Novaya Zemlya
- Terra MODIS
- 10 August 2001
- 08:35 UTC
Novaya Zemlya (Новая Земля) consists of two main islands (although at low resolution it appears as a single landmass) and numerous smaller offshore islets and rocks with a total land area of 90,650 km². It is located in the Barents Sea region, situated off the north coast of European Russia. To the south, across the 45 km wide Kara Gate Strait, lies Vaygach Island (at left in the above image) and beyond that, the Russian mainland. The west coast (top in the image) borders the Barents Sea, while the east coast (bottom of image) faces the Kara Sea.
The islands of Novaya Zemlya (New Land) form an approximately 1,000 km long curving arc that varies in width from 40 km in the north to 150 km in the south. The southern third comprises the island of Yuznhy (33,275 km²) and the northern two thirds the island of Severny (48,904 km²). They are separated from one another by a narrow and twisting channel known as the Matokin Shar Strait. The largest of the minor islets is Mezdusarskiy Island, located amidst the broken coastline of the southwest.
Novaya Zemlya is the northernmost reach of the Ural Mountain Range that stretches for 4,000 km to the south towards the Aral Sea region of Central Asia. The interior, particularly in the areas either side of the Matokin Shar Strait, is rugged and mountainous reaching a height of 1,591 m above sea level at Gora Sedova. Ice caps and glaciers are present along most of the length of the northern landmass. Much of the southern island, by contrast, is lower and is dominated by tundra; its mountainous northern sector has a maximum elevation of 1,292 m.
The coasts of Severny are highly indented with deep fjord-like inlets that split the coastline into a series of long peninsulas. Yuznhy has a lower coastline — a long sweeping coast on the east and a broken coast of inlets, bays and offshore islands on the west. For most of the winter the Barents Sea coast (west side) is usually free of ice, while the Kara Sea coast on the east is frozen or ice-laden from November to June (see late winter image).
image: MODIS rapid response project at nasa/goddard space flight center
