Taymyr Peninsula

Geographical location

The Taymyr Peninsula is an approximately 400,000 km ² peninsula between Kara and Laptev Sea ( Arctic Ocean ) in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Region (formerly Taimyr Autonomous District ) as well as from Siberia and Russia ( Asia ), and is the northernmost continental mainland part of the earth.

Geographical location

The Taymyr Peninsula is located north of Taimyrsenke, the central part of the North Siberian Lowland. To the north it separates the western Kara Sea from the eastern Laptev Sea, belonging to the Arctic Arctic Ocean. Your western boundary is the small estuary ( estuary ) of Pjassina, but the maximum Jenisseigolf as an elongated estuary of the Yenisei, its southeastern forms of Chatangagolf as large estuary of Chatanga.

The peninsula separates the basins of the western streams Yenisei and Ob, each having about 400 or 800 km long estuary to the Kara Sea, especially from that of the eastern Lena that forms far beyond the Chatangagolfs the great Lena Delta as an estuary in the Laptev Sea. The contrary mouth shapes of these streams can reveal a lot about the changing flow conditions that cause these Siberian rivers in the Kara and Laptev Sea, so that the local climate is strongly influenced.

The peninsula is located in west-east direction a maximum of about 1050 km long and wide in north-south direction up to about 520 km. The are in its extreme north of Cape Tscheljuskin, which is about 1300 km beyond the Arctic circle, is with hilly hinterland, the northernmost continental mass of the earth is because further north are world's only other islands in the Arctic Ocean. As part of the Cape, the peninsula juts up to the latitude of 77.43 ° north into the Arctic Ocean off. To the north of the Cape, connecting beyond the Kara and Laptev Sea Wilkizkistraße, is the island of Severnaya Zemlya group that represents the northernmost area of Siberia with three main islands.

Across the peninsula runs in the southwest-northeast direction, the Byrrangagebirge that is located northeast of the drained by the Taimyra in south-north direction Taimyrsees reached about 1125 m height. The peninsula is divided by numerous watercourses: In addition to the Taimyra as longest river of the peninsula there flow among other things, the Western Novaya as a tributary of the Chatanga and the eastern Novaya as a tributary of the Chatangagolfs. In the landscape with many swamps, there are also thousands of Still Waters: In addition to the Taimyrsee as the largest lake in the peninsula lie in, among other things Arylachsee, Kungasalachsee, Loewinson - Lessing Lake and Portnjaginosee.

Population and climate

Villages are located just south of the Taimyr peninsula, along the rivers and their estuaries in other rivers or sea areas. This is caused by the difficult transport links to the country during the summer, when the areas with permafrost to thaw superficial. The winters are long and extremely cold, the summers are short, cold and fog often rich with July means by 5 ° C.

While the peninsula was roamed by hunters of the indigenous people early on discovered the islands of Severnaya Zemlya in 1913 in search of a summer ice-free North-West Passage.

Flora and Fauna

Place the Taimyr peninsula and the offshore waters of the Kara and Laptev Sea, a man still little touched, great wilderness Represents the area includes tundra with mosses and lichens and arctic cold and frost rubble deserts, which are home to polar bear, reindeer, walrus and beluga. In summer nesting millions of seabirds. 1974 was successfully settled on the peninsula a herd of musk oxen from Canada and Alaska, the stock is now estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 animals.

Reserves

Great Arctic Reserve

On the Taimyr peninsula are part of the Great Arctic Reserve ( Bolshoi Arktitscheski Sapowednik ), a nature reserve in 1993, which has 41,692 km ² of land and sea areas. Currently, it is Russia's largest protected area ( Sapowednik ), and it has a variety of fauna. This live about 4000 indigenous Dolgans and Nganasans, traditionally hunt there, fishing and reindeer breeding.

Taimyr Reserve

There is also on the Taimyr peninsula since February 23, 1979, the Taimyr Reserve ( Taimyrski Sapowednik ), which received the status of a Biosphere Reserve in 1995 by UNESCO. His office is located in the village Chatanga, located on the eponymous river. The complex consists of five separate areas. The main tundra area ( 13240.42 km ²) of the Reserve is just west of the Taimyrsees including some Western Seeausläufer. On the eastern shore extends the Bikada Sanctuary ( 9377.6 km ²). Is the Arctic region ( 4332.2 km ²) on the eastern coast of the peninsula. Near the river Chatanga are the areas Ari Mas ( 156.11 km ²) and, across the river, and thus no longer on the peninsula, Lukunski ( 90.55 km ²). In the village you can Chatanga founded in 1993 on the nature and ethnography museum of the State Biosphere Reserve " Taimyrer " about the settlement, inform the traditional nomadic way of life and the natural environment.