satellite of the archipelago from the satellite Terra:

The existence of these islands to the east of Spitsberegen predicted Lomonosov, later - Shilling and Kropotkin.The latter even introduced inRussian geographical society In 1871. The expedition project for their research, however, the government refused him in the means.

Opened at all by chance: Austro-Hungarian expedition under the leadership of Karl Weiprecht and Julius Payer on the sail-steam schoon "Admiral Tegetgooff" (Him. Admiral Tegetthoff.) I went to the opening of the northeast passage in 1872 to open with the north-west of the new land and then gradually carrying them to the West, on August 30, 1873 was brought to the shores of an unknown land, which was then Weiprech And the beneficiary was examined, as far as possible to the north and along the southern outskirts.

Karl Weiprecht (Carl WeyPrecht) (1838-1881) - Austrian Nautical Officer, Researcher of the Arctic and Geophysicist.

Julius Johannes Louisusus Background Payer (it. Julius Johannes Ludovicus Von Payer), more known as Julius Payer (September 1, 1842, Chönau, now Teplice - August 30, 1915, Feldes, now Bled, Yugoslavia) - Austro-Hungarian Arctic Researcher. Pyer described his trip to the Arctic, described in the book "725 days in the ice of the Arctic" (1876; translated into Russian in 1935).

Payer managed to reach 82 ° 5 "S.Sh. (in April 1874) and make a map of this extensive archipelago, which seemed to be the first researchers consisting of a number of extensive islands. Austrian travelers gave newly open earth the name of the Austria Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Franz Joseph I. - Emperor of the Austrian Empire and King Bohemia from December 2, 1848, the apostolic king of Hungary from December 2, 1849 to April 14, 1849 (1st time) and from August 13, 1849 (2nd times). From March 15, 1867, the head of the associate of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Rules of 68 years old, his reign has become an epoch in the history of the peoples entering the Danube monarchy.

Photos and text Dmitry Cherkasova

The land of Franz Joseph is the Archipelago of Islands in the Barents Sea in the very north of Russia. In total, the archipelago consists of 192 islands. I happened to visit this place during the expedition to the north pole on board the atomic icebreaker "50 years of victory."

Despite the middle of the summer, after our departure from the port of Murmansk, we began to fall asleep:

Very soon, individual ice floes changed with whole ice fields. Minor icebergs began to come across:

It was in the area that we met first polar bears. No wonder. Such a combination of ice, sushi and water is an ideal habitat for this polar predator.

The main mining of the polar bear is nervous. He tracks it mainly by smell. Very often, the nerver hides in the stretches in the thickness of the ice. Shooting on the surface too often it does not risk. The polar bear, having tripped the nerpair with all the strength on the front paws, breaks the ice and then tries to pull it out. This teddy bear was explicitly late. Someone more successful has already dealt with the seal.

Trusting your nose, white bears are able to climb far to the north of the nearest land. They have no natural enemies. They are not social animals and prefer to live alone. The only exception is moms with small bearings. Mother not only feeds a bear at the beginning of his life, but also protects against adult males. From time to time they attack the bear.

Although they are able to overcome tens of kilometers on the ice desert, still a favorite habitat for them is the combination of land, ice fields and a water outdoor. Bears are perfectly swimming in the water, but once again prefer not to surprise. Small cracks in ice they can easily jump over.

After successful hunting, the bear is not capable of weeks. Therefore, they are saturated. Just bought a bear can be easily recognized on a huge belly:

Due to the fact that they do not have natural enemies, the bears are rather curious. Of course, most of them prefer to stay from the atomic icebreaker away. All the same difference in size is colossal. But some are suitable with interest straight to the board and try to see what is happening on the deck:

Especially pleased with the bear with a very small bear. They circled around at least an hour. It was unusual, because most often, with the slightest danger, the female tries to lead the baby away. Here they themselves approached the ship and broke through the flames for a long time:

We watched with great interest in their relationship.

Trying to see what exactly happens on board, the Meshbed even climbed on Iceberg. We practically were at the level of her eye. It was probably the most interesting acquaintance with bears for all the time of the expedition.

