Hydrographers of the Northern Fleet discovered the disappearance of the Mother of Pearl Island. This became clear during the expedition. It still remains on the maps, but in the harsh Arctic reality it no longer exists. In the Russian Arctic National Park, they say that in high latitudes, such “disappearances” are considered a common occurrence.
A small island of Pearl with a diameter of one and a half kilometers was located 200 meters from the Graham Bell Island, one of the largest in Franz Josef Land. The "younger brother" was completely hidden by the ice shell. There was nothing remarkable like traces of Arctic expeditions on it. But Mother of Pearl was considered a full-fledged part of the Primorsky District of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Russian Arctic National Park.
The disappearance of the island, discovered more than a hundred years ago, was discovered in the park on satellite images of recent years.
“For the Arctic, such a disappearance and appearance of islands is a natural process, the count goes to dozens,” notes the director of the national park, Alexander Kirilov. - This is due to changes in the planet's climate, which will present us with many more surprises. Much is revealed as the glaciers degrade. It is quite possible that the contours of Franz Josef Land in reality will turn out to be completely different from those on modern maps.
If geographic discoveries are still possible somewhere on the well-studied globe, it is in the Arctic. Many Arctic lands and the processes taking place with them are hidden by an ice shell. The ice melts and new islands appear.
Recently, a whole "thawed" island near Novaya Zemlya was discovered by … schoolchildren near Moscow using images from space. The hydrographers had only to confirm the finding in absentia.
It happens that one piece of sushi actually turns out to be two. This is how the island and the strait were discovered in the White Land. But if it is more or less clear with the emergence of new territories, then why do the well-known ones disappear?
- It is not the very fact of the disappearance of the islands that is interesting, but the reasons for this. In each case, research must be carried out. Coastal erosion processes are observed on Graham Bell Island. Perhaps the neighboring island of Pearl was washed away, the currents changed, the bottom rocks began to move, and a so-called "walking" island appeared, "suggested Alexander Kirilov.
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There is no need to worry about the loss of the Mother of Pearl Island, scientists say. Moreover, hydrographers of the Northern Fleet have discovered 12 new islands, as well as one strait, 14 capes and six bays during the expeditions of recent years. So the mysterious Arctic gained much more than it lost.
Marina Ledyaeva