Muostakh Island

Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / area missing

Muostach (Russian Остров Муостах Ostrow Muostach ) is an island in the Laptev Sea to the east of the Lena Delta. 40 km east-southeast of Tiksi located, it is one of Yakutia in Russia.

Location and Geology

Geologically Muostach to the North Siberian Lowland. The separating waterway originated 2000 years ago.

The island is 7.5 km long and up to 500 m wide. At the southern tip, where a lighthouse marks the way to the Tiksibucht, she sits in an interrupted stretch of sand still continue 5.2 km. The polar climate is the surrounding sea for almost nine months of the year between mid-October and mid-July freeze. Storms and ice floes put to the coast. A weather station and a research station were operated in the past on the island.

It is observed on Muostach a massive soil erosion. In the last 60 years, the studied coastal areas have retreated by an average of 1.8 m per year, on particularly exposed North Cape including 9.6 m per year. In the years 2010 to 2012, this value is increased to 3.1 m per year. The development can lead to the demise of the island, because the ground to 87% consists of formed in the ground ice. Taut permafrost further, you also reduce the island's surface. The loss in volume from 1951 to 2010 is estimated at 34%. The area decreased by 24%.