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Wilczek Land

Wilczek Land (Russian: Земля Вильчека; Zemlya Vil'cheka, German: Wilczek-Land), is an island in the Arctic Ocean at 80°35′N 60°30′E / 80.58°N 60.5°E / 80.58; 60.5. At 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi)[1] it is the second-largest island in Franz Josef Land, in Arctic Russia.

This island should not be confused with the small Wilczek Island, "Остров Вильчека", located south-west of Salm Island, also in the Franz Josef group and named after the same person.

History

The second largest island (after Zemlya Georga) in the Franz Josef Land archipelago is named after Austro-Hungarian Count Johann Nepomuk Wilczek.[2] Although he himself never visited the archipelago, Count Hans Wilczek was the most important sponsor of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition to Franz Josef Land that discovered the island in 1873.[3]

Cape Heller (Mys Geller) (80°46′N 59°36′E / 80.767°N 59.600°E / 80.767; 59.600) was the wintering site for two Norwegians, Paul Bjørvig and Bernt Bentsen, members of the 1898–99 Wellman Expedition, while their team led by Walter Wellman stayed in the main camp at Cape Tegetthoff on Hall Island to the south. Bentsen died during the winter, and Bjørvig kept the dead body of his friend in their joint sleeping bag for 55 days, until the rest of the team came to his rescue.[4]

Geography

Wilczek Land is the second largest island of the Franz Josef Archipelago, at 2203 km2. It is almost completely glacierized except for two narrow areas along its western shores. The highest point on the island is 606 metres (1,988 feet).

Cape Ganza (Mys Ganza) is Wilczek Land's westernmost cape. The channel to the west, between Wilczek Land and Gallya, is known as Avstriyskyy Proliv (Австрийский пролив).[5]

Glaciers and ice domes

The Kupol Arktirazvedki (Купол Арктиразведки) ice dome covers the northeastern part of the island.[6] On the western side of the Arktirazvedki ice dome there are two glaciers, the Stremitelny Glacier (Lednik Stremitel’nyy) "Rushing Glacier", and the Molochny Glacier (Lednik Molochnyy) "Milky Glacier" to its west, both having their terminus on the northern shore.[7]

Further to the south the Kupol Tindalya (Купол Тиндаля) ice dome, named after Irish glaciologist John Tyndall, covers the eastern central area of the island.[8] To the southwest of it flows the Znamenity Glacier (Lednik Znamenityy), which has its terminus on the southern coast, east of the "Cloudy Dome" Kupol Oblachnyy (Купол Облачный) ice dome at the southern end of the island.[9]

Adjacent minor islands

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b "Wilczek Land. In: The Western Arctic Seas Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Seas". Springer International Publishing. 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  2. ^ John Nepomuk Graf Wilchek
  3. ^ Payer, Julius (1875). "The Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition of 1872-4" (PDF). The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 45: 1–19. doi:10.2307/1798702. Retrieved 27 December 2020. p. 10.
  4. ^ Capelotti, Peter Joseph (2016). The greatest show in the Arctic: the American exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898-1905. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 179–183. ISBN 978-0-8061-5222-6.
  5. ^ "Zemlya Vil'cheka". Mapcarta. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  6. ^ "Kupol Arktirazvedki". Mapcarta. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  7. ^ "Lednik Stremitel'nyy". Mapcarta. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Kupol Tindalya". Mapcarta. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. ^ "Kupol Oblachnyy". Mapcarta. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  10. ^ Gregory Petrovich Gorbunov
  11. ^ a b c Capelotti, Peter Joseph; Forsberg, Magnus (2015). "The place names of Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa: the Wellman polar expedition, 1898–1899". Polar Record. 51 (261): 624–636. doi:10.1017/S0032247414000801. p. 629.

External links