Franz Josef Land. Russia. Bashny.Net

Franz Josef Land - an archipelago of islands in the Barents Sea in the far north of Russia. Total archipelago consists of 192 islands. I visited this place during an expedition to the Pole Sevren aboard nuclear-powered icebreaker "50 Years of Victory».

Will have 40 photos and comments to them.
Author





2.Nesmotrya in the middle of summer, the next day after our departure from the port of Murmansk, we started to come across ice floes.



3.Sovsem soon gave way to spend some ice floe ice floes. Began to come across small icebergs.



4.Imenno in this area, we met the first polar bears. This is not surprising. This combination of ice, land and water - a perfect habitat for this polar predator.



5.Osnovnaya prey of polar bears this seal. He tracks down her mainly by smell. Very often seal hides in the gullies in the ice. Appear on the surface too often it is not at risk. Polar bear tracked down the seal with full force forepaws breaks the ice and then trying to pull it out. This bear is clearly too late. Someone more successful already dealt with the seal.



6.Doveryaya his nose, polar bears can climb far north from the nearest land. They have no natural enemies. They are not social animals and prefer to live alone. The only exception - a mother with young cubs. Mother not only feeds the bear first of his life but also protects against adult males. From time to time they attack the cubs.



7.Hotya they are able to overcome dozens of kilometers across the icy wilderness is still a favorite habitat for them is a combination of land, ice fields and the open water. Bears great swim in the water, but once again prefer not to go there. Small cracks in the ice, they can easily jump.



8.After successful hunt bear is not capable of weeks. Therefore, they are saturated in store. Just dined bear can be easily recognized by a huge belly.



9.Iz the fact that natural enemies they have, bears a rather curious. Of course, most of them prefer to stay away from the nuclear-powered icebreaker. All the same, the difference in size is colossal. But some looked fit directly to the board and try to see what is happening on the deck.



10.Osobenno all pleased with the very young bear cub. They circled around at least an hour. This was unusual, because most often at the slightest danger female tries to steal the baby away.



11.Zdes as they approached the ship for a long time circling on ice floes.



12.My watched with great interest because of their relationship.



13.Starayas better see what is happening on board, bear even climbed on an iceberg.



14.My almost were at the level of her eyes. It was probably the most interesting acquaintance with bears for all the expedition.



15.Krome polar bears we have yet to come across walruses. They are less fearful than seals. Although adult bear sometimes able to cope on land and walrus. In the water, they feel quite safe. Often their rookeries are located directly on the large ice floes.



16.Tem Yet, at the approach of a large ship often prefer to dive into the water. There they were much more comfortable and the speed with which they swim a lot more than a clumsy movement on land.



17.Krupnye males are all covered with scars from fights with their neighbors. Every great walrus seeks to protect his harem and territory from pesky competitors. Therefore, they have to spend most of the battles of life.



18.Cherez two days' journey we came to the first island of the archipelago of Franz Josef Land. The existence of the land east of Spitsbergen predicted by many scientists. This was at one time said still Lomonosov. One of the most fundamental research on this issue was made by Peter Kropotkin. He even calculated the coordinates of the islands. Unfortunately, funds for the expedition was not found. Therefore, the discovery of the islands has been made completely by accident. The Austro-Hungarian expedition of Charles Weyprecht and Julius Payer was trying to find the Northeast Passage but was clobbered by ice near Novaya Zemlya. Gradually drift brought them steam schooner sailing to the shores of the archipelago. It happened on August 30 in 1873. Therefore, the newly discovered land was named in honor of the Austrian Emperor Joseph I.
Fratsa


19.Ekspeditsionnym leader in our journey was a famous Canadian traveler Lorrie Dexter. Based on the ice conditions around the island, it was decided ashore by helicopter. Inflatable boats "Zodiac" could not get close enough to the landing. We had to go ashore at Cape Flora on the island of Yuri Kuchiev. It is interesting that the island is one of the youngest in the archipelago. It was opened in 2008 during the expedition icebreaker "Yamal". Prior to this, between the islands was the isthmus, and it was part of the island of Northbrook. But the team found that the nuclear-powered isthmus washed away with water. Thus on the map, a new island. He was named in honor of the legendary captain of the icebreaker "Arktika". It was under his command for the first time in human history the surface vessel reached the top of the worlds - the North Pole.

Aboard the icebreaker was MI-8 helicopter with a crew. Typically, these large helicopters are used for real work at sea. For ice reconnaissance enough more economical and smaller MI-2. However, in our case it is supposed landing of people and delivery of equipment, so the choice fell on this type of helicopter.



20.Podobnye job only by experienced crews. Not only must sit and take off from a small area on the ship, but also wisely choose a place to land and make sure that there is no danger to surrounding people. During landing or ice the main problem was the polar bears. First of all, it was necessary to make sure that they are not around.

Near the site of the landing rises 300 meter slope of the mountain. It nest thousands of birds. This is mainly guillemots and white seagulls. Black dots around the helicopter - it is just a bird in the air.



