Novaya Zemlya
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Novaya Zemlya (Russian: Но́вая Земля́, lit. New Land; formerly known in English and still in Dutch as Nova Zembla, Norwegian Gåselandet (Goose Island)) is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe at Cape Zhelaniya (see also extreme points of Europe). The archipelago is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast as Novaya Zemlya Island Territory. Its population is 2,716 (2002 census), of which 2,622 reside in Belushya Guba, an urban-type settlement that is the administrative center of Novaya Zemlya District. The indigenous population consists of about 100 Nenetses and 50 Avars[1] who subsist mainly on fishing, trapping, polar bear hunting, and seal hunting.[2]
Novaya Zemlya consists of two major islands, separated by the narrow Matochkin Strait, and a number of smaller ones. The two main islands are Severny (northern) and Yuzhny (southern). Novaya Zemlya separates the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea. The total area is about 90,650 km².
As Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War years, the Russian Air Force maintained a presence at Rogachevo air base on the southern part of the island. It was used primarily for interceptor aircraft operations but also provided logistical support for the nearby nuclear test area.
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[edit] Geology
Novaya Zemlya is the northern part of the Ural Mountains,[3] and the interior is mountainous throughout.[4] It is separated from the mainland by the Kara Strait.[4] The mountains reach a height of 1,547 m.[5] The northern island contains many glaciers, while the southern one has a tundra climate.[2] Natural resources include copper, lead, and zinc.[2]
[edit] History
| Novaya Zemlya Test Site | |
|---|---|
 Map showing location of the site |
|
| Type | Nuclear test site |
| Location | Coordinates: |
| Area | 55,200 km² (land) 36,000 km² (water) |
| Operator | Russian Federation (formerly Soviet Union) |
| Status | Active |
| In use | 1955 – present |
| Testing | |
| Subcritical tests |
not known |
| Nuclear tests |
224 |
The Russians knew of Novaya Zemlya from the 11th century, when traders from Novgorod visited the area.[4] For western Europeans, the search for the Northeast passage in the 16th century led to its exploration.[4] The first visit was by Hugh Willoughby in 1553.[4] Dutch explorer Willem Barents reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in 1594, and in a subsequent expedition of 1596 rounded the northern point and wintered on the north-east coast.[6] (Barents perished during the expedition, and may have been buried on the northern island.[7]) During a later voyage by Feodor Liitke in 1821–1824, the west coast was mapped.[4] Henry Hudson was another explorer who passed through Novaya Zemlya while searching for the Northeast Passage.[8]
The first permanent settlement was established in 1870 at Malye Karmakuly, which served as capital of Novaya Zemlya until 1926. Sometime later the administrative center was transferred to Belushya Guba [9].
Small numbers of Nenets people were resettled to Novaya Zemlya in the 1870s in a bid by Russia to keep out the Norwegians. This population, then numbering about 1,500, was removed in the 1950s when nuclear testing began.[10][11][12]
[edit] Nuclear testing
In July 1954, Novaya Zemlya was declared as the Novaya Zemlya Test Site, construction of which began in October[13] and existed during much of the Cold War. "Zone A", Chyornaya Guba (), was used in 1955–1962 and 1972–1975.[13] "Zone B", Matochkin Shar (), was used for underground tests in 1964–1990.[13] "Zone C", Sukhoy Nos (), was used in 1958–1961 and was the 1961 explosion site of Tsar Bomba, a record 50-megaton blast conducted in the atmosphere.[13] Other tests occurred elsewhere throughout the islands, with an official testing range covering over half of the landmass.
