Amderma (, lit. ''a walrus

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding rooks, and more broadly a colony of several types of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-fo ...

'' in

Nenets The Nenets (; ), in the past also called 'Samoyeds' or 'Yuraks', are a Samoyedic ethnic group native to Arctic Russia, Russian Far North. According to the latest census in 2021, there were 49,646 Nenets in the Russian Federation, most of them l ...

) is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically describ ...

(a settlement) in Zapolyarny District of

Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (; ) also known as Nenetsia ( ) is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast. Its administrative center is the town of Naryan-Mar. It has an area of and a population of 42,090 ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located on the coast of

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

, near the

Vaygach Island Vaygach Island () is an island in the Arctic Sea between the Pechora Sea and the Kara Sea. Geography Vaygach Island is separated from the Yugorsky Peninsula in the mainland by the Yugorsky Strait and from Novaya Zemlya by the Kara Strait. ...

, from

Naryan-Mar Naryan-Mar (; ) is a sea and river port town and the administrative center of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The town is situated on the right bank of the Pechora River, upstream from the river's mouth, on the Barents Sea. Naryan-Mar lies n ...

, the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the

autonomous okrug Autonomous okrugs, () which are also referred to as "autonomous districts" or "autonomous areas" are a type of federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russia, Russian Federation and simultaneously an administrative division type of ...

. Population: .

History

It was established in 1933. Previously an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

, it was demoted to a rural locality in November 2005, but its rural status was not officially codified until a law to that effect was passed in April 2015.

Climate

Amderma has a

polar climate The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers but with varying winters. Every month a polar climate has an average temperature of less than . Regions with a polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth's area. Most of ...

( ET) with very cool and short summers combined with very long and cold (but by Russian standards not severe) winters. Although relative winter temperatures are normally hovering around , the transition months of May and October see a milder form of winter. As a result of the lack of regular warm temperatures Amderma is above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

. It experiences

midnight sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

and

polar night Polar night is a phenomenon that occurs in the polar regions of Earth, northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth when the Sun remains below the horizon for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phen ...

. However, the cold Arctic Ocean tempers and reduces the heat effect midnight sun brings to inland locations further south such as Naryan-Mar. Brief warm temperatures have been recorded when southerly winds have reached the area with a July record high of . Winters are very cold for a marine location, but in spite of this there are several marine localities at lower parallels in North America that experience colder January lows than Amderma.

Economy

Fluorite Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

deposits are located in the vicinity of Amderma, but the mines have been abandoned since the 1990s. It is home to the

Amderma Airport Amderma Airport is a former interceptor aircraft, interceptor base in Arctic Russia, near Novaya Zemlya, located 4 km west of Amderma (Амдерма). It is a simple airfield built on a spit along the ocean, with some tarmac space. The f ...

, a civil airport and military base.

References

External links

An article about Amderma at sevmeteo.ru
{{in lang, ru Rural localities in Nenets Autonomous Okrug Kara Sea Populated places of Arctic Russia Populated places established in 1933 1933 establishments in the Soviet Union