Mys Shmidta
Encyclopedia
Mys Shmidta is an urban-type settlement
(a work settlement) in Iultinsky District
of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
, Russia
. The settlement is located about 5 kilometres (3 mi) southeast of the cape of the same name. The cape, but not the settlement, was formerly known as North Cape or Cape North. Cape Billings
is located to the west of it and Cape Vankarem
is located to the east. Population: 705 (2002 Census
); Municipally, Mys Shmidta is incorporated as Mys Shmidta Urban Settlement.
The settlement was founded in 1931 as a part of the Soviet Union
's development of its Arctic air defences. Changes in the manner in which national defences are constructed in recent decades has led to a decline in Mys Shmidta's importance, though the settlement remains one of the main northern sea ports for Chukotka after Pevek
.
(part of the Arctic Ocean
), south of Wrangel Island
and about 650 kilometres (403.9 mi) from Anadyr
, the administrative centre of the autonomous okrug. The settlement itself is positioned on a spit
which separates the Akatan Lagoon from the open sea and protects the airport
from the full effects of the Arctic Ocean. A little distance to the north-west of the settlement is the cape
from which the settlement gets its name and just beyond this lies the Chukchi village of Ryrkaypiy.
); however, this change did not affect the borders of Shmidtovsky Administrative District. Mys Shmidta continued to serve as the administrative centre of the latter until June 2011, when Shmidtovsky Administrative District was merged into Iultinsky Administrative District and ceased to exist.
in 1778 when he sailed through the Bering Strait
and into the Chukchi Sea, demonstrating to people in Europe and North America that Russia and Alaska
were separated.
The modern settlement was founded in 1931 as part of the Soviet Union
's attempts to develop the extreme north-east of the country. The settlement itself, its airport, and the nearby cape were all named after Otto Schmidt
, with Mys Shmidta forming the central base for the enterprises involved in the mining of tin
and gold
. The surrounding area from Tiksi
and Pevek to Nordvik
and Maria Pronchishcheva Bay
experienced a comparative boom as the first icebreaker
s began carrying goods and people along the Northern Sea Route
.
In 1954, the airfield was developed as part of the Soviet Air Force
's plan to create a ring of air bases around the arctic for the use of its strategic bomber fleet during the Cold War
. During the Cold War, this airfield formed a network of forward staging bases inside the Arctic Circle
. The use of strategic bomber forward staging bases was dictated by geography and weather. The northern parts of the Soviet Union closest to the United States are in the Arctic, with hostile weather conditions. 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.
In 1962, the settlement was granted urban-type settlement status.
However, the focus on intercontinental ballistic missiles as opposed to bombers meant that the airfield became less important and eventually closed for military use in the early 1990s. Around the same time, mining on an industrial scale also ceased. These two events caused a major outflow of people, leaving only around 15% of the 1990 population still in the settlement in 2008.
The overall climate of Shmidtovsky District is more severe than in neighbouring Alaska and varies significantly throughout the year. By the very nature of the position of the settlement, it is at the mercy of Arctic conditions, that leave it stranded throughout the winter and can pose a danger to shipping during the brief summer as supply ships try to make their delivery. 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 the Russian Far East
to shut early due to ice, leaving Pevek as the only open port in the region and leaving dozens of ships stuck in the ice of the Chukchi Sea. Although unloading was delayed due to ice for a fortnight, the first supply ship convoy to Mys Shmidta arrived as planned. However, a severe drop in temperature through August, much earlier than usual, caused a significantly greater concentration of ice in the De Long Strait
and strong northerly winds forcing the semi-permanent Ayon ice sheet onto the northern coast of Chukotka.
By October, the ice had thickened to such a degree that a convoy of ships, including the freighter Nina Sagaydak, Kamensk-Uralsky, together with the nuclear icebreakers Kapitan Sorokin and Vladivostok, was held fast by October in sea ice about half way between Mys Shmidta and Vankarem
. This proved chaotic with several ships drifting freely in the ice, hulls grinding against one another. Although the ships eventually separated, the damage cause to the Nina Sagaydak proved too severe and she sank; the first ship to be sunk by ice in Soviet waters since the Vitimles in 1963. The remaining ships were freed by icebreakers and towed to the edge of the sea ice.