In addition to white bears, we still came across walruses. They are less muggy than nerves. Although the adult bear is sometimes capable of going to cope with the walrus. In the water they feel quite safe. Often their fokers are located right on big ice floes:

However, when the large ship is most often preferred to dive into water. There they are much more comfortable, and the speed with which they float, much more than awkward movement on land.

Large males are all covered with scars from fights with their relatives. Each big walrus seeks to protect their harem and territory from annoying competitors. Therefore, they have to spend most of life in battles.

Two days later, we approached the first islands of the archipelago of the Franz Joseph. Earth's existence Eastern Spitsberena predicted many scientists. Lomonosov spoke about it at one time. One of the most fundamental studies on this issue was made by Peter Alekseevich Kropotkin. He even calculated the coordinates of the islands. Unfortunately, they did not find funds for the expedition. Therefore, the opening of the islands was made absolutely by chance. The Austro-Hungarian expedition Carl Weiprecht and Julius Payer tried to find the northeastern pass, but was heated with ice near the New Earth. Gradually, the drift made them sailing and steam schooner to the coast of the archipelago. It happened on August 30 in 1873. Therefore, the newly open land was named after the Austrian emperor of the Franz Joseph I.

The expedition leader in our journey was the famous Canadian traveler Lorry Dexter. Based on the ice setting around the island, it was decided to disembark the helicopter as shore. Inflatable boats "Zodiac" could not come close to the place of landing. We had to go ashore in the area of \u200b\u200bCape Flora on the island of Yuri Kuchiev. Interestingly, this island is one of the youngest on the archipelago. It was opened in 2008 during the Yamal icebreaker expedition. Before that, there was experiencies between the islands and it was part of Northbrooke Island. But the atomic team found that the experienses blocked water. So a new island appeared on the map. He was named after the captain of the legendary icebreaker "Arctic". It was under his command for the first time in the history of mankind, the surface vessel reached the top of the world - the North Pole.

On board our icebreaker was the Mi-8 helicopter with the crew. Usually such large helicopters are not used for real work in the sea. For ice intelligence, more economical and smaller in size Mi-2. However, in our case, the landing of people and delivery of equipment was assumed, so the choice fell on this type of helicopter.

Similar tasks for only experienced crews. It is necessary not only to sit down and take off from a small platform on the ship, but also to competently choose a landing place and make sure that there is no danger to people around. While landing on the shore or ice, the main problem was white bears. First of all, it was necessary to make sure they were not nearby.

A 300 meter mountain slope towers near the landing site. Thousands of birds nest on it. Basically, it is the Cayra and white seagulls. Black dots around the helicopter are just birds in the air.

The first to the shore are sitting on people ensuring the safety of the rest of the group. The hunt for a polar bear is prohibited by law. And although they are armed, but the bullets are used to scare the beast. No one shoots on the defeat. In order to eliminate the ricochet used steel core. Thus, you can shoot the stones and remove the bear. In addition, there are light grenades.

Place of our landing - Cape "Flora". In this place, arctic expeditions were raised. For the first time, the crew of the British yacht "Eyra" was overloid, under the command of Benjamin Lee Smith. His vessel was wicked in ice close to this place. Researchers have managed to build a hut from girlfriend and overwhelm on the island. With the onset of spring, they reached the new land on four sluts, where they were sent to the English ship sent to search.

British polar explorer and geographer Frederick Jackson founded a stationary base here during an expedition to study the land of Franz Joseph. On June 17, 1896, the Norwegian researchers Furoof Nansen and Yalmar Johansen, after his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole, came out to this database.

In this place of the Expedition of American Walter Walman on a steamer "Furoof", as well as the Duke of Arbutszi to Stella Polaserve:

Many polar expeditions used the reserves of brown coal whose field is on the island. Interestingly, Sedov during the wintering of the neighboring Island on the schoon "Holy Martyr Thoma" did not know anything about it. They desperately needed fuel and disassembled wooden buildings bases for this:

This is only a small part of the history of Arctic studies in this region. Officially, the archipelago was announced by the Russian territory during the Expedition of Isaak Ibrahimovich Islyamov in search of Sedov in 1914. It was then that the Russian flag was raised here.

