Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during theCold War, and parts of it are still used forairfields today. TheSoviet Air Force maintained a presence atRogachevo on the southern part of the southern island, on the westernmost peninsula (71°37′04″N52°28′44″E / 71.61787°N 52.47884°E /71.61787; 52.47884). It was used primarily forinterceptor aircraft operations, but also provided logistical support for the nearby nuclear test area. Novaya Zemlya was one of the two major nuclear test sites managed by the USSR along with theSemipalatinsk Test Site; it was used for air drops and underground testing of the largest of Soviet nuclear bombs, in particular the 30 October 1961air burst explosion ofTsar Bomba, the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
The Russian people knew of Novaya Zemlya from the 11th century, when hunters fromNovgorod visited the area.[5] For Western Europeans, the search for theNorthern Sea Route in the 16th century led to its exploration.[5] The first visit from a Western European was byHugh Willoughby in 1553.[5] Dutch explorerWillem Barentsz reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in 1594, and in a subsequent expedition of 1596, he rounded the northern cape and wintered on the northeastern coast.[6] (Barentsz died during the expedition and may have been buried on Severny Island.[7]) During a later voyage byFyodor Litke in 1821–1824, the western coast wasmapped.[5]Henry Hudson was another explorer who passed through Novaya Zemlya while searching for theNortheast Passage.[8]
The islands were systematically surveyed byPyotr Pakhtusov andAvgust Tsivolko during the early 1830s. The first permanent settlement was established in 1870 atMalye Karmakuly, which served as the capital of Novaya Zemlya until 1924. Later, the administrative center was transferred toBelushya Guba,[9][10] in 1935 toLagernoe,[9] but then returned to Belushya Guba.
In the months following Hitler's June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain organized convoys of merchant ships under naval escort to deliver Lend-Lease supplies to northern Soviet seaports. The Allied convoys up toPQ 12 arrived unscathed but German aircraft, ships and U-boats were sent to northern Norway and Finland to oppose the convoys.[11]
Convoy PQ 17 consisted of thirty-six merchant ships containing 297 aircraft, 596 tanks, 4,286 other vehicles and more than 150,000 long tons (152,407 t) of other cargo, six destroyer escorts, fifteen additional armed ships (among which were twoFree-French corvettes) and three small rescue craft. The convoy departedIceland on June 27, 1942, one ship running aground and dropping out of the convoy.[12] The convoy was able to sail north ofBear Island but encountered ice floes on June 30; a ship was damaged too badly to carry on and broke radio silence. On the following morning, the convoy was detected by German U-boats and German reconnaissance aircraft and torpedo bomber attacks began on July 2.[13]
On the night of July 2/3, the German battleshipTirpitz and the heavy cruiserAdmiral Hipper, sortied fromTrondheim with four destroyers and two smaller vessels. The pocket battleshipsAdmiral Scheer andLützow and six destroyers sailed fromNarvik, butLützow and three destroyers ran aground.[14] TheBritish Admiralty responded on July 4 by diverting the escort vessels to the west to rendezvous with the Home Fleet and ordered the merchant vessels to scatter. Seeking safety in theMatochkin Strait, several ships headed toward Novaya Zemlya.
In August 1942, the German Navy commencedOperation Wunderland, to enter the Kara Sea and sink as many Soviet ships as possible.Admiral Scheer and other warships rounded Cape Desire, entered the Kara Sea and attacked a shore station onDikson Island, badly damaging the Soviet shipsDezhnev andRevolutionist.[citation needed] Later that year,Karlo Štajner made the acquaintance of a new prisoner, a Captain Menshikov, who told him that:
In August 1942, another…transport arrived in Novaya Zemlya. The escort ships turned around and went back. Just a few hours later, the watchman in the tower announced that a ship was in sight. Everyone assumed it was one of the Allied warships and didn't give the matter any importance. Shortly after, the watchman announced that the ship was nearing the bay. I went outside…to see for myself. As soon as I had climbed the tower, I realized to my horror that this was a German warship. I gave the alarm, but it was too late… the German cruiser was coming closer. One of the Allied freighters — the first ship we managed to get moving — steered its way out of the bay. That's all the Germans were waiting for. At the moment when the ship reached the narrowest part of the bay, the German guns sent off their first salvo — a direct hit… our coastal batteries opened fire… but the guns didn't reach far enough… [they] came closer and destroyed all the ships in the bay, as well as a large part of the harbor [and] left a hundred dead and wounded.
