Dikson Island (russian: Ди́ксон), initially Dickson, is the name of an island in

Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (russian: Таймы́рский Долга́но-Не́нецкий райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #10-4765 and municipalLaw #2-54 district (raion), one of the forty-three in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia ...

(russian: Таймы́рский Долга́но-Не́нецкий райо́н),

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Si ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, situated in the Kara Sea near the mouth of the Yenisei River. A nearby

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

of Dikson, which functions as a port and

hydrometeorological Hydrometeorology is a branch of meteorology and hydrology that studies the transfer of water and energy between the land surface and the lower atmosphere. Hydrologists often use data provided by meteorologists. As an example, a meteorologist might ...

centre, is located on the mainland across from the island. It is served by the

Dikson Airport Dikson Airport () is a small commercial airport in Russia located west of the urban-type settlement of Dikson on a small island. The airport is owned by KrasAvia. It primarily services small transport aircraft. Central Intelligence Agency re ...

History

Dikson Island and its adjoining urban settlement have been named after Swedish Arctic pioneer Baron Oscar Dickson.''The Darkness of Dikson Island''
, Author unknown, russia-channel.com In the 17th century the island was known as ("long") island, or , after its

Pomor Pomors or Pomory ( rus, помо́ры, p=pɐˈmorɨ, ''seasiders'') are an ethnographic group descended from Russian settlers, primarily from Veliky Novgorod, living on the White Sea coasts and the territory whose southern border lies on a ...

discoverer. In 1875, the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

explorer

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the Fenno-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friher ...

renamed it after the wealthy Swedish merchant and philanthropist of Scottish origin Oskar Dickson. The name was soon

Russified Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

, by dropping the "c". Dikson has been the official name of the island since 1884. Oscar Dickson, along with Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov, had been the patron of a number of early Arctic expeditions, including

's Russian Arctic explorations. In 1915 the island became the site of the first Russian

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

station in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

. The seaport on the mainland was built in 1935, and in 1957 the two settlements were merged into one. During World War II the town was bombarded by the in August 1942 during

Operation Wunderland Operation Wunderland ("Wonderland") comprised a large-scale operation undertaken in summer 1942 by the German ''Kriegsmarine'' in the waters of the Northern Sea Route close to the Arctic Ocean. The Germans knew that many ships of the Soviet Nav ...

. Dikson Island was one of the transfer destinations for 1949 March deportation from Latvia.Map of transfer destinations from Latvia in 1949. https://visc.gov.lv/vispizglitiba/saturs/dokumenti/metmat/vesture_6_9/kartes4.shtml

Climate

Dikson has a severe Arctic tundra climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''ET''). The weather (even in the warmest month, August) is notoriously unpleasant. Winter in Dikson lasts ten months, and for two of those months the sun never rises. NASA Tº Ostrov Dikson

References

External sources

Location
* Edwards, Rob (September 9, 1995)
New Scientist
* William Barr, ''The Last Journey of Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen'', 1919.
Picture

{{Authority control Port cities and towns in Russia Islands of the Kara Sea Populated places of Arctic Russia Islands of Krasnoyarsk Krai