Komsomolets Island in Severnaya Zemlya Komsomolets Island () is the northernmost

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of the Severnaya Zemlya group in the

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 ...

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

, and the third largest island in the group. It is the 82nd largest island on earth. About 65% of the island is covered with glaciers, including Russia's largest, the Academy of Sciences Glacier.

Geography

Komsomolets Island is separated from October Revolution Island in the south by the Red Army Strait and from Pioneer Island in the southwest by the Yuny Strait. The northernmost point of the island is the Arctic Cape, the launching point for many Arctic expeditions. Practically the whole of the central and southern part of the island is covered by the massive Academy of Sciences Glacier, between Krenkel Bay in the east and Zhuravlev Bay in the west. The northern part is largely unglaciated. The area of this island has been estimated at 9,006 km². It rises to a height of 780 m.

Geology

The soil of the island is mostly composed of loose

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

s, a tundra desert scattered with mosses and lichens.https://web.archive.org/web/20101223015139/http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/severnaya-zemlya Russian Arctic - Severnaya Zemlya

History

The island was discovered by Boris Vilkitsky in 1913, but it was not proven to be an island until 1931, when Georgy Ushakov and Nikolay Urvantsev charted the archipelago during their 1930–32 expedition. They also named it. In keeping with their tradition of naming the islands after events and movements of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, this island was named in honour of the members of the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

, the "Communist Union of Youth."

Photo gallery

File:Krenkel-Bucht 1 2014-08-31.jpg, Krenkel Bay, eastern coast of Komsomolets Island (80°40’N, 97°30‘O) File:Krenkel-Bucht 2 2014-08-31.jpg, Krenkel Bay File:Polarstation Izluchina 2014-08-31.jpg, Abandoned Russian polar station Izluchina (Northeast coast of Komsomolets Island; 81°N, 96°33’E). File:Kap Arktitscheski 1 2014-08-31.jpg, Komsomolets Island:
Empty oil drums at Arctic Cape (Komsomolets Island; 81°15‘N, 95°39‘E). File:Zhurawljow-Bucht 1 2014-09-01.jpg, Zhuravlev Bay, located in the west coast of Komsomolets Island (80°44’N, 93°19‘E). File:Zhurawljow-Bucht 2 2014-09-01.jpg, Zhuravlev Bay File:Zhurawljow-Bucht 3 2014-09-01.jpg, Zhuravlev Bay File:Zhurawljow-Bucht 4 2014-09-01.jpg, Zhuravlev Bay

References

External links

* * Photos of the Academy of Science Ice Cap

* Facts and dramatic satellite photos of the islands of the Severnaya Zemlya group: {{Laptev Sea Islands Islands of the Laptev Sea Islands of the Kara Sea Komsomol Islands of Severnaya Zemlya