Matochkin Strait

Geographical location

The Matotschkin flock (Russian Маточкин Шар, scientific transliteration Matočkin Šar, rarely Matotschkinstraße ) is a strait that separates the two main islands of the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, the Severny Island to the north and Yuzhny Island in the south. The strait connects the Barents Sea in the west to the Kara Sea in the east.

Was first described in detail the Straits of Fyodor Rosmyslow an expedition 1768-69.

The coast along the approximately 100 km long and at its narrowest point just 600 meter wide road is steep. Due to the location at 73 ° N of the Matotschkin crowd is frozen most of the time. There are on the coast fishing villages ( Matotschkin crowd, Stolbowy ).

On October 30, 1961, carried out north of the Strait of Tsar bomb test.

In the years 1963-1990 39 underground nuclear tests were conducted on the southern edge. So-called hydro nuclear tests were also performed in the sequence yet, but they were made ​​with a subcritical mass of plutonium (up to 100 g of enriched material).