No less stories are affected in this place the beauty of Northern Nature. Summer is short, but very bright. Everywhere under the legs, multicolored moss covered with flowers. It is worth only to come on this carpet - and immediately fall into the water on the knee:

Constantly heard is not a smaller bird gam. The surrounding cliffs were chosen by thousands of Cair and Chaws. They nest literally everywhere on these basalt cliffs. Only glaciers are free from bird settlements.

White bears come here. On the islands also occurred sands, walrus, nervous, sea hare, Greenland seal, narrowing and beluga. A little south of the sea can be found. But in this visit we did not have the opportunity to see any animals. Only old bones.

Back we flew one of the last helicopters. I wanted to walk on the island as long as possible and admire local beauties. And I must say that it was fully uttering.

Almost immediately after takeoff, we felt a strong vibration. The helicopter was at first dramatically lost her height, and then with a set went to turn for the next cape. I sat in the tail and heard how the tail beam strongly creaked.

After some time, we sat on the site and it became clear that we had a blade on one of the numerous Kair. Because of this, Propeller's endressing was deformed:

It was decided to transport everyone on rescue bots on the other side of the bay. There was a free from ice coastline. After the evacuation of all people from the island, the helicopter crew will independently try to fly onto the icebreaker.

Thus, we had a "wonderful" opportunity to enhance the beauty of the island during this disembarkation. However, the transition was not very long. Most of the path fell on the hill, so it was relatively easy to go.

The rescue bot slowly approached the banks of the washing of depths, to not damage the screw to the lacquer. And then, in several flights, we and equipment transported us on board the ship.

Despite the events saturated by the day, it was not possible to sleep on this night. At this time of the year, the Sun does not go beyond the horizon, so it is constantly light. Passing near the rest of the archipelago islands, we constantly met polar bears. Well, how can you miss this opportunity to get to know the wildlife of the Arctic?

The second time next to the Islands of the Land Franz Joseph we visited the way back, returning from the North Pole.

First of all, we approached the basalt Rubini rock. She is named after the famous Italian tenor and is interested in its huge bird baza carrier.

Thanks to the volcanic origin, the coast around the cliff is very cool. Therefore, even such a huge ship, as our atomic icebreaker, can approach it almost closely. This is a very impressive spectacle. In order to lead such a delicate operation, one of the sailors with a portable wagon is located on the nose. He constantly reports the distance to the rock and the trend of movement.

The basalt slopes of the island are all quenched by birds. It is also interesting to observe the structure of the cliff, which seems collected from individual even columns:

But the main goal of our re-entering was the bay quiet on the island of Gucker. It was here that in 1929 the Soviet Research Station on the archipelago was opened.

Unfortunately, by the time of our visit at the station for several years no one lived. All buildings on the territory were conserved and the only inhabitants here were unless the polar bears. On board our icebreaker were members of the first for all this time of the expedition to this island. They had to land ashore and appreciate the ability to restore this polar base. Before landing, they are most worried about the issue of the presence of uninvited guests from among the bears. Therefore, all the time before shipping ashore, they carefully studied the shore and build in binoculars.

Russian Arctic archipelago Land Franz Joseph is east of Svalboren and northwest of the islands of the new land, far beyond the polar circle and at a distance less than a thousand kilometers from the North Pole. Almost all of the 196 archipelago islands are north of 80 ° C. sh. The duration of the polar night in these places is 125 days, and the polar day is about 140.
The entire archipelago is divided into three groups. Eastern Islands Land Willchek and Grem-Bell - separated by the Austrian Strait. Central - many small islands, including Rudolf Islands, Jackson, Salisbury and Gucker, is located between the Austrian Strait and the British Canal. Western - the largest islands of the archipelago land of Georg with a height of 620 m and the land of Alexandra - separated by the British Canal.
Straits and channels depth 500-600 m, separating the islands, are wide clefts, punched with powerful glaciers in basalt thick. The glaciers appeared on the Earth of Franz Joseph about a million years ago, when there was a period of cooling in the northern hemisphere.
The relief of the islands of Franz-Joseph is represented by hills forming accumulations in the form of a basalt plateau and reaching an average height of 400-500 m above sea level. The plateau is covered with ice domes with glaciers, leaving the cliff on the seashore, where icebergs are chosen from the glacier. On average, over the year, the archipelago glaciers lose up to 3.3 km of ice as icebergs. Glaciers cover over 85% of the surface of the archipelago, and ice thickness reaches 100-500 m.
A small free from ice surface is represented by stony "oases", bare capes and nunatakas - rocks protruding the surface of the glacial cover. Where there is no ice, the eternal Merzlot reigns, numerous Unnamed Lakes can be seen. Lakes here are more than a thousand, and some rather large: an area of \u200b\u200bup to 2 km 2 and a depth of 10 m. Most of the year of the lake is covered with ice.
The entire archipelago is located in the zone of typical Arctic climate. In winter, the temperature decreases to -52 ° C, continuously blows the storm wind, burst blizzards. The temperature could descend even lower, but in winter the power of frost is largely softened by the warm waters of the flow.

