Franz Joseph Land : strange islands lost in the Barents sea

Franz Josef Land archipelago is the closest land to the North Pole in the eastern hemisphere (about 870 km to the North Pole).

It has been discovered in 1873 by the Austrian - Hungarian "Tegetthoff" expedition, under the leadership of Carl Weyprecht, who named the islands after Emperor Franz Joseph I.

The extremely northern position of the islands attracted expeditions of the pioneer age (late 19th - early 20th century), which usually saw Franz Josef Land as a useful advanced base for attempts to reach the North Pole.

The archipelago was more fully explored by expeditions such as one led by Nansen (who spent the winter of 1895–96 in Franz Josef Land).

Flat tabletop mountains are characteristic of Franz Joseph islands.

In 1926 the islands were taken over by the Soviet Union, for research and military purposes; many of the Russian Polar stations are now abandoned, and the whole archipelago is given back to the wildlife. Polar Bears, walruses, arctic foxes, belugas and whales, and lots of Arctic birds.

Polar bears at Rudolf Island

Nowadays it is one of rare 'wild' places left on Earth - it is unpopulated except for one permanent Russian base.


The archipelago consists of 191 islands, mostly covered with a permanent ice cap. Islands of volcanic origin, including Alexandra Land, Prince George Land, Bell Island, Hooker Island, Prince Rudolf Island, Hall island...


Hall Island (Ostrov Gallya)

80°05′ N, 58°01′ E

A medium size island, mostly under ice cap, Hall island was discovered on 1873 by the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition led by Weyprecht.


Later, in 1898-99 a small camp was built at Cape Tegetthoff, one of the most spectacular views on the islands, and the best known landmark (figuring on the logo).


Cape Tegetthoff was named after the main ship of the Austro-Hungarian explorers.


On the southern coast of the island sights are very impressive: huge cliffs resembling dorsal fins of gigantic sharks submerge into the depths.


This chain of spectacular rock towers, terminating in two pointed rock needles just off the coast, are one of the most fantastic sceneries of the whole archipelago.


Some remains of the stations built by polar expeditions can still be observed at cape Tegetthoff.

The "Tegetthoff" leaving.

The remains of the wooden structures built later by the Wellman's expedition (1898-1899), which failed to reach the north pole, are better preserved, and ad further drama to the landscape:

Wellman's octogonal wintering hut remains.


Northbrook island (Ostrov Nortbruk)
79.9° N, 50.9° E

One of the most accessible locations in the island group, it often served as a base for polar expeditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Cape Flora

Cape Flora, located in an unglacierized area in the Southwest of Northbrook Island camp, is historically significant.

Lee Smith 's expedition in 1880 shipwrecked here:

The "Eira" sinking

Ben Lee Smith's "Eira" unexpectedly turned out to be between two icebergs in sight of Cape Flora . The ship sank in a matter of hours. The crew escaped and managed to get ashore.

Many years later, in 1896, a chance encounter between explorers Nansen and Jackson took place here. Jackson was based at Cape Flora, when this meeting occurred. A memorial was built:



Bell Island
81°09′ N, 64°17′ E

The landscape of Bell Island is majestic: the cliffs and ice-capped mountains are the highest on the archipelago.


Bell island is famous for its tabular mountain shape and easy to visit (there is a helicopter landing site)

Eira Lodge, built in 1881 by the british Leigh Smith's expedition on Bell Island (named after the shape of the mountain), is the oldest building 1n the archipelago.

View of the Bell island's flat top shape from Eira lodge cabin.

Champ Island
80.67°N, 56.23°E

The main features of this rocky island are its geological spheric stone balls, up to 3 m in diameter.

These stones of spherical shape are called geodes.


Hooker Island (Ostrov Gukera)
80.23° N, 53.02° E.

Mount Churlyanisa, Hooker Island

One of the most important islands, with an old russian polar station (now abandoned) on the western shore of Tikhaya Bay, in an unglaciated area.

The famous Rubini Rock, a huge basaltic cliff in the bay, is the shelter for thousands of cliff-nesting sea birds.

Mighty basaltic Rubini Rock protrudes into Tikhaya Bay.

In 1929, the first Soviet research station was established in Tikhaya Bay. Tikhaya station is remarkably well preserved.

Prince George Land (Zemlya Georga)

80°26′ N, 49°00′ E

This is both the biggest and the longest (115 km) island in Franz-Josef-Land.

Cape Grant

As typical for most parts of the archipelago, it consists of extensive complexes of tabular mountains, which are mostly covered under ice caps, a few steep rock capes peek out of the ice along the coastlines.

Waterfall at Cape Desires


Alexandra Island (Zemlya Aleksandry)

and Nagurskoye

80° 48′ N, 47° 36′ E

The most western island of the archipelago, Alexandra Island is mainly the location of the main populated settlement in the archipelago: the russian base Nagurskoye.


An extremely remote Arctic base, Nagurskoye was built in 1950 for military purposes, and after a long decay is now modernised and converted to arctic studies.

The base has served as an important weather station in the archipelago during the Cold War. It's also the world's northernmost border post - of the Russian northern frontier.

