Herald (island)

The climate is harsh. For most of the year, masses of cold Arctic air with a low moisture and dust content move over the area. In summer, warmer and wetter air from the Pacific Ocean comes from the southeast. Dry and very hot air masses come from Siberia from time to time.

Polar day - from the 2nd decade of May to the 20th of July. Polar night - from the 2nd decade of November to the end of January.

Winters are long, characterized by stable frosty weather, strong northerly winds. The average January temperature is −21.3 ºС, especially the colder months - February and March. During this period, the temperature for weeks is kept below −30 ºС, frequent snowstorms with wind speeds up to 40 m / s and higher.

Summer is cool, frosts and snowfall occur, the average July temperature ranges from +2 ºС to +2.5 ºС.

The average relative humidity is about 88%, the annual precipitation is about 120 mm.

Herald Island was discovered in 1849 by the English navigator Henry Kellett , who was looking for traces of the expedition of John Franklin . The island was named in honor of the Herald brigantine .

In September 1879, northeast of the island, it was frozen into ice and drifted into the drift of the “ Jeannette ” steam bark Captain George Delong , who was looking for traces of the expedition of A. E. Nordensheld .

In 1881, a search party landed here from the American steam cutter Thomas Corvin , who was commanded by Calvin L. Hooper . This group includes the American naturalist and ethnographer, Edward W. Nelson , as well as the American naturalist and conservationist John Muir .

In 1911, the team of the Vaigach icebreaking steamer landed on the island and surveyed the coast.

In January 1914, north of the Wrangel Island and Herald, the Karluk brigantine was crushed by the ice. Four polar explorers (A. Anderson, C. Barker, J. Brady and A. Jowlightly) went to Herald Island and died there, possibly having been poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty stove; it was only in 1924 that their remains were found and taken out of the island by an expedition from the schooner Herman , captain Lewis Lane ^[2] .

1926 - G. A. Ushakov was appointed authorized representative of the Far Executive Committee for the Management of the Wrangel and Herald Islands; a memorial sign was erected on the island and the state flag of the USSR was hoisted (expedition on the icebreaker " Stavropol ", captain P. G. Milovzorov ).

In 1935, an expedition on the Krasin icebreaker made a map of the island and carried out hydrographic work. The main geographical names that remained on the modern map are the echo of those years ( Mikoyan and Yuzhny Bay , Ostrovershinniy Cape).

In 1939, the naturalist L. A. Portenko examined the island from an airplane from an altitude of about 2,300 m together with test pilot M. N. Kaminsky .

1954 - a visit to the island of the hydrographic vessel “ Donets ” for geodetic measurements, and the discovery of a note from the cutter “Thomas Corvin” dated 1881, which could only be read in 1971 ^[3] .

1960 - an island as part of a long-term wildlife sanctuary, transformed in 1968 into a national wildlife sanctuary. Since 1976, it has been part of the Wrangel Island State Reserve ^[1] , the administration of which is located in the village of Ushakovskoye on Wrangel Island.

1977 - Introductory botanical studies were conducted on the island of Herald.

In 1982, the northernmost cape was named after the hydrograph V. N. Dmitriev ^[4] ; ground-based studies of bird markets in Mikoyan Bay have been conducted.

1983 - organization of a 5-km security zone around the island ^[1] .

1985 - the memorial sign installed in 1926 by the sailors of the Stavropol PL was updated, and aerial photographs of the island were also made to study coastal cliffs and seabird colonies.

In 1986, the first justification for creating a 12-mile security zone around the island, based on the calculation of the biomass cycle. ^[5]

In 1987, with the help and funds of the 282nd high-latitude expedition of the 15th Enterprise of the Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography under the Council of Ministers of the USSR ( Magadan ), beams were installed on Cape Ostrovershinniy to solve radio navigation problems in order to coordinate gravimetric survey of individual sections of the water area Chukchi Sea (scale 1: 1,000,000). He was transferred here from Ushakovsky by a MI-6 helicopter piloted by the crew of the Chaunsky air squad ( Pevek ). In the 1980s, every spring, whenever possible, the island carried out aerial surveys of the polar bear's den. In 1987, for the first time, a detailed survey of all nesting sites for seabirds from landfast ice was carried out. ^[5]

In 1988, a 41-day summer expedition from the reserve worked on the island. The participants named the two unnamed peaks of the island “ Mount Kellet ” and “ Mount Nelson, ” and presented this in reports and on the map ^[6] . In addition to scientific research, they also searched, but did not find any other traces of the presence on the island of the “Anderson group”, who died probably in 1914 ^[6] .

1997 - extension of the protection zone around the island to 12 nautical miles; transfer of the administration of the reserve to Cape Schmidt ^[1] .

1999 - A 24-mile security zone was created around the island ^[1] .

2003 (?) - the administration of the reserve is moved from Cape Schmidt to Pevek .

2004 - the island is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List (as part of the Wrangel Island State Nature Reserve) ^[7] .

2006 - due to a breakdown of the main engine near the island, the Shuya marine tugboat anchored for 14 days, which performed geographic surveys of the Chukchi Sea shelf at a scale of 1: 1,000,000 ^[8] .

Arctic deserts dominate, but arctic polygonal tundra and crushed-clay arctic tundra are also found ^[9] . The ornithocomplex is an arctic desert island, and the avifauna of the island of Herald is 8-10 times poorer than that of Wrangel Island ^[5] . An emery of membranous tie was noted ^[10] . The maximum number of marine colonial birds reaches 20 thousand pairs and experiences long-term fluctuations with a period of about 6-8 years; thick-billed murre prevails ^[11] . In the past, the marine ornithocomplex acquired the features of both arctic and arctoboreopacific, stabilizing at the arctoboreal stage ^[5] . The remains of Siberian and ungulate lemmings were found in the remains of the food of burgomaster gulls ^[5] .

Every year, up to several dozens of female bears lie in dens on the island.

• Gromov L.V. Shard of ancient Beringia. M., 1960.
• Mineev A.I. Wrangel Island. M .; L., 1946.
• Piotrovich V.V. Herald Island: Scientific work of the expedition on the Krasin icebreaker in 1935.- L.: Glavsevmorput, 1936.-178 p.
• Soviet Arctic (seas and islands of the Arctic Ocean). M, 1970.
• Photograph of the island of Herald ... (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Archived on November 7, 2011.
• Edward W. Nelson. Ed. by Henry W. Henshaw. Report upon natural history collections made in Alaska between the years 1877 and 1881 (inaccessible link - history ) . Washington, Govt. Print Off. (1887). Date of treatment March 15, 2010.