Due to global warming in the Arctic Ocean, geographical discoveries are possible
From mid-August to mid-September, the Russian polar expedition "Arctic-2008" took place. On the “Akademik Fedorov” vessel, they were looking for a suitable ice floe for another group of winterers, and studied the processes of global warming, which is more and more evident in the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, before leaving Arkhangelsk, the head of the expedition, Vladimir SOKOLOV (who is also the head of the laboratory of the hydrological regime of the Arctic Ocean, the Oceanology Department of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of Roshydromet) hinted: they say, we expect to receive not only new scientific data, but also hope for geographical discoveries. Was he kidding? After all, there are no white spots left on the planet. But it turns out that the scientist was serious. White spots appear as the Arctic warms.
Academician Obruchev asked to search
Since people looked into the Arctic Ocean, various reports began to appear about the mysterious islands that do not stand still, but wander. They were actively sought after even in the twentieth century.
Everyone has heard about the Sannikov Land - it seems that the hunter Yakov Sannikov saw it in 1811, but he could not get there. Even academician and writer Vladimir Obruchev was a supporter of the existence of this island. At the very beginning of the 20th century, he worked on a geological expedition in Yakutia. And there I heard local legends about a certain land in the North. They say that migratory birds rush there in the summer and a mysterious tribe of people supposedly lives. Obruchev and presented how these legends could look from a scientific point of view - he described in his science fiction story "Sannikov Land". And the narration ends with the words: "Maybe it will arouse interest in the mysterious Sannikov Land in someone from the new generation and encourage them to go in search of it among the icy expanses of the North Sea." The mysterious land was never found. However, scientists did not particularly look for it. Much more effort was spent on exploring the paths to another legendary island - Andreev Land.
The huge chunks of continental ice with silt deposits that have broken away in the Arctic can easily be mistaken for land.
Yes, there are many of them - lands - here …
Back in the 17th century, there were rumors about a certain "rich sea animal" island lying north of the mouth of the Kolyma. In 1764, an expedition headed by Sergeant Stepan Andreev set out in search of him.
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On the ice on dog sleds Andreev and his comrades got to the place from where the mysterious land was already visible: “… The island is quite large. Mountains and a standing forest are not visible on it, low-lying, one end to the east, and the other to the west, and in length, for example, it is eighty versts … "But, alas, soon the travelers saw" unknown people fresh tracks, at eight they just drove in a reindeer sleigh in front of us … and at that time we were in considerable fear. " And the researchers turned back. So this campaign ended ingloriously.
The chronicle of further searches is as follows:
1769 - 71 A military geodetic expedition led by warrant officers Leontyev, Lysov and Pushkarev. The island has not been found.
Around 1810, the explorer of Siberia, Matvey Gedenshtrom, did not reach the most mysterious island, but by indirect indications he determined its location and mapped it.
In 1821 - 24 years. On the instructions of the Russian Admiralty, the expedition of Lieutenant Ferdinand Wrangel tried to get to Andreev Land. In the final report, it was noted: it is impossible to confirm or deny the existence of the island, but it seems that there is no such land near the mainland.
In January 1881, from the American ship "Jeanette", drifting in the area of the hypothetical Andreev Land, Captain De Long noticed an unknown island: "A sloping embankment is visible, very similar to the ground." It was not possible to get close to him.
In the 20th century, Russian and Soviet icebreakers, including the famous Chelyuskin, repeatedly entered the suspicious area. But either they did not find anything, or because of the difficult ice conditions they changed the route.
- I also managed to visit the area of the supposed Andreev Land, - says the honorary polar explorer, repeated participant of Arctic expeditions, candidate of geographical sciences Valentin DREMLYUG, - on the expedition ship "Smolny". That year there was extremely little ice, and we came close to that area. However, despite good weather, no signs of land were found. Unfortunately, the main tasks of the expedition did not allow us to get acquainted with this area in more detail.
- It turns out that the Sannikov and Andreev Lands are still a myth?
- I would not speak so confidently, - Valentin Valentinovich laughs.
In the 19th - 20th centuries, there were two more islands on the map of the Arctic Ocean - Semenovsky and Vasilievsky. And now they have disappeared. And all because they stood in shallow water and their basis was fossil ice. Gradually, it was swept by soil, moved by the wind from the mainland. And these islands seemed the most ordinary, reliable. But the ice still melted. And the higher the water temperature, the faster. As a result, the islands melted. It is quite possible that Sannikov Land and Andreev Land also really existed. But they disappeared in a similar way.
- But still it is not clear what new geographical discoveries Vladimir Sokolov, the head of Arctic-2008, spoke about?
- Islands can not only melt. But also to appear. In 1934, a radiogram came from the Chukchi Sea from the fishing schooner Krestyanka. The captain announced the discovery of a new island and indicated its coordinates. "Krestyanka" never returned to the port, sank off the coast of Kamchatka.
