Bering Island
Native name: Behring Island | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | Bering Sea |
Coordinates | 55°0′3″N 166°16′23″E / 55.00083°N 166.27306°E[1] |
Administration | |
Russia | |
Oblast | Kamchatskaya |
City | Nikolskoye |
[1] |
Bering Island (Russian: о́стров Бе́ринга, romanized: óstrov Béringa) is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea.
Description
At 90 kilometers (56 mi) long by 24 kilometers (15 mi) wide, it is the largest and westernmost of the
Bering Island is treeless, desolate and experiences severe weather, including high winds, persistent fog and earthquakes. It had no year-round human residents until roughly 1826.
Two and a half miles (4 km) off Bering Island's western shore lies small Toporkov Island (Ostrov Toporkov) 55°12′9″N 165°55′59″E / 55.20250°N 165.93306°E.[4] It is a round island with a diameter of 800 m (2,600 ft).
History
In 1741 Commander Vitus Bering, sailing in Svyatoy Pyotr (St. Peter) for the Russian Navy, was shipwrecked and died of scurvy[5][6] on Bering Island, along with 28 of his men. His ship had been destroyed by storms as they returned from an expedition that discovered mainland Alaska as well as the Aleutian Islands. The survivors under the command of the Swedish born lieutenant Sven Waxell were stranded on the island for 10 months, and managed to survive by killing seals and birds. They were able to build a boat out of their stranded wreck and managed to return to Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula in 1742 with sea otter furs and preserved meat from the newly discovered island.[7]
Another of the expedition's survivors was
In 1743 Emilian Basov landed on Bering Island to hunt sea otter, beginning the island's documented human habitation as well as ecological destruction. Promyshlenniki began to island-hop across the Bering Sea to the Aleutian islands and ultimately Alaska. In 1825 the Russian-American Company transferred Aleut families from Attu Island to Bering Island to hunt, and another group of Aleut and mixed-race settlers followed the following year, thus establishing the first known permanent human habitation on Bering Island.[3] After Russia sold Alaska and the Aleutian islands to the United States in 1867, Bering Island was placed under the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky jurisdiction. The population grew from 110 people in 1827 (17 Russians, 45 Aleuts and 48 mixed race) to more than 300 people in 1879 (100 Aleuts on Copper island alone, along with 332 mixed-race and about 10% Russian or other nationalities).[3] In 1990, after 170 years of separation and loss of cultural traditions, a planeload of Aleuts from Nikolskoye met another planeload of Alaskan Aleuts in Kamchatka's capital, and were surprised they could still communicate in the old Aleut language.[3] Because of their isolation, like the now-Alaskan Pribilof Islands, the Aleuts have been used for studies of genetic drift.[9]
Nature
The area surrounding Bering Island is now a biosphere reserve, known for its diverse wildlife, and particularly marine mammals. The island's shores form a natural habitat for
Bering Island has also long been famous for its seal rookeries, including
Whale species sighted in the surrounding waters include
Bering Island also has numerous seabirds. UNESCO noted that 203 bird species have been sighted on the Commander Islands, including 58 nesting there. Puffins are abundant, although the semi-flightless spectacled cormorant became extinct circa 1850. Two species of the Arctic foxes that tormented Bering's crew remain. Humans introduced reindeer, American mink and rats to the islands, with negative effects on native wildlife.[11]
Climate
Like the rest of Kamchatka Krai, Bering Island has a
Climate data for Bering Island (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1899–present) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 6.5 (43.7) |
5.1 (41.2) |
8.8 (47.8) |
10.2 (50.4) |
13.6 (56.5) |
21.5 (70.7) |
21.9 (71.4) |
21.0 (69.8) |
18.5 (65.3) |
13.1 (55.6) |
9.2 (48.6) |
7.4 (45.3) |
21.5 (70.7) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −1.6 (29.1) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
1.3 (34.3) |
4.6 (40.3) |
7.8 (46.0) |
11.0 (51.8) |
12.9 (55.2) |
11.5 (52.7) |
7.2 (45.0) |
2.6 (36.7) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
4.5 (40.2) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −3.1 (26.4) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
2.8 (37.0) |
5.9 (42.6) |
9.3 (48.7) |
11.3 (52.3) |
9.9 (49.8) |
5.7 (42.3) |
1.1 (34.0) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
3.0 (37.3) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −5.2 (22.6) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
1.4 (34.5) |
4.5 (40.1) |
8.1 (46.6) |
10.0 (50.0) |
8.2 (46.8) |
3.8 (38.8) |
−0.8 (30.6) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
1.3 (34.3) |
Record low °C (°F) | −21.0 (−5.8) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
−21.9 (−7.4) |
−13.9 (7.0) |
−9.6 (14.7) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
−8.5 (16.7) |
−15.4 (4.3) |
−19.9 (−3.8) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 63 (2.5) |
53 (2.1) |
46 (1.8) |
39 (1.5) |
38 (1.5) |
32 (1.3) |
39 (1.5) |
63 (2.5) |
71 (2.8) |
91 (3.6) |
82 (3.2) |
62 (2.4) |
679 (26.7) |
Average precipitation days | 13.8 | 12.7 | 11.4 | 9.6 | 7.7 | 6.2 | 7.6 | 10.4 | 10.8 | 14.2 | 15.0 | 15.1 | 134.5 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 31.0 | 56.5 | 99.2 | 120.0 | 102.3 | 84.0 | 74.4 | 108.5 | 123.0 | 111.6 | 54.0 | 27.9 | 992.4 |
Source 1: Погода и Климат (Weather and Climate)[12] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: allmetsat.com (sunshine only)[13] |
References
- ^ a b "Russia, RS26, Bering". GEOnet Names Server, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "Bering Island – Wikimapia". wikimapia.org. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Kamchatka: Bering Island". pbs.org. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ "Russia, RS26, Toporkov". GEOnet Names Server, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ a b c "Kamchatka: Bering Island". pbs.org. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ Although according to "Bering", by Orcutt Frost [p7], Bering died of heart failure
- ^ Nordenskiöld, Adolf Erik (1881). The voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe: with a historical review of previous journeys along the north coast of the Old world. Vol. 2. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 262–268 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Lyons, Paul K. (10 March 2009). "The Diary Review: Steller on Bering Island". thediaryjunction.blogspot.com. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- S2CID 14542790.
- ^ Sea otters www.ingentaconnect.com
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "The Commander Islands (Comandorsky State Nature Reserve) – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". unesco.org. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ "平年値(年・月ごとの値) 主な要素" [Average value (value for each year/month) Main elements]. Погода и Климат. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ "Nikolskoye, Russia". allmetsat.com. November 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-01. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
External links
- (in Russian) Commander Islands