History opening

This northern archipelago was discovered quite by chance, although the assumption of his existence was expressed by an officer of the Russian fleet N.G Schilling in 1865 and the famous Russian geographer P.A. Kropotkin in 1870
In 1872, the ship of the Austro-Hungarian expedition Y. Payer and K. Weiprecht (the researchers were looking for the northeast passage, the northern seaway from the Atlantic Ocean in a quiet) was lost to the ice to the north-west of the new land. Drill in ice in the western direction, in August 1873, the Austrian ship was near the coast of the previously unknown land. The Austrians explored the coast, made a map of the archipelago and called him in honor of Franz Joseph I - the Lord of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.

Subsequently, the archipelago attended the British in 1881-1882 and 1895-1897. They examined almost the entire archipelago and were convinced that he was much larger than the Austrians believed. Famous polar researcher Furoof Nansen visited the islands in 1895 and proved that the archipelago does not go further to the northeast, to the pole. This was confirmed by the US-Norwegian expedition of the 1898 giving the life of people who died during wintering.
Since 1901, Russian expeditions regularly began to come here, in particular the expedition G Ya. Sedov in 1913-1914, wounded by the island of Gucker. Sedov tried to get to the North Pole, but died and, according to one of the versions, was buried on the island of Rudolf.
In 1914, the Russian Expedition of the Officer-Hydrograph I. Islyamov left an anchor in the waters of Franz Joseph, declared the archipelago of the Russian territory and raised the Russian flag over him.
In geographical respect, Franz Joseph's land is notable for the fact that Cape Flygeli on Rudolf island is the most northernmost point of Russia. In addition, the archipelago is located on the outskirts of the continental shelf and is the very northernmost section of Sushi Eurasia.
Inherited from a long time, when ferns were warm and 200 million on the islands, ferns grew here, among the clay shale and sandstones of the Archipelago on the Cape Flora remained brown coal, which were used by the polar explorers in wintering. However, due to the harsh natural conditions on the islands, no industrial activity is conducted.
In Soviet times, research stations worked here, there were stationary points of the radiotechnical troops of anti-air defense and even a separate detachment serving the ice airfield. Currently, the territory and objects are abandoned, one Observatory named after Ernst Krenkel on the island of Hakes, and the islands themselves are visited by only individual tourist groups.