This extreme weather, even for this area forced the closure of all Arctic ports except Pevek. This situation placed great strain on the town'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 winter snow roads
. These events highlight how dangerous the climate in Mys Shmidta and the surrounding area can be, particularly if winter closes in earlier than expected, creating additional danger for the settlement and any shipping in the vicinity, as well as placing considerable additional pressure on Pevek's already decaying infrastructure.
UNESCO
World Heritage Site
. The nature reserve's headquarters are based in Mys Shmidta.
Unlike the majority of other inhabited localities in Chukotka, Mys Shmidta is one of the few settlements without a local cultural museum.
Though it has shrunk since the days of the Cold War
, Mys Shmidta is still the main northern sea port in Chukotka along with Pevek. Following the collapse 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. For comparison, a port such as Mys Shmidta was handling several hundred thousand tons of cargo a year during the 1980s. 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, This is in part due to the declining economy of the region, which has caused a fall in investment in the port infrastructure. This in turn limits the maximum potential turnover of the port.
It is difficult to see where future cargo exports would come from. While gold is mined in Bilibino
with lower-level mining at Iultin
and Polyarny, these concerns do not produce significant cargo volumes for the northern sea route, and nor does the extraction of any other minerals in the area, from which Mys Shmidta could benefit. 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 villages.
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.
There remains a meteorological station in the settlement.
Immediately to the south-west of the settlement is Mys Shmidta Airport
. The airport is now employed solely for civilian usage providing flights to Anadyr. Flights are provided by Chukotavia
.
As with all areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East, there is very limited road transport. There is a road, however, linking Mys Shmidta with Egvekinot. There is also a 435 kilometres (270.3 mi) unpaved road between Mys Shmidta and Komsomolsky
, of which 235 kilometres (146 mi) is unpaved road and the remaining 199 kilometres (123.7 mi) is a snow road.
Urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement ; , selyshche mis'koho typu ) is an official designation for a type of locality used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union...
(a work settlement) in Iultinsky District
Iultinsky District
Iultinsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located on the eastern shore of the autonomous okrug and borders with the Chukchi Sea in the north, Providensky District in the east, Gulf of Anadyr in the southeast, and...
of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The settlement is located about 5 kilometres (3 mi) southeast of the cape of the same name. The cape, but not the settlement, was formerly known as North Cape or Cape North. Cape Billings
Cape Billings
Cape Billings , is a headland on the northern coast of Chukotka, Russian Federation to the west of Cape Schmidt. The shore in the area around cape Billings is bounded by narrow landspits, beach ridges and swales enclosing a series of coastal inshore lagoons....
is located to the west of it and Cape Vankarem
Cape Vankarem
Cape Vankarem is a cape in the Chukchi Sea on the northern coast of Chukotka between Cape Schmidt to the west and Kolyuchinskaya Bay to the east...
is located to the east. Population: 705 (2002 Census
Russian Census (2002)
Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
); Municipally, Mys Shmidta is incorporated as Mys Shmidta Urban Settlement.
The settlement was founded in 1931 as a part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's development of its Arctic air defences. Changes in the manner in which national defences are constructed in recent decades has led to a decline in Mys Shmidta's importance, though the settlement remains one of the main northern sea ports for Chukotka after Pevek
Pevek
Pevek is a town and Arctic port in Chaunsky District, part of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. After Anadyr and Bilibino it is the third largest town in Chukotka. Population: Municipally, the town is subordinated to Chaunsky Municipal district and together with Apapelgino and Yanranay, is...
.
Geography
The settlement is located on the shore of the Chukchi SeaChukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...
(part of the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
), south of Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
and about 650 kilometres (403.9 mi) from Anadyr
Anadyr (town)
Anadyr is a port town and the administrative centre of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the extreme north-eastern region of Russia. It is at the mouth of the Anadyr River, on the tip of the southern promontory that sticks out into Anadyrskiy Liman...