Saint Nicholas Church, a pre-built wooden church for the lonesome crew.

Hayes island (Ostrov Heiss)
80°37′ N, 58°03′ E

Small, mostly flat and low, Hayes or Heiss island is almost unglacierized, having only a small ice-cap off its centre by its northern shore.

On the northeastern tip of the island, there is a shallow old meteorite crater filled with fresh water. There the buildings of the old russian Krenkel Station line up on its low rim.

An almost surrealistic picture: station buildings around the crater

A new, clean and much smaller modern station made of prefabricated modules was set up between the old buildings since 2004, and is operational all-year round with a small team of about 5 persons.

The northernmost post office in the world is located here on Heiss Island, at Krenkel station:

Russian Post, station nº 163100


Prince Rudolf Land

81.76° N, 58.56° E

This is the northermost island, permanently ice-covered and close to the north pole. Rudolf Island is almost completely glaciated.

Edge of the Ice Cap, Rudolf Island

Because of its location, the island has served as a staging area for numerous polar expeditions.

The ship America in Teplitz Bay - the expedition failed to reach the pole (1904)


Cape Fligely, located on Rudolf Island's northern shore, is the northernmost point of Europe and Russia.

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Austrian postage stamp celebrating the discovery of Franz Josef Land

The Nansen and Johansen voyage through the archipelago, 1895-1896.

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Further reading:

• http://www.awesomeislands.com/2011/12/franz-josef-land.html
• http://explow.com/Franz_Josef_Land
• http://www.franz-josef-land.info/index.php?id=195&L=5

Mo i Rana, a norwegian polar fairy tale

Mo i Rana is a charming town in the municipality of Rana, Norway, located just south of the Arctic Circle and in the Helgeland region.


Mo has a population of around 18 000, the most populous city in Helgeland.

Coordinates: 66°18′ N, 14°08′ E


The name comes from the norse Móar, which means sand or grass lowland. Farming was then the main activity, but later mining, boat building, hunting and fishing got to be the main ways of life.

In 1860, wholesale merchant Lars A. Meyer started a trade center. Meyer traded flour, herring and tobacco, reindeer meat, skins and venison with the Swedes.

From the end of the Second World War until the early 1990s, Mo i Rana, with its steel mill, was dependent upon heavy industry. Following the decline of heavy industry, new service industries have now grown in the town.

Moholmen


Moholmen is the old town of Mo i Rana; situated in a small peninsula by the Ranfjord, its wooden houses were carefully restored. Moholmen is now a small coulourful neighbourwood where anyone in town would like to live.

The old wooden houses are historical monuments deemed worthy of conservation, and give visitors a look how Mo i Rana was 100 years ago.




A norwegian fairy tale village



You can see two large wooden building at the site. They are known as Tower House and Bakery House, which once served as the main base of activities for the Meyer trading company.

Bakeribygget, the old city bakery building


The building is restored and now houses a bakery, café, gallery and gift shop with food and bakery goods from Helgeland.

Tårnbygget, the "tower house"

This wood building from 1893 in Swiss chalet style was built for the merchant Lars Meyer, with decorative carved mouldings of wood around the windows. The building has been restored, as the nearby wooden gazebo.

The old City Council of the municipality of Mo (until 1963).


Rana Museum

A statue of Lars Meyer stands in the front garden

Regional museum with two departments, cultural history and natural history. Exhibitions and collections with focus on the Rana area and Helgeland.

http://helgelandmuseum.no/avdelinger/rana

Mo church



Mo Church is the oldest building in Mo i Rana. Built in 1724, it is made of wood and has 400 seats.



Meyergården hotel



The Man from the Sea

Havmann is a sculpture made from Arctic granite located in the Ranfjord, in front of Moholmen.


It was made in 1995 by the English sculptor Antony Gormley.


Moholmen Lighthouse

View to the Ranfjord

The Polar Circle Center


The Arctic Circle is situated just 80 kilometres north of Mo i Rana. A marble path and several memorial monuments mark the site.

An inuit tale: The Fog Woman Story

As told by Tlingit Elder, Esther Shea

Long ago, Raven and his two slaves, Gitsanuk and Gitsagag, built a camp at the mouth of a creek. They went fishing for winter food. Raven only caught bullheads. No luck, so he went home. The fog came up on them as they paddled home and got lost.


All of a sudden, a woman appeared on the boat. No one knew how she got there. She asked for Raven's spruce hat, which she held on her left side. All the fog went into the basket.

Raven planned another fishing trip. He left his wife, Fog Woman. He took Gitsagag and left Gitsanuk with Fog Woman.

While Raven was away, Fog Woman and the slave got hungry and commanded Gitsanuk to fill a water basket with water from the stream, and put it down in front of her. She dipped her finger in the water and she commanded the slave to pour the water toward the sea. The slave did as he was told and found a large sockeye.

The slave cooked the fish and ate it. Fog Woman told Gitsanuk to clean the meat from between his teeth so Raven could not know about the salmon they ate.

When Raven came home, Gitsanuk ran down the beach. He was happy. Raven was very smart, he knew people's secrets and saw meat between the slaves teeth and asked, "What's between your teeth?' The slave said, "Oh, nothing. That's the flesh of bullheads." Raven was very angry and Gitsanuk finally told him about the sockeye.

