Area rank 30th Area 48,904 km² | ||
Location Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia | ||
Severny Island (Russian: Се́верный о́стров, Northern Island) is the northern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, lying approx 400 km north of the Russian mainland. It has an area of 48,904 square kilometres (18,882 sq mi), making it the 30th-largest island in the world.
Contents
Map of Severny Island, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia
Geography
Severny Island is separated from Yuzhny Island (Southern) by the narrow Matochkin Strait. 40% of the island is covered by the Severny Island ice cap which is the largest glacier by area and by volume in Europe (if counted as part of it). Severny Island is known for its numerous glaciers. Cape Flissingsky is the easternmost point of Severny Island.
Ice cap and glaciers
Unlike Yuzhny Island, Severny has an inner ice cap with numerous glaciers, most of which have their terminus in the eastern or western shore of the island.
History
Sukhoy Nos cape, located at the southern end of the island, was used for nuclear weapons testing between 1958 and 1961. The Tsar Bomba hydrogen bomb test destroyed all buildings in the village of Severny (both wooden and brick). The village was located 55 kilometres (34 miles) from ground zero within the Sukhoy Nos test range. Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon detonated (October 30, 1961) and was the most powerful anthropogenic explosion in human history. It had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT although it was designed for a 100 megaton yield. Severny is now the site of a Russian Army base and has a harbor.
There is a meteorological station at Cape Zhelaniya, Severny's northernmost cape.