, the administrative centre of the autonomous okrug. The settlement itself is positioned on a spit
Spit (landform)
A spit or sandspit is a deposition landform found off coasts. At one end, spits connect to land, and extend into the sea. A spit is a type of bar or beach that develops where a re-entrant occurs, such as at cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift...
which separates the Akatan Lagoon from the open sea and protects the airport
Mys Shmidta Airport
Mys Shmidta Airport , also known as Cape Shmidt Airport, is a former military airbase in the Shmidtovsky District of Chukotka, Russia. It is located southeast of Mys Shmidta....
from the full effects of the Arctic Ocean. A little distance to the north-west of the settlement is the cape
Headland
A headland is a point of land, usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends out into a body of water.Headland can also refer to:*Headlands and bays*headLand, an Australian television series...
from which the settlement gets its name and just beyond this lies the Chukchi village of Ryrkaypiy.
Administrative vs. municipal jurisdiction
Until July 2008, Mys Shmidta was a part of both Shmidtovsky Municipal and Shmidtovsky Administrative District and served as the administrative centre of both. In May 2008, Shmidtovsky Municipal District was merged into Iultinsky Municipal District (the administrative centre of which is EgvekinotEgvekinot
-Culture and sights:At the airport is a monument to the MI-8 helicopter, a common site in the air over Chukotka.There is a museum in the settlement which deals mainly with local history, people, and archeology, as well as a cultural centre, home to the Zalivskiye Napevy folk chorus, the Sone song...
); however, this change did not affect the borders of Shmidtovsky Administrative District. Mys Shmidta continued to serve as the administrative centre of the latter until June 2011, when Shmidtovsky Administrative District was merged into Iultinsky Administrative District and ceased to exist.
History
Cape North, as Cape Schmidt was then called, was first reached by James CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
in 1778 when he sailed through the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
and into the Chukchi Sea, demonstrating to people in Europe and North America that Russia and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
were separated.
The modern settlement was founded in 1931 as part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's attempts to develop the extreme north-east of the country. The settlement itself, its airport, and the nearby cape were all named after Otto Schmidt
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR , and member of the Communist Party.-Biography:He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire...
, with Mys Shmidta forming the central base for the enterprises involved in the mining of tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
and gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. The surrounding area from Tiksi
Tiksi
Tiksi is an urban locality and the administrative center of Bulunsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, situated on the Arctic Ocean coast. Population: It is one of the principal ports for accessing the Laptev Sea...
and Pevek to Nordvik
Nordvik
Nordvik is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway.It was created by a split from Herøy on 1 July 1917. At that time Nordvik had a population of 1,530.On 1 January 1962 Nordvik became a part of the new municipality Dønna...
and Maria Pronchishcheva Bay
Maria Pronchishcheva Bay
Maria Pronchishcheva Bay is a deep gulf in the Laptev Sea. It is located about 75 km north of the mouth of the Khatanga Gulf, on the eastern side of the Taymyr Peninsula....
experienced a comparative boom as the first icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
s began carrying goods and people along the Northern Sea Route
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...
.
In 1954, the airfield was developed as part of the Soviet Air Force
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
's plan to create a ring of air bases around the arctic for the use of its strategic bomber fleet during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. During the Cold War, this airfield formed a network of forward staging bases inside the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
. The use of strategic bomber forward staging bases was dictated by geography and weather. The northern parts of the Soviet Union closest to the United States are in the Arctic, with hostile weather conditions. 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.
In 1962, the settlement was granted urban-type settlement status.
However, the focus on intercontinental ballistic missiles as opposed to bombers meant that the airfield became less important and eventually closed for military use in the early 1990s. Around the same time, mining on an industrial scale also ceased. These two events caused a major outflow of people, leaving only around 15% of the 1990 population still in the settlement in 2008.
| 1970 | 1979 | 1989 | 2002 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,818 | 3,307 | 4,587 | 705 | 760 |
Climate
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
to shut early due to ice, leaving Pevek as the only open port in the region and leaving dozens of ships stuck in the ice of the Chukchi Sea. Although unloading was delayed due to ice for a fortnight, the first supply ship convoy to Mys Shmidta arrived as planned. However, a severe drop in temperature through August, much earlier than usual, caused a significantly greater concentration of ice in the De Long Strait
De Long Strait
The De Long Strait separates Wrangel Island from the Siberian mainland. It is very broad, its minimum width being 141 km, between Cape Blossom at the southwestern tip of Wrangel Island and Cape Billings, close to Gytkhelen, Chukotka.Technically, more than a strait in the proper sense of the...
and strong northerly winds forcing the semi-permanent Ayon ice sheet onto the northern coast of Chukotka.