Flora and fauna

This land has a unique position and nature that has formed at the distance from the mainland, and the natural reserve of the federal value "Land Franz-Joseph" is 4.2 million hectares. The reserve serves to preserve the unique landscapes of the archipelago, as well as for the protection of the reproduction areas of the White Bear, marine mammals and the mass nesting places of birds. Among the particularly valuable natural facilities - the Palenovancan of Cape Brys (Tsigler Island), the rapid lakes, the rookery of the Atlantic Walrus.
Flora archipelago poor views, vegetation covers no more than 5-10% of the surface. Mossi and licker are dominated here - bright and multicolored. Rarely, but arctic flowers are found: Polar Mac, Camery, Buttercups.
The polar bear constantly lives in the archipelago, the sandy goes here much less often. But the surrounding water archipelago has become a house for mammals: Neri, sea hare, Greenlandian seal, walrus, narrowing and beluga. Birds chose these places, since no one prevents them from bringing off here.
On the archipelago there are 26 types of feathered, the most numerous - clever, Kair, White Seagull, Burgomaster. Birds form gigantic birds tools: more than 5 million nautical birds nest on the islands. The largest bird market within the archipelago - Rubini-Rock rock has about 55 thousand individuals. There are nest of the thick-frustrated kayra, Moj, Luriki, Burgomistra, ordinary numbers. On the southern islands of the archipelago you can find a sands that live in bird bazaars.
A lot of historical sights have been preserved on Earth Franza-Joseph in the form of expeditions of expeditions who used the archipelago as a bridgehead to achieve the North Pole. Memorable places are marked by signs, crosses and stone obelis. At Cape Flora, the ship logging of 1894 was preserved, which was used by the participants of many polar expeditions.
One of the most amazing and mysterious in the archipelago is the island of Champs. A lot of stone balls of almost perfect shape are scattered over the entire surface of the island, the size of several centimeters to several meters. Such balls are found in other parts of the world, but such large and round anywhere else to find. There is no definite answer to the question about their origin, although the balls are undoubtedly created by nature itself.

general information

Large island: Land of Willchek, Grem-Bell, Earth Georg.
Remoteness: 900 km from the North Pole, 1220 km from the mainland.

Origin: tectonic.

The largest lakes: Space, Ice, Small, Northern, Duck, Shirshov.

Numbers

Area: 16 134 km 2.

Archipelago of 196 islands.

Extension: 375 km from west to east, 234 km from the south to the north.

Total area of \u200b\u200bglaciation: 13.7 thousand km 2.

The highest point: Mount Wiener Stadt (Forbes Glacier. 620 m).

Climate and weather

Arctic.

The average temperature of January: -24 ° С.

The average temperature of July: up to -1.4 ° C.

The average annual precipitation: 200 mm on coasts, up to 500 mm on glacial domes.

Wind speed: up to 40 m / s.

sights

■ Cape Flygeli (Rudolf Island).
■ Natural reserve of the federal value "Land Franza Joseph".
■ Stone balls of the island of Champs.
■ Geophysical polar Observatory named after Ernst Krenkel (Heis Island).
■ Bird bazaars (bay quiet, Gucker Island, Rubini Rock Rock).
■ House "Air" (Bell Island, parking place in 1914 V. I. Albanova).
■ Flooring of the walrus (Nordbrook Island, Town Islands, Apolonov Islands).
■ Glacier Sedova (Gucker Island).
■ Fogrut Nansen hut (Jackson Island, 1895-1896).
■ Wooden structure of the expedition Wellman 1898-1899. (Algera island).
■ Polar station "Bay Silent" 1929-1957 (Gucker Island).
■ Ship cut 1894 (Cape Flora, Kuchiev Island).

Curious facts

■ Total ice of the archipelago Land Franz-Joseph - 2500 km 3 in which up to 2250 billion tons of clean fresh water, which is more than in Lake Baikal.
■ Tourists deliver to the land of Franz Joseph in the summer, on icebreakers, and ashore they fall on board the helicopter. At the same time, all tourists are necessarily dressed in bright yellow-orange jackets so that people will not get lost among ice.
■ Cape Flygeli on the island of Rudolf is named in honor of the Austrian cartographer Augustus von Flygeli; He was opened on April 12, 1874 by the Austrian Polar Expedition on the Tegetgof ship under the leadership of Yu. Payer and K. Weiprecht.

■ The most powerful glaciation is traced in the south-east and east of each island and the entire archipelago of the Franz Joseph. The ice is formed only on the vertices of glacial domes. The archipelago glaciers are steadily reduced. Subject to the preservation of the rate of reduction of glaciers, all the glaciation of the Franz Joseph will disappear after 300 years.
■ Geophysical polar Observatory named after Ernst Krenkel (the former name "Friendly") on the island of Heis Archipelago Land Franz Joseph - the only observatory in Russia in the field of geomagnetic polar cap.