Whether the attack on Menshikov's battery occurred on Dikson Island or on Novaya Zemlya, Stajner's account illuminated the fate of a Soviet officer imprisoned by his countrymen for the "crime" of suffering defeat at the hands of the enemy. Not surprisingly, Menshikov's arrest was never announced in the Soviet press.
In August 1943, a German U-boat sank the Soviet research shipAkademic Shokalskiy nearMys Sporyy Navolok but the Soviet Navy, now on the offensive, destroyed the German submarineU-639 nearMys Zhelaniya.
Other tests occurred elsewhere throughout the islands, with an official testing range covering over half of the landmass. In September 1961, two propelledthermonuclear warheads were launched fromVorkuta Sovetsky andSalekhard to target areas on Novaya Zemlya. Thelaunch rocket was subsequently deployed toCuba.[17]
1963 saw the implementation of theLimited Test Ban Treaty which banned most atmospheric nuclear tests.[18] The largest underground test in Novaya Zemlya took place on September 12, 1973, involving four nuclear devices of 4.2 megatons total yield. Although far smaller in blast power than the Tsar Bomba and other atmospheric tests, the confinement of the blasts underground led to pressures rivaling naturalearthquakes. In the case of the September 12, 1973 test, a seismic magnitude of 6.97 on theRichter scale was reached, setting off an 80-million-tonavalanche that blocked twoglacial streams and created a lake 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in length.[18]
Over its history as a nuclear test site, Novaya Zemlya hosted 224 nuclear detonations with a total explosive energy equivalent to 265 megatons of TNT.[16] For comparison, all explosives used in World War II, including the detonations of two US nuclear bombs, amounted to only two megatons.[18] A 2015 expedition measuring the glaciers of Novaya Zemlya reported 65–130 times more radioactivity than the background in neighboring areas.[19]
In 1988–1989,glasnost helped make the Novaya Zemlya testing activities public knowledge,[16] and in 1990Greenpeace activists staged a protest at the site.[20] The last nuclear test explosion was in 1990 (also the last for the entire Soviet Union and Russia). TheMinistry for Atomic Energy has performed a series ofsubcritical underwater nuclear experiments near Matochkin Shar each autumn since 1998.[21] These tests reportedly involve up to 100 grams (3.5 oz) of weapons-grade plutonium.[22]
In October 2012, it was reported that Russia would resume subcritical nuclear testing at "Zone B". In spring 2013, construction of what would become a new tunnel and four buildings[23] was initiated near theSeverny settlement, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west-northwest to theMount Lazarev.[24][25]
In 2023, CNN reported that commercial satellite imagery showed new tunneling activity and surface construction at Novaya Zemlya test sites (including published imagery at73°23′06″N54°44′24″E / 73.385°N 54.740°E /73.385; 54.740) that indicated possible preparation for resumption of nuclear testing.[26]
A 17th-century traveller to the North, ship surgeonPierre Martin de La Martinière,[27] gave a description of the indigenous population of the archipelago, whom he calledZembliens, fromNova Zembla orNouvelle Zemble for "Novaya Zemlya".[28][29] He noted that the Zembliens worshipped the Sun and wooden idols.[30]
In 1870s severalNenets families were resettled from elsewhere as part of the colonization of the territory by theRussian Empire, which established a settlement of Malye Karmakuly (Малые Кармакулы).[31]
The entire civilian population was transferred to the mainland in 1957 before nuclear testing began.[35][36][37][38]
The population of Novaya Zemlya as of the2010 Census was about 2,429, of whom 1,972 resided inBelushya Guba,[39] anurban settlement that is theadministrative center of Novaya Zemlya District. 457 more persons resided in the second largest settlement ofRogachevo. The population consists mainly of military and construction workers. Severny Island is virtually unpopulated.
Novaya Zemlya is an extension of the northern part of theUral Mountains,[40] and the interior is mountainous throughout.[5] It is separated from the mainland by theKara Strait.[5] Novaya Zemlya consists of two major islands, separated by the narrowMatochkin Strait, as well as a number of smaller islands. The two main islands are:
Yuzhny (Southern), which is largelyunglaciated and has atundra landscape.[34] It has an area of 33,275 square kilometres (12,800 sq mi).