1963 saw the implementation of the Limited Test Ban Treaty outlawing most atmospheric nuclear tests.[14] The largest underground test at Novaya Zemlya took place on September 12, 1973, involving four nuclear devices of 4.2 megatons total yield. Although far smaller in blast power than the Tsar Bomba and other atmospheric tests, the confinement of the blasts underground led to pressures rivaling natural earthquakes. In the case of the September 12, 1973, test, a seismic magnitude of 6.97 on the Richter Scale was reached, setting off an 80 million ton avalanche that blocked two glacial streams and created a lake 2 km in length.[14]
Over its entire history as a nuclear test site, Novaya Zemlya hosted 224 nuclear detonations with a total explosive energy equivalent to 265 megatons of TNT.[13] For comparison, all explosives used in World War II, including the detonations of two U.S. nuclear bombs, amounted to only two megatons.[14]
In 1988–1989, glasnost helped make the Novaya Zemlya testing activities public knowledge,[13] and in 1990 Greenpeace activists staged a protest at the site.[15] The last nuclear test explosion was in 1990 (also the last for the entire Soviet Union and Russia). The Ministry for Atomic Energy has performed a series of subcritical hydronuclear experiments near Matochkin Shar each autumn since 1998.[16] These tests reportedly involve up to 100 g of weapons-grade plutonium.[17]
- See also: Semipalatinsk Test Site
[edit] In popular culture
- Novaya Zemlya may have been the inspiration for the fictional land of Zembla, which plays a key role in Vladimir Nabokov's 1962 novel Pale Fire.
- An island or region in the far north named Zembla is also mentioned in Second Epistle of the poem An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope, first published in 1733. The relevant stanza is in Part V.
But where th'extreme of Vice was ne'er agreed:
Ask where's the North? - at York 'tis on the Tweed;
In Scotland at the Orcades; and there
At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
- The islands are prominently featured in the book Raise the Titanic! by Clive Cussler, as the only natural source of a rare mineral, byzanium, for use in an advanced missile defense system.
- Novaya Zemlya is the location for the first sortie in the third set of missions in the PC game Delta Force Xtreme. Even in the first Delta Force game, Novaya Zemlya appeared as a setting for one of the sets of missions.
- The last two missions of the Playstation 2 game SWAT: Global Strike Team take place in Novaya Zemlya.
- Novaya Zemlya is the location for some of the action in Philip Pullman's 1997 novel The Subtle Knife. In Lyra's world, it is still called Nova Zembla.
- Novaya Zemlya served as the destination of the submarine in Frank Herbert's Book The Dragon in the Sea.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www-ns.iaea.org/downloads/rw/waste-safety/north-test-site-final.pdf
- ^ a b c Novaya Zemlya in: The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ Novaya Zemlya, Northern Russia. NASA. Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ a b c d e f Novaya Zemlya in: Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.) (1911). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ Russian military mapping. The highest point is located at
- ^ Whitfield, Peter (1998). New Found Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration. UK: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92026-4.
- ^ "Search for Barents: Evaluation of Possible Burial Sites on North Novaya Zemlya, Russia", Jaapjan J. Zeeberg et al, Arctic Vol. 55, No. 4 (December 2002) p. 329–338
- ^ Henry Hudson in: Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ Health, science and education, history and trade among others - news review from the Arkhangelsk region
- ^ "Nenets", Arctic Network for the Support of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Arctic
- ^ "The Nenets", The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
- ^ "Nuclear Free Seas", Greenpeace
- ^ a b c d e f Khalturin, Vitaly I.; Rautian, Tatyana G.; Richards, Paul G.; Leith, William S. (2005). "A Review of Nuclear Testing by the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, 1955–1990". Science and Global Security 13: 1-42. doi:10.1080/08929880590961862.
- ^ a b c Pratt, Sara (2005-11-28). Frozen in Time: A Cold War Relic Gives up its Secrets. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ The early history of Greenpeace Russia. Greenpeace Russia. Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ Jasinski, Michael; Chuen, Cristina; Ferguson, Charles D. (October 2002). "Russia: Of truth and testing". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 58 (5): 60-65.
- ^ Russia: Central Test Site, Novaya Zemlya. Nuclear Threat Initiative (2003-07-30). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
[edit] Further reading
- Serebryanny, Leonid (June 1997). "The colonization and peoples of Novaya Zemlya then and now". Nationalities Papers 25 (2): 301-309.
[edit] External links
- Selected satellite views of nuclear test site Novaya Zemlya (global security).
- Environment, climate change, and history of exploration (Barents' wintering).
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- Nuclear tests in Novaya Zemlya
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