In 1943, I took part in the search for the "Krestyanka Island". But unsuccessfully. And three years later, during an ice reconnaissance, one pilot found him in a slightly different area. The island was not so small: it was 25 km wide and 30 km long, “had steep banks and a hilly surface, four rivers flowed from the center to the banks”.
Gathered to explore it, flew … no island. They discovered it only a year later. Again at the point with new coordinates. Mystic? Let me remind you that all this happened in the enlightened twentieth century.
History knows many such wandering islands. They were seen in past centuries, they are seen now.
Islands roam like the Flying Dutchmen
In 1707, the Dutch whaler Gillies noticed an unknown island with high steep shores north of Svalbard. He sketched it and mapped it. Since then, many have seen him. The island was even featured on British Admiralty maps, considered to be the most accurate in the world. But in 1928 the Soviet icebreaker "Krasin", which went to rescue the crew of the fallen airship of the Nobile expedition, passed through the point where the island of Gillis was supposed to be. No hints of land.
But in 1899, Admiral Makarov on the icebreaker "Ermak" also noticed an unusual island near Spitsbergen. It didn't look like Gillis Land in shape. It is clear that even here it was not possible to approach him. This time due to the fact that in the previous days "Ermak" received serious damage due to ice.
In 1911 the Eskimo Takpuka became the "discoverer". In the Beaufort Sea, he found a small island, landed and saw "clay, stones, remains of vegetation and even birds." No one else in the world has managed to look at this land with even one eye.
These are only the most famous cases where unknown islands have long been considered established and mapped. If we take information about all the allegedly encountered island lands in the Arctic Ocean, then the Arctic would have long been covered with islands, like Maasdam cheese - holes.
- The main version is as follows: these are drifting ice islands, - explains Valentin Valentinovich. - Sometimes from the glaciers of Greenland or from the Canadian island of Ellesmere, huge blocks of continental ice slide into the sea, up to several square kilometers - you get table icebergs, which then may not melt for decades, floating in the Arctic Ocean. From 1947 to 2004, more than a hundred such events took place. And this ice, which broke away, remained from the time of the last ice age. He carries stones and crushed rocks in him. And from an airplane or from a satellite, and from a ship, such icebergs look like ordinary islands. They either wander in the ocean or cling to shallow water. In the latter case, we get a "normal" island, which must be marked on the maps for the sake of navigation safety. The Arctic is now warming at an incredible rate. Glaciers are sliding more often. Therefore, it is possible that each new expedition will discover new and new "lands".
- Is there a chance that there are still undiscovered real islands in the Arctic?
- For a long time it was believed that no. But the discovery in the middle of the twentieth century by our polar explorers of the Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean allowed some scientists to suggest that this mountain range may have individual peaks that rise above the ocean in the form of small islands covered with ice and snow. Warming gives us a chance to detect them.
The participants of the Arctic-2008 expedition returned to St. Petersburg on September 24 late in the evening. Alas, this time there were no great geographical discoveries. But the Arctic continues to melt. Let's hope that our scientists will be more fortunate next year. What if the Sannikov Land will thaw?
THE PROCESS IS GOING
Two new islands have appeared near Svalbard
According to Kim Holmen, deputy director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, two new islands were discovered in the Svalbard archipelago in August-September last year, when the Arctic recorded a record low temperature. According to the scientist, this happened thanks to the retreating glacier. Both islands are small - about the size of a basketball court - but this is real land.
And on July 30 this year, the Arctic Ocean was replenished with one more territory. Even if it is icy. From the Canadian island of Ellesmere, a seam with an area of about 20 sq. kilometers.
SPECIALIST OPINION
The land is melting
Alexander DANILOV, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Deputy Director for Research, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute:
- The fact that the temperature is rising in the Arctic is evidenced by the fact that this year no help was even required to escort the nuclear-powered icebreaker Akademik Fedorov. And warming is really changing the map of the Arctic. I doubt the existence of the peaks of the Lomonosov Ridge that rise above the water, but large ice islands will most likely still appear. Also, our New Siberian Islands, which also stand on ancient fossil ice, suffer greatly from the rise in temperature. It is now melting, and the size of these lands is decreasing every year.
Left 1979: An ice cap (marked in red) is attached to the continents. Right 2008: Two passages formed. The ice cap became an island.
AT THIS TIME
There is less and less ice. And it's getting thinner
In September, the area of ice cover in the Arctic reached its minimum - 4.52 million square meters. kilometers. It seems that the ice has increased in comparison with the "record" last year - 4.13 million square meters. km, but scientists are still worried.
“The ice is getting thinner, and overall its volume in the Arctic is now less than at any time on record,” says Martin SOMMERKORN, climate change specialist at WWF. “In addition, this year, for the first time, the Northwest Passage over North America and the Northern Sea Route over Russia were left without ice. The ice cap came off the continents.
Since 1987, the thickness of the ice cover has decreased on average by almost a third: from 3.7 to 2.6 meters. And the amount of old ice, which did not melt before, even in summer, has more than halved.