■ Austro-Hungary, who fought on the side of Germany to the First World War, was too busy with problems in Europe and did not protest against the declaration of the Franz Joseph of the Russian Territory.
■ Freshwater Space Lake on the island of Hakes received its name on October 22, 1957 due to the first start of meteorological missiles from the surface of the lake.
■ Since the 1930s and mid-1990s. The archipelago Land Franz-Joseph was a closed territory on which the military objects of defense significance were located.
■ According to some reports, during the Second World War in the western part of the island, the land of Alexandra was the German meteorological station and the base of sludge and refueling submarines.
■ According to various information, the Franz Joseph Earth's Islands has accumulated up to one million empty barrels from under fuel and lubricants, which can take at least eight years to export.

■ Since the birds on the islands are extremely much, they often get into the blades of helicopters. In this case, tourists have to return to the icebreaker with a boat.
■ In the late 1970s. Hydrographers of the Ministry of Marine Fleet found on the island of Lamon Land Franz Joseph, a letter of one of the leaders of the Austro-Hungarian expedition 1873-1874. Karl Weiprecht. The letter wrapped in wax paper and foil lay over a hundred years in a wooden cylinder. It reported on the distinguished position of the expedition. Stored in the Arctic Museum and Antarctic in St. Petersburg.

■ In 1929, the expedition on the icebreaking steamer "Sedov" under the guidance of O.Yu. Schmidt - the future chief of the headsawmmorty and academician - installed the Soviet flag on the island of Gucker, made of iron, and proclaimed the islands of the territory of the USSR.

The Land of Franz-Joseph, the islands of which (and in total, 192) have a total area of \u200b\u200b16,134 square meters. km, located in the Arctic Ocean. The main part of the Arctic territory is part of Primorsky geographically, it is divided into 3 large parts: Eastern, Central and Western. The first includes the islands of the Vilchek land (2 thousand square meters. Km) and Grahaam-Bell (1.7 thousand square meters). They are separated from the rest of the Austrian strait. The largest large number is located in the central part. It is washes the British Canal and the Austrian Strait. The Western Region includes all the alliance - the land of George with an area of \u200b\u200b2.9 thousand square meters. km. The Land Franz-Joseph is largely a flat, plain surface. Its average height reaches 400-490 m, and the highest point is 620 m.

Detection

The existence of a group of the islands to the east of Spitsberena predicted not one great domestic scientist: first Lomonosov, and followed by Shilling and Kropotkin. Moreover, the last in 1871 introduced his expedition plan to the Russian geographical society for their research, but the government refused to allocate funds. The archipelago Earth Franz Joseph was opened only by the will of the case. This happened when the Austro-Hungarian expedition was started by Yu. Payer and K. Weiprecht went in 1872 to master the northeast passage. However, their vessel turned out to be clamped with ice, and gradually it belonged to the west of the new land. In 1873, August 30, Shhun "Admiral Tegetgooff" moored to the shores of an unknown sushi. At the same time, Pyer and Weiprecht were examined by its northern and southern outskirts. Before that, where Franz Joseph's land is located, it is not known anyone. In April 1874, Payer managed to reach the item with a coordinate of 82 ° 5 "northern latitude. He also compiled a preliminary scheme of the archipelago found. At that time, researchers seemed to be that it consists of a number of large areas. Open Earth received the name of Franz Iosif I, Austrian Emperor.

Learning

In 1873, Payer and Weiprecht was investigated by the southern part of the territory, and in the spring of 1874 they crossed it across the south to the north on riding narts. Then, for the first time, Franz Joseph's land was schematically depicted. The card, as it turned out in the future, had many errors. In 1881-1882 Open territory on the Yacht "Air" visited Scotlandz B. L. Smith. And in 1895-1897 The English geographer Frederick Jackson held many important surveys of the southwestern, middle and southern parts of the Alliance. Subsequently, it turned out that the group consists of a much larger number of islands than expected. However, they were less significant in size compared to the designations on the map of Pyer.

