Mys Shmidta Мыс Шмидта | |
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.jpg) Mys Shmidta during winter | |
 Interactive map of Mys Shmidta | |
  Mys Shmidta Location of Mys Shmidta Show map of Russia Mys Shmidta Mys Shmidta (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) Show map of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug | |
| Coordinates:68°52′06″N179°22′24″W / 68.86833°N 179.37333°W /68.86833; -179.37333 | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug[1] |
| Administrative district | Iultinsky District[1] |
| Founded | 1931[2] |
| Urban-type settlement status since | 1962[2] |
| Area | |
• Total | 137.81 km2 (53.21 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Estimate (January 2021)[3] | 37 ) |
| • Municipal district | Iultinsky Municipal District[4] |
| • Urban settlement | Mys Shmidta Urban Settlement[4] |
| • Capital of | Mys Shmidta Urban Settlement[4] |
| Time zone | UTC+12 (MSK+9  [5]) |
| Postal code[6] | 689350 |
| Dialing code | +7 42739[7] |
| OKTMO ID | 77715000056 |
Mys Shmidta (Russian:Мыс Шми́дта, lit.Cape Schmidt) is anurban locality (anurban-type settlement) inIultinsky District ofChukotka Autonomous Okrug,Russia, located about 5 kilometers (3 mi) southeast of the cape of the same name on the shore of theChukchi Sea (a part of theArctic Ocean), south ofWrangel Island, about 650 kilometers (400 mi) fromAnadyr, theadministrative center of theautonomous okrug. The cape, but not the settlement, was formerly known as North Cape (or Cape North).Cape Billings is located to the west of it andCape Vankarem is to the east. As of the2021 Census, its population was 37,[8] down from 705 recorded in the2002 Census.[9]
It was founded in 1931[2] as a part of theSoviet Union's development of its Arctic air defenses. Changes in the manner in which national defenses are constructed in recent decades have led to a decline in the settlement's importance, although it remains Chukotka's most important main northern sea port afterPevek.
Cape North, or Cape Schmidt as it is now called,[10] was first reached byJames Cook in 1778 when he sailed through theBering Strait and into theChukchi Sea, demonstrating to people in Europe and North America that Russia andAlaska were separated.[11]
The modern settlement was founded in 1931 as a part of the Soviet Union's attempts to develop the extreme northeast of the country.[2] The settlement itself, its airport, and the nearby cape were all named afterOtto Schmidt, with Mys Shmidta forming the central base for the enterprises involved in the mining oftin andgold.[12]
In 1954, the airfield was developed as part of the plan to create a ring ofSoviet Air Force air bases around the Arctic for the use of its strategic bomber fleet during theCold War.[13] During the Cold War, this airfield formed a network of forward staging bases inside theArctic Circle.[13] The use of strategic bomber forward staging bases was dictated by geography and weather.[13] The northern parts of the Soviet Union closest to the United States are in the Arctic, with hostile weather conditions.[13] Consequently, Soviet strategic bombers were normally stationed at bases in more temperate parts of the Soviet Union, flying training missions from these forward staging bases.[13]
In 1962, Mys Shmidta was granted urban-type settlement status.[2]
| 1970 | 1979 | 1989 | 2002 | 2010 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,818[citation needed] | 3,307[14] | 4,587[15] | 705[9] | 492[16] | 140[citation needed] |
The settlement is positioned on aspit which separates the Akatan Lagoon from the open sea and protects theairport from the full effects of theArctic Ocean. A little distance to the northwest is thecape from which the settlement gets its name and just beyond this lies the rural Chukchi locality ofRyrkaypiy.Cape Yakan is located further to the west.