Raven called for his wife and asked her how she got the salmon. She told him the secret. She told him to bring his spruce hat and fill it with water, and he hurried and got the water, and placed it in front of her.

She dipped four fingers in the water and told him to pour the water out. Four sockeyes came out of the basket.

After the meal, Raven asked Fog woman if she could produce more fish. These were the first salmon. She said, "Build a smokehouse." So he did. Fog Woman directed Raven to bring her a basket of water once more. This time she washed her head in the water. Then she told him to pour the water back in the spring. Right away the spring filled up with sockeyes. They cleaned the fish and put them in the smokehouse. They filled the storehouse and there was enough to fill the smokehouse again.

Raven was happy and began to talk carelessly to his wife, and forgetting that she brought the fish. They quarreled and raven struck her. She told him she would leave him and go back to her father's house. She left the house and walked slowly toward the sea, and a sound like the wind came from the smokehouse.

The sound became louder. Raven saw she was really leaving. He ran after her and tried to catch her. His hand slipped through her as through fog and water.

Fog Woman slowly walked toward the sea, and all the salmon followed her.


Raven commanded the slaves to save some of the fish, but they did not have the strength to do so.

Fog Woman disappeared from sight, taking all the salmon with her. Raven said to his slaves, "We still have some salmon in the storehouse for winter." He did not know they were also gone. he had no food, except a few bullheads.

Each spring Fog Woman produced salmon in the basket of fresh spring water. They return each year. At the head of every stream dwells Creek Woman, daughter of Fog Woman.


It is said Creek Woman brings salmon to the streams now.

The British Empire Range, to the north of Lake Hazen

Back in the Arctic Archipelago, in the extreme north of Nunavut province, Canada.

Ellesmere Island, high up in the Arctic Ocean, close to Greenland.

Ellesmere Island is a large territory in the canadian arctic, and in the northern part of the island the British Empire Range is a mountain range, one of the most northern ranges in the world.

The British Empire Range, part of Quttinirpaaq Park in Ellesmere.

At 81°54′N, 75°01′W, British Empire Range is located north of Tanquary Fiord and Lake Hazen, all part of Quttinirpaaq National Park, one of the most northern and least explored nature parks in the world.


Several nunataks in the Range protrude through the icecap, the highest being Mount Barbeau, at 2616 m, the highest peak in Nunavut.

The highest mountain in the range is Barbeau Peak

The range was named by Gordon N. Humphreys, a British born pilot, botanist and explorer, during the 1934 Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition to Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island, where they set up camp.

The Air force Glacier, coming from the mountain range into Lake Hazen.

The Air Force glacier front.

Quttinirpaaq park ("Top of the world") covers the most remote, rugged, and northerly lands in North America.

The whole area is a polar desert, one of the driest areas of the northern hemisphere, with an annual precipitation of only 60 mm.

South and east of the Range mountains, the land abruptly descends to Lake Hazen, 80 km long, where a Guard Camp welcomes visitors.

LAKE HAZEN

Lake Hazen is up to 280 m deep, 542 km² wide

Situated at the northern end of Ellesmere Island at 81.0°N, Lake Hazen is the largest lake located entirely above the Arctic Circle. It was first discovered by the Inuit of the Dorset culture, circa 1000 AD.


The region around Lake Hazen functions as a "thermal oasis" in a true polar desert. Air temperatures frequently rise to 10-13℃ between June 1 and August 10 although the lake itself remains ice-covered in all but the warmest years.


Fed by multiple glacier inflows, Lake Hazen is home to an unusual abundance of flora and fauna for that northern latitude. The Arctic Char population of the lake is the largest above the arctic circle.

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HISTORY:

Quttinirpaaq was first visited by humans about 4000 years ago. They were Paleo-Eskimos, an ancient race of people who probably came across the Bering Strait from Siberia.

They hunted musk ox and caribou and somehow survived the long, dark arctic winters. It appears no humans lived on Quttinirpaaq for many centuries afterward.

Then the Dorset people lived on Quttinirpaaq up until about 1000 years ago. They were in turn supplanted by the Thule people who were skillful hunters of whales and other marine mammals. While the Thule culture survived elsewhere and are the ancestors of the modern Inuit, they abandoned Quttinirpaaq when the climate turned colder leading up to the Little Ice Age of 1600-1850 AD.

The first Europeans to arrive in the area in 1875-76 were part of a two-ship British expedition, led by Sir George Nares, to attempt to reach the North Pole via the Smith Sound, a passage in the arctic sea between Greenland and Ellesmere Island.

Two ships, HMS Alert and HMS Discovery, sailed from Portsmouth on 29 May 1875.

HMS Discovery and HMS Alert.

The expedition failed to reach the North Pole, but the coasts of Greenland and Ellesmere Island were extensively explored and large amounts of scientific data were collected. HMS Discovery went as far as the now named Cape Discovery, in Ellesmere Island. In 1876 HMS Alert reached a record latitude of 82° N.

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I published before a post on Ellesmere's inuit village Grise Fjord