21.Pervymi ashore ensure the safety of people planted the rest of the group. Hunting of polar bears is prohibited by law. And although they are armed, but the bullets used to scare the beast. To kill nobody shoots. In order to prevent ricochet used steel core. Thus, you can shoot the stones and drive away the bear. In addition, there are stun grenades.



22.Mesto our landing - Cape "Flora". At this point repeatedly landed Arctic expedition. Wintered here for the first time a British yacht crew of "Air", under the command of Benjamin Lee Smith. His ship was erased in the ice near this place. The researchers were able to build a hut out of scrap materials and winter on the island. In the spring, they are four sloops reached the New Earth, where they picked up the British ship sent to your search.



23.Britansky polar explorer and geographer Frederick Jackson founded the stationary base during an expedition to study the Franz Josef Land. June 17, 1896 it came to this database Norwegian researchers Fritor Hjalmar Johansen and Nansen after his failed attempt to reach the North Pole.



24.Ostanavlivalis in this place American Walter Wellman expedition on the steamer "Fridtjof" as well as the Duke Arbutstsi to "Stella Polare".



25.Mnogie polar expeditions used brown coal mine which is on the island. It is interesting that Sedov during the winter in the neighboring island on the schooner "Holy Martyr Thomas" did not know about it. They were desperate for fuel and disassembled for this wooden construction base.



26.Eto only a small part of the history of Arctic exploration in the region. Officially, the archipelago was declared Russian territory during the expedition Ishaq Ibrahimovic Islyamova searching Sedov in 1914. Just then there was raised the Russian flag.



27.Ne less history amazed at the beauty of this place north nature. Summers are short but very bright. Everywhere underfoot colorful moss covered with flowers. One has only to step on the carpet and immediately sank into the water on the knee.



28.Zahodyat here and polar bears. The island also found fox, walrus, seal, bearded seal, harp seal, narwhal and beluga. Just south of the sea can be seen killer whales. But this visit we did not get to see any animals. Only old bones.



29.Nazad we flew one of the last helicopters. Like as long as possible to take a walk around the island and enjoy the local beauty. And I must say that we succeeded in fully.



30.Prakticheski immediately after take-off, we felt a strong vibration. The helicopter lost altitude rapidly at first and then with the set went to turn at the next headland. I sat in the tail and heard how much creaking tail boom.



31.Cherez a while we sat on the ground and it became clear that we are on the rise blade hit one of the many guillemots. Because of this, the ending of the propeller deformed.



32.Bylo decided to carry on the rescue of all bots on the other side of the bay. There was ice-free coastline. After the evacuation of people from the island, the crew of the helicopter on their own try to fly aboard the icebreaker.

Thus we had the "wonderful" opportunity to admire the beauty of the island in plenty during this landing. However, the transition was not so very long. Most of the way up the hill fell on the go so it was relatively easy.



33.Spasatelny boat slowly approached the shore soundings to not inadvertently damage the screw.



34.A only then several flights have transported and equipment on board the ship.



35.Nesmotrya on the eventful day to sleep that night, we did not succeed. This time of year the sun does not go beyond the horizon so constantly light. Passing near the other islands of the archipelago, we are constantly met polar bears. Well here it is possible to miss this opportunity to get acquainted closer with the wildlife of the Arctic?



36.Prezhde all, we come to the basalt rock Roubini. It is named after the famous Italian tenor and his interesting ogomnym rookeries.



37.Blagodarya the volcanic origin of the rocks around the beach is very steep. Therefore, even such a huge ship like our nuclear icebreaker is able to approach it almost came. This is a very impressive sight. In order to run such a delicate operation on his nose is one of the sailors with a portable radio. He constantly tells the distance to the rocks and the trend movement.



38.Bazaltovye slopes dotted with islands all birds. It is also interesting to observe the structure of the rock that seems collected from the individual flat bars.



39.No main goal of our re-entry was a quiet bay on the island Hooker. It was here in 1929 opened the first in the archipelago Soviet research station.



40.K Unfortunately by the time of our visit at the station for several years no one lived. All the buildings in the territory have been preserved and the only inhabitants were here except that polar bears. Aboard the icebreaker were members of the first in all that time the expedition to the island. They had to go ashore and to assess the possibility of recovery of the polar base. Before planting them most concerned with the question of having uninvited guests from among the bears. Therefore, all the time before sending it to the shore, they carefully studied the structure of the bank and binoculars. Due to the ice to approach the shore in boats not possible. Therefore, the landing was carried out again by helicopter. During the trek to the North Pole ship mechanics were able to fix the ending and MI-8 was again ready to fly. The other passengers on the island is not planted. Visibility in this day unfortunately was not very good. Therefore, as soon as a little cleared up everything immediately plunged into a helicopter and flew to the island.

So to get my visiting the Franz Josef Land during an expedition to the North Pole.

At this all thanks. I hope you were wondering.



Source: http: //