Mys Shmidta, by the very nature of its location, has apolar climate (KöppenET) and is at the mercy of Arctic conditions, which leaves it isolated throughout the winter and can pose a danger to shipping during the brief summer as supply ships try to make their deliveries. The lowest temperature ever recorded was −46.1 °C (−51.0 °F) recorded on 2 February 1978.[17] The highest temperature recorded was 30 °C (86 °F) on 10 July 1953.[18]
The importance attached to the summer months from a logistical standpoint was well illustrated in 1983, when winter set in earlier than predicted and resulted in Mys Shmidta and a number of other coastal ports in theRussian Far East closing early due to ice.[19] Although unloading was delayed due to ice for afortnight, the first supply ship convoy to Mys Shmidta arrived as planned.[20] However, a severe drop in temperature through August, much earlier than usual, caused a significantly greater concentration of ice in theLong Strait and strong northerly winds forced the semi-permanent Ayon ice sheet onto the northern coast of Chukotka.[19] By October, the ice had thickened to such a degree that a convoy of ships, including the freighterNina Sagaydak,Kamensk-Uralsky, together with the icebreakersKapitan Sorokin andVladivostok, was held fast by October in sea ice about halfway between Mys Shmidta andVankarem.[20] This proved chaotic with several ships drifting freely in the ice, hulls grinding against one another.[19] Although the ships eventually separated, the damage cause to theNina Sagaydak proved too severe and she sank; the first ship to be sunk by ice in Soviet waters since theVitimles in 1963.[19] The remaining ships were freed by icebreakers and towed to the edge of the sea ice.[citation needed] This situation placed great strain on the settlement's resources as it struggled to deal with such a large amount of shipping and the associated problem of how to store a much larger than usual quantity of cargo, much of which was not intended to be frozen, while authorities readied the wintersnow roads.[19]
| Climate data forMys Shmidta Airportweather station (ICAO code: UHMI,WMO identifier: 25173), 2mamsl, 1981–2010 normals | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 9.8 (49.6) | 5.2 (41.4) | 8.9 (48.0) | 8.1 (46.6) | 16.1 (61.0) | 28.3 (82.9) | 30.0 (86.0) | 29.2 (84.6) | 22.7 (72.9) | 11.9 (53.4) | 8.6 (47.5) | 6.9 (44.4) | 30.0 (86.0) |
| Mean maximum °C (°F) | −9.3 (15.3) | −11.4 (11.5) | −4.8 (23.4) | −2.0 (28.4) | 6.3 (43.3) | 17.4 (63.3) | 22.3 (72.1) | 19.4 (66.9) | 12.3 (54.1) | 2.6 (36.7) | −0.9 (30.4) | −6.8 (19.8) | 23.8 (74.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −22.5 (−8.5) | −22.5 (−8.5) | −19.6 (−3.3) | −13.0 (8.6) | −1.9 (28.6) | 5.6 (42.1) | 8.8 (47.8) | 7.3 (45.1) | 3.2 (37.8) | −4.4 (24.1) | −12.0 (10.4) | −19.4 (−2.9) | −7.5 (18.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −25.8 (−14.4) | −25.9 (−14.6) | −23.5 (−10.3) | −17.2 (1.0) | −5.1 (22.8) | 2.7 (36.9) | 5.5 (41.9) | 4.5 (40.1) | 0.9 (33.6) | −7.2 (19.0) | −15.1 (4.8) | −22.6 (−8.7) | −10.7 (12.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −29.0 (−20.2) | −29.3 (−20.7) | −27.3 (−17.1) | −21.4 (−6.5) | −8.2 (17.2) | −0.3 (31.5) | 2.2 (36.0) | 1.6 (34.9) | −1.5 (29.3) | −9.9 (14.2) | −18.2 (−0.8) | −25.6 (−14.1) | −13.9 (7.0) |
| Mean minimum °C (°F) | −38.9 (−38.0) | −39.7 (−39.5) | −37.3 (−35.1) | −32.2 (−26.0) | −21.2 (−6.2) | −4.7 (23.5) | −0.9 (30.4) | −1.4 (29.5) | −8.1 (17.4) | −20.7 (−5.3) | −30.2 (−22.4) | −36.4 (−33.5) | −41 (−42) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −45.7 (−50.3) | −46.1 (−51.0) | −45.7 (−50.3) | −39 (−38) | −32.5 (−26.5) | −11.3 (11.7) | −4.7 (23.5) | −7.1 (19.2) | −17.8 (0.0) | −37 (−35) | −39.6 (−39.3) | −45.4 (−49.7) | −46.1 (−51.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 14.3 (0.56) | 14.2 (0.56) | 8.0 (0.31) | 12.2 (0.48) | 14.6 (0.57) | 17.1 (0.67) | 32.6 (1.28) | 39.9 (1.57) | 36.1 (1.42) | 31.3 (1.23) | 27.2 (1.07) | 17.4 (0.69) | 264.9 (10.41) |