At about the same period of time, Nansen and Johansen visited the northeast and middle part of the archipelago. In June 1896, Nansen Nansen accidentally discovered on about. Northbrook Frederick Jackson wintering. In the summer of 1901, the south-western and southern banks of the islands visited and conducted their examination by Vice-Admiral S. O. Makarov. During the work, an approximate size of the entire territory was established. Then in 1901-1902. Research Proceedings continued to lead American scientists Baldwin and Tsigler. Following them from 1903 to 1905. For the purpose of getting to the pole on the ice, a new expedition was organized. She was led by Tsigler and Phials. In the period from 1913 to 1914 in the bay, a group of geographers G. Ya. Sedova led to the Bay of Gucker's Island. In the summer of 1914, the last remaining members of the Forwarding of Brusylov - Albanov and Conrad - managed to reach the old Jackson-Harssworth base. She was located at Cape Flora about. Northbrook. There, geographers were saved by the schoon "Saint Fock".

Accession to Russia and further development

In 1914, in search of the G. Ya. Sedov Islands visited the expedition under the post of Islyamov. He announced the terrain part of the territory of Russia and raised the flag. In 1929, in the bay quiet about. Gucker Soviet scientists opened the first research station. Thanks to her, Franz Joseph's land has since become annually to accept Soviet polar expeditions. In the 50s. XX century were reorganized air defense units. One of them adopted the Land Franz Joseph. The military base was on about. Graham-Bell. There are 30 separate radar company and a separate air self-secretion. The latter served as an ice airfield. But these are not all strategic objects that the Land Franz Joseph has. The island of Alexandra accepted the 31st separate radar company "Nugar". These units belonged to the very northern military union of the Soviet Union. In the early 90s. They were eliminated. In 2008, during the research on atomic icebreaker, entitled "Yamal" was discovered separated from Oh. Northbrook Part Sushi. In honor of the Arctic captain, she was assigned the name of Yuri Kuchiev. On September 10, 2012, another separated part from O. Expedition was opened another separated part from O. Northbrook.

Population size

On Earth Franz Joseph there are no municipalities and permanent residents. The temporary composition of the population includes border guards of the FSB, employees of research stations. Periodically, servicemen also live here. They carry out missile defense of the northern direction of Russia. According to the press, in 2005, in the territory of the island of Hays, the most extreme post office "Arkhangelsk 163100" was opened. The time of his work was to be only 1 hour, from 10 to 11 hours from Tuesday to Friday. As of September 2013, under the index of 163100, the post office "Arkhangelsk" (about. Hayes, Land Franz Josef). His schedule of work - from 10 to 11 hours each Wednesday.

Glaciers

They are covered by most of the surface of the archipelago (87%). Power varies from 100 to 500 m. Icebergs are subsequently descending to the Sea of \u200b\u200bglaciers. Eastern and southeastern parts of the entire territory are more important to icing. New formations appear only on the most tops of glacial shields. At the same time, according to the results of conducted research of the Pokrov, Franz Joseph is very quickly reduced. In the event that the observed pace of its destruction remains the same, the territory of the territory after 300 years can forever disappear.

Land Franz Joseph. Hot, cold?

A typical Arctic climate is distributed on the islands group. The average annual temperature on about. Rudolph reaches -12 ° C. In July, in the bay, the quiet island of Gucker, the air warms up to -1.2 ° C, and on the O-ve Hake, where the observatory is located. Krenkel (the northern meteorological station in the world), to + 1.6 ° C. The average temperature in January is approximately -24 ° C, and the lowest reaches the mark to -52 ° C. Maximum gusts of wind - 40 m / s. In the zone of accumulation of glacial shields falls on average from 250 to 550 mm of precipitation annually.

Flora and Fauna Arctic

In the vegetation cover of the archipelago, mosses and lichens are dominated. There are also grooms, stamps and polar poppy. Among the mammals you can see a white bear. Less often comes across white sands. In coastal waters, the walrus, whitewash, narrowing, sea hare and nerve are inhabited. The richer is represented in the fauna of the bird archipelago - there are only 26 species of the winged. Among them are numbers, ordinary Mauc, Cayra, White Seagull, Luriki, Burgomaster, and others. In the summer they form a bird market.