By October, the ice had thickened to such a degree that a convoy of ships, including the freighter Nina Sagaydak, Kamensk-Uralsky, together with the nuclear icebreakers Kapitan Sorokin and Vladivostok, was held fast by October in sea ice about half way between Mys Shmidta and Vankarem
Vankarem
Vankarem is a village in Shmidtovsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia, situated on Cape Vankarem on the coast of the Chukchi Sea...
. This proved chaotic with several ships drifting freely in the ice, hulls grinding against one another. Although the ships eventually separated, the damage cause to the Nina Sagaydak proved too severe and she sank; the first ship to be sunk by ice in Soviet waters since the Vitimles in 1963. The remaining ships were freed by icebreakers and towed to the edge of the sea ice.
This extreme weather, even for this area forced the closure of all Arctic ports except Pevek. This situation placed great strain on the town'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 winter snow roads
Ice road
Ice roads are frozen, human-made structures on the surface of bays, rivers, lakes, or seas in the far north. They link dry land, frozen waterways, portages and winter roads, and are usually remade each winter. Ice roads allow temporary transport to areas with no permanent road access...
. These events highlight how dangerous the climate in Mys Shmidta and the surrounding area can be, particularly if winter closes in earlier than expected, creating additional danger for the settlement and any shipping in the vicinity, as well as placing considerable additional pressure on Pevek's already decaying infrastructure.
Culture and sights
Mys Shmidta is the starting point for any tourist wishing to explore the Wrangel IslandWrangel Island
Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
. The nature reserve's headquarters are based in Mys Shmidta.
Unlike the majority of other inhabited localities in Chukotka, Mys Shmidta is one of the few settlements without a local cultural museum.
Economy
Port
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. The port is operated by the Russian firm Almazzoloto.Though it has shrunk since the days of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Mys Shmidta is still the main northern sea port in Chukotka along with Pevek. Following the collapse 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. For comparison, a port such as Mys Shmidta was handling several hundred thousand tons of cargo a year during the 1980s. 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, This is in part due to the declining economy of the region, which has caused a fall in investment in the port infrastructure. This in turn limits the maximum potential turnover of the port.
It is difficult to see where future cargo exports would come from. While gold is mined in Bilibino
Bilibino
Bilibino is a town and gold-mining center in Bilibinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located at the confluence of the Karalve'em and the Bolshoy Keperve'em Rivers north-west of Anadyr. It is the second largest town in Chukotka...
with lower-level mining at Iultin
Iultin
Iul'tin is a small airport in Russia located 5 km northeast of Iul'tin. It consists of a small paved airstrip servicing a very remote mining town....
and Polyarny, these concerns do not produce significant cargo volumes for the northern sea route, and nor does the extraction of any other minerals in the area, from which Mys Shmidta could benefit. 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 villages.
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.
Other infrastructure
The settlement is populated now 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, with the three main prospecting teams in the region: Polyarnaya, Arktikaand, and Shakhtar being based in Leningradsky.There remains a meteorological station in the settlement.
Immediately to the south-west of the settlement is Mys Shmidta Airport
Mys Shmidta Airport
Mys Shmidta Airport , also known as Cape Shmidt Airport, is a former military airbase in the Shmidtovsky District of Chukotka, Russia. It is located southeast of Mys Shmidta....
. The airport is now employed solely for civilian usage providing flights to Anadyr. Flights are provided by Chukotavia
Chukotavia
ChukotAVIA ) is an airline based in Anadyr, Russia. It operates passenger, cargo, and utility services. Its main base is Anadyr Ugolny Airport.-History:...
.
As with all areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East, there is very limited road transport. There is a road, however, linking Mys Shmidta with Egvekinot. There is also a 435 kilometres (270.3 mi) unpaved road between Mys Shmidta and Komsomolsky
Komsomolsky, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Komsomolsky is an inhabited locality in Chaunsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located about south-west of Pevek, the administrative centre of the district...
, of which 235 kilometres (146 mi) is unpaved road and the remaining 199 kilometres (123.7 mi) is a snow road.