The coast of Novaya Zemlya is very indented, and it is the area with the largest number offjords in the Russian Federation. Novaya Zemlya separates theBarents Sea from theKara Sea. The total area is about 83,000 square kilometers (32,000 sq mi). The highest mountain is located on the Northern island and is 1,547 meters (5,075 ft) high.[41]
Compared to other regions that were under largeice sheets during thelast glacial period, Novaya Zemlya shows relatively littleisostatic rebound. Possibly this is indebted to a counter-effect created by the growth of glaciers during the last few thousand years.[42]
Theecology of Novaya Zemlya is influenced by its severe climate, but the region nevertheless supports a diversity ofbiota. One of the most notable species present is thepolar bear, whose population in theBarents Sea region is genetically distinct from other polar bearsubpopulations.[44]
Novaya Zemlya has a maritime-influenced variety of atundra climate (KöppenET). Due to some effect from theGulf Stream and its offshore position, winters are much less severe than in much lower latitudes inland inSiberia, but instead last up to eight months a year. The milder waters to its west delays the onset ofsea ice and causes vastseasonal lag in shoulder seasons. Due to latitudinal differences, the temperatures and daylight varies quite a bit throughout the archipelago, with the Malye Karmakuly station being located in the southern part. Novaya Zemlya is cloudy in general, but snowfall and rainfall is relatively scarce for being a maritime location. Even so, glaciers dominate the northern interior and there is strong snow accumulation each winter due to the length of the season.
Polar bears enter human-inhabited areas more frequently than previously, which has been attributed to climate change.Global warming reduces sea ice, forcing the bears to come inland to find food. In February 2019, amass migration occurred in the northeastern portion of Novaya Zemlya. Dozens of polar bears were seen entering homes, public buildings, and inhabited areas, soArkhangelsk region authorities declared a state of emergency on Saturday, February 16, 2019.[47][48]
InClive Cussler's 1976 novelRaise the Titanic!, Nova Zemlya is the location of a rare mineral, byzanium, mined secretly by Americans in 1911. A map of the island is provided.
InPale Fire (1962), Kinbote's home country is named Zembla, and references to Novaya Zemlya are made throughout the novel.[49]
^Upton, Clive; Kretzschmar, William A. Jr. (2017).The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 910.ISBN978-1-138-12566-7.
Архангельское областное Собрание депутатов. Областной закон №65-5-ОЗ от 23 сентября 2009 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Архангельской области», в ред. Областного закона №232-13-ОЗ от 16 декабря 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в отдельные Областные Законы в сфере осуществления местного самоуправления и взаимодействия с некоммерческими организациями». Вступил в силу через десять дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Волна", №43, 6 октября 2009 г. (Arkhangelsk Oblast Council of Deputies. Oblast Law #65-5-OZ of September 23, 2009On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Arkhangelsk Oblast, as amended by the Oblast Law #232-13-OZ of December 16, 2014On Amending Various Oblast Laws Dealing with the Process of Municipal Self-Government and Relations with Non-Profit Organizations. Effective as of the day which is ten days after the official publication.).
Архангельское областное Собрание депутатов. Областной закон №258-внеоч.-ОЗ от 23 сентября 2004 г. «О статусе и границах территорий муниципальных образований в Архангельской области», в ред. Областного закона №224-13-ОЗ от 16 декабря 2014 г. «Об упразднении отдельных населённых пунктов Соловецкого района Архангельской области и о внесении изменения в статью 46 Областного закона "О статусе и границах территорий муниципальных образований в Архангельской области"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Волна", №38, 8 октября 2004 г. (Arkhangelsk Oblast Council of Deputies. Oblast Law #258-vneoch.-OZ of September 23, 2004On the Status and Borders of the Territories of the Municipal Formations in Arkhangelsk Oblast, as amended by the Oblast Law #224-13-OZ of December 16, 2014On Abolishing Several Inhabited Localities in Solovetsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast and on Amending Article 46 of the Oblast Law "On the Status and Borders of the Territories of the Municipal Formations in Arkhangelsk Oblast". Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
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