Firnley Islands

The Firnley Islands, also spelt Firnleya or Firileya (Russian: острова Фирнлея; Ostrova Firnleya) is a group of three small islands covered with tundra vegetation and with scattered stones on their shores. They lie in the Kara Sea, close to the bleak coast of Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, not far east of the Nordenskjold Archipelago. These islands are about 35 Km from the continental shore.

The Firnley Islands are covering the entrance to the Vilkitsky Strait from the west.Dlinnyy, the largest island of the group, is only about 5 Km in length.

The sea surrounding the Firnley Islands is covered with fast ice in the winter, which is long and bitter, and the climate is exceptionally severe. The surrounding sea is obstructed by pack ice even in the summer, so that these islands are connected with the mainland for most of the year.

This island group belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation. It is also part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve of Russia.

The Firnley Islands were named by Fridtjof Nansen after Thomas Fearnley, a Norwegian merchant who was one of the main financiers of the "Fram" expedition.

Adjacent islands

Although located relatively close by, the following islands are usually not considered part of the Firnley group:

*Moristyy Island coord|77|19|N|100|18|E| is a round isolated island located 20 Km north of the Firnley group. Moristy is 600 m across.

*Lishniy Island coord|76|57|N|100|27|E| lies 35 Km further SSE of Yuzhnyy Firnleya, 16 Km from the coast. Lishniy is 1.3 Km long and 650 m wide.

*Levinson-Lessing Island (Ostrov Levinsona-Lessinga) coord|77|01|N|101|17|E| is located close to the shore, 23 Km to the NE of Lishniy. This 7 Km long island was named after prominent Russian geologist Feodor Yulievich Levinson-Lessing.

References

* L. M. Starokadomski, O. J. Cattley, "Vilkitski's North-East Passage", 1914-15
* Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Neumann Sverdrup, "Farthest North: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship"
* [http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:wNTbQihPvLQJ:www.npolar.no/transeff/transport/Ice/AARI_chapter1.pdf+geiberg+arctic&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6 Fast ice in the Firnley and Geiberg islands]
* [http://www.bigarctic.ru/Eng Nature Reserve]

ee also

*Kara Sea