| Average rainy days | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0.2 | 67.8 |
| Average snowy days | 16 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 147 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 84 | 83 | 83 | 85 | 88 | 87 | 87 | 89 | 88 | 85 | 86 | 85 | 86 |
| Averagedew point °C (°F) | −26 (−15) | −26 (−15) | −25 (−13) | −18 (0) | −6 (21) | 0 (32) | 3 (37) | 3 (37) | 0 (32) | −6 (21) | −14 (7) | −20 (−4) | −11 (12) |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 4 | 55 | 173 | 254 | 208 | 256 | 233 | 133 | 83 | 55 | 9 | 0 | 1,463 |
| Source 1: Météo climat stats[21] Météo Climat[22] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA (sun only, 1961–1990)[23] Source 3:Time and Date (dewpoints, between 2005–2015)[24] | |||||||||||||
Within theframework of administrative divisions, Mys Shmidta is directly subordinated toIultinsky District.[1] As amunicipal division, theurban-type settlement of Mys Shmidta is incorporated within Iultinsky Municipal District asMys Shmidta Urban Settlement.[4]
The settlement is populated mostly by indigenous people, whose economy is driven mainly by reindeer herding and low level gold mining however, there is little mining done in the vicinity of Mys Shmidta.[25]
The port at Mys Shmidta is generally open between July and September, although the waters surrounding the port are shallow which limits the type of ships that can serve the area, with the port operated by the Russian firmAlmazzoloto.[26]
Though it has shrunk since the days of the Cold War, Mys Shmidta is still alongside Pevek the main northern sea port in Chukotka.[27] Following thedissolution of the Soviet Union, imports all but ceased in the early to mid-1990s, although in 1991 Mys Shmidta, importing nearly 30,000 tons of mainly American fuel, dealt with significantly more cargo than ports such as Pevek.[27] The decline in the overall volume of cargo passing through Mys Shmidta continued throughout the 1990s, with less than 50,000 tons being handled in 1997 and just over 1,000 tons the following year,[27] This is in part due to the declining economy of the region, which has caused a fall in investment in the port infrastructure, which, in turn, limits the maximum potential turnover of the port.
It is difficult to see where future cargo exports might come from.[27] Whilegold is mined inBilibino,[27] with lower-level mining maintained atIultin andPolyarny, these activities do not produce significant cargo volumes for the northern sea route, nor does the extraction of any other minerals in the area.[27] Although part of the Northern Sea Route's series of ports, Mys Shmidta, as a port, will be dominated by imports of food and coal for the settlement and the surrounding rural localities.
A federal government decision in 1997 led to the establishment of an emergency radio station in Mys Shmidta as well as other northern Sea route ports to specifically monitor distress and salvage frequencies.[28]
Immediately to the southwest of the settlement is theMys Shmidta Airport.
Mys Shmidta is not connected to any other part of Chukotka by permanent road. Transport must either be by air or alongunpaved roads.[citation needed] One such unpaved road is linking Mys Shmidta with Egvekinot.[25] There is also a 435-kilometer (270 mi) road between Mys Shmidta andKomsomolsky, of which 235 kilometers (146 mi) is unpaved and the remaining 199 kilometers (124 mi) is a snow road.[25]
Mys Shmidta is the starting point for any tourist wishing to exploreWrangel Island, aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The nature reserve's headquarters are in Mys Shmidta.[29]