Tourist trips to the North Pole

How much is a cruise for the archipelago Franz Joseph? Tours to the Arctic can be purchased at a cost of 875,076 rubles. ($ 24 995). Yes, very expensive pleasure! A ticket may include a trip with an expeditionary command to the reserve "Land Franza Joseph". Undoubtedly, this is one of the most unusual and luxury vacation options. The excursion program offers its guests to reach the "top of the world" - 90 degrees with. sh. On board the most powerful atomic icebreaker "50 years of victory". The conquest of ice spaces is ends with a polar barbecue on an ice cover, a fun "round-world" dance and bathing in the Arctic Ocean. On the way back, travelers will be offered helicopter excursions to the islands of the archipelago, the incredible panorama of which will definitely conquer with its beauty. In 540 miles to the north pole there is a habitat of a huge number of seals, arctic birds, walrles and polar bears. In the case of planning such a tourist trip, it should take into account the fact that the journey takes place in a hard-to-reach, poorly studied and remote part of the globe. As a result, the program route can only be viewed as a common, familiarization plan of the expedition, since under the influence of external factors as ice furnishings, weather, etc. It may change. As ten-year practice shows, no forwarding tour in the Arctic repeats the previous one. Nature of the North Pole makes its own adjustments. This is the feature and specificity of expeditionary cruises.

General travel plan

Day 1

Arrival in Murmansk, landing for icebreaker. At the pier in anticipation when a group of travelers rises on board, stands the world's most powerful atomic icebreaker with the lyrical name "50 years of victory." After some time, the ship will leave great land and will go towards new impressions passing by

Day 2.

In the Barents Sea. An integral part of each expedition is the preparation of passengers to the peculiarities of an unusual travel. The members of the organizational team will familiarize themselves with resting security rules on board the vessel and helicopter, and will also tell about all the nuances associated with the departure of the shore in the Arctic.

Day 3-5

Direct course on the Arctic. The three subsequent rich days spent on the ship will introduce passengers with interesting historical facts and the amazing nature of this region.

Day 6.

Arrival at the North Pole. On the approach to the appointment point, the captain of slow clear maneuvers will end the icebreaker to the cherished coordinate - 90 ° of northern latitude. After stopping the vessel, vacationers will appear on the right ice mine and will hold the traditional rite of the "round-the-world procession." Then the next interesting ritual - travelers will be offered to write notes, which are subsequently placed in metal capsules and are immersed in the Bay of the Arctic Ocean.

Day 7-9

Destination - Land Franz Joseph. Despite the fact that the main task of the expedition has already been completed, travelers will still expect many interesting, impressive events. Well-preserved buildings allow you to track the most important historical events that happened on the archipelago many years ago. Among them is to celebrate the house on about. Bell, built in 1881. Lee Smith's expedition participants, and the ruins of the old camp on. Northbrook. It was there that in 1896 there was a significant meeting of Nansen and Jackson. It is also worth a visit to the Cape Norway, where for many 7 months he conducted a joint research work Nansen F. and Johansen; To honor the memory of the scientist G. Ya. Sedov, the image of which became the prototype of the main character when creating the novel "Two Captain" Caveryin. The initial expanses of the Arctic and the peculiarity of the landscape gives its guests Franz Joseph. The photo taken in this area is invariably affect with its uniqueness and beauty. Glaciers resembling lunar crater, combined with multicolored moss carpets and bright poppy flowers create an amazing, indescribable atmosphere of harmony. The obligatory component of the Arctic landscape is also thousands of birds and walrus fools that fill the coastal horizon of the archipelago of Franz Joseph. The photo on the village of the Polar Nature will allow to capture a unique moment in life and keep it in memory for many years.

Day 10-11

In the Barents Sea. It's time to return to Murmansk. On the way back, the captain will invite travelers for dinner to their apartments. There, passengers can relax in an interesting company and listen to entertaining real stories about the service on the icebreaker from the original source.

What is included in the total cost of the tour

• Journey aboard icebreaker "50 years of victory."
• Planned group excursions. They include all the coastal trips, visiting places of historical significance and other helicopters.
• Excursions on the zodiacs (by decision of the expeditionary leader due to the deterioration of weather conditions may be canceled).
• Program of lectures prepared by famous naturalists and specialists of the region.
• Four meals (including fresh pastry baking); coffee and snacks during the day; drinking water.
• Rubber boots for rent for a cruise time.
• Information materials for familiarization and expedition diary with photos on DVD.
• Postal fees and technical expenses.
• Special jacket for expedition.
• Medical insurance against accidents on board the vessel.