Polyarka

It is located on the southwestern shore of Sogo Bay, located in the south of Tiksi Bay , which, in turn, is located in the west of Buor-Khaya Bay , one of the largest bays of the Laptev Sea . The village stands on a small swampy peninsula that separates the lagoon located to the southwest of it from the gulf formed at the mouth of several watercourses: the Suonannah River and the Kopchik-Yuryage canal merging with it, along which water flows from the Sevastyan-Kuele Lake (Kopchikovoe) into the sea. located further southwest.

To the south-east, on the southern coast of the Sogo Bay, is the prominent Antonov Cape in the sea, just east of it is the mouth of the Sogo River, the largest river that flows into the Tiksi Bay. Further east, beyond the fords across the river there is a coal deposit and an abandoned mine, as well as the ruins of the coal mining village of Sogo, located on the slopes and at the foot of Mount Sogo-Tas (147 m). Also north of the mountain, on the shore of the bay, there is Cape Sogo. Further north-east of Cape Sogo is Cape Kosisty, serving as the southern border of Tiksi Bay. South of Mount Sogo-Tas stands Mount Freiberga (309 m). In the same place, on the right bank of the Sogo River, at the foot of Mount Freiberga, a number of stone slabs were found that stood upright, like cromlechs or menhirs , but which, in all likelihood, had a natural, rather than man-made, origin ^[1] .

The nearest significant object in the west is the Geophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences . North of it is Lake Deering-Küöl, which has a drain into the Suonannah River. 6-7 km northwest of Polyarka is the southern part of the urban-type Tiksi settlement, with which the Polyarka is connected by road. Tiksi has an airport and a seaport . Between Tiksi and Polyarka is Lelkina Mountain (206 m; according to some reports, it is also called Lelkin or Lyalkin navel ), which is surrounded by a highway ^{[2] [3]} .

The rural village of Polyarka served the polar station located in it. The population was, according to the 1989 census , about 200 people. Health care and trade institutions worked. Administratively subordinate to the town of Tiksi ^[4] . The village was excluded from the number of settlements of the Bulunsky district by the resolution of the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) dated June 1, 1999 No. 286 ^[5] .

On August 12, 1932, the Polyarka weather station was opened. It arose earlier than the village of Tiksi, founded in 1933. The station was subordinate to the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route . Since 1935, aerological measurements have been carried out at the station, since 1946 - regular radio sounding , since 1956 - magnetic observations. In 1956, the station was moved to the area of ​​Tiksi Airport, but in 1964 it was returned to the village of Polyarka. Since January 1966, weather observations at 13 stations have been conducted at the station 8 times a day. Year-round maintenance of the station was provided on a rotational basis ^[6] . After the village ceased to exist, the weather station, managed by Roshydromet , continued to function.

In the summer and autumn of 2006, as part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) project to create Atmospheric Observatories (in partnership with Roshydromet, the US National Science Foundation and the Finnish Meteorological Institute ), the new building of the Polyarka weather station was built, it also received a new equipment. Now the weather station building is located southwest of the former village, closer to the shore of the lagoon. 1.5 km northwest of Polyarka, outside the peninsula, in 2007-2008 the building of the Tiksi Atmospheric Observatory itself was built, which began work in August 2010, after a delegation visited it with the participation of V.V. Putin , E. A. Borisova , A. N. Chilingarova ^{[7] [8] [9]} .

In 1902, the presence of coal deposits was supposed in the Sogo Bay. On July 15, 1920, during the Ust-Lena hydrographic expedition, F. A. Matisen was able to confirm this assumption. In August 1920, P.K. Khmyznikov conducted the first instrumental survey of the Sogo Bay ^[10] . In 1943, the Tiksiugol mine was organized at the Soginsky brown coal deposit. All extracted raw materials were consumed by the Tiksi port (production volume for 1945, in particular, amounted to 18.4 thousand tons, the number of workers - 72 people). Here was the highest cost of a ton of coal in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (139.1 rubles in 1945) ^[11] . Until 1967, the Sogo mine was part of the Arktikaugol trust, then - as part of the Yakutugol trust, in 1973 it was closed as unprofitable ^[12] .

• A half-abandoned polar station on the Laptev Sea - photos of the village of Polyarka and its environs.