Arctic Russia Facts Land Area 4,000,000 square miles Population 2,000,000 Indigenous Groups Chukchi, Nenet, Inuit, Saami, Yakut Language Russian Govt. Republic Mineral Resources Petroleum, natural gas, coal, metals Largest City Murmansk (pop. 450,000) Economy Forestry, fish products, mining, agriculture Highest Point Chukotka Mtns. (~5000 feet) Free E-Newsletter Receive Arctic News, Weather and Travel Information Click Here! Did you know? Arctic Russia covers 76% of the country's total area but its population is sparse and concentrated along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. In the 18th Century Siberian furs & minerals became a major source of wealth for the Russian Empire. From the early 17th century locations in Arctic Russia were also used as a penal colony for criminals and political prisoners. The 2,566 mile Yenisey River is often considered the boundary between eastern and western Siberia; it drains an area of about 1 million square miles.

Arctic Russia

Extending nearly halfway around the world, Arctic Russia stretches from the Norwegian border in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. Several Arctic seas are created by the major island groups (archipelagos) off the northern shore. The Svalbard and Franz Josef archipelagos, the northern island of Novaya Zemlya, and Severnaya Zemlya are extensively ice-clad and mountainous with numerous glaciers calving icebergs into the sea. West Siberia is a vast, swampy, forested plain drained by the Ob River and its tributary, the Irtysh River. East Siberia, east of the Yenisey River, is an upland; the easternmost part, including the Amur and Lena river basins, is often called the Russian Far East. The European portion of Arctic Russia has a short border with Norway and a longer one with Finland. In the Far East, the Chukotkca peninsula reaches out and almost touches Alaska's Seward Peninsula. In fact, the Russian island of Big Diomede and Alaska'ls Little Diomede are only 2 miles apart across the International Date Line. The vegetation of of northwestern Russian is dominated by low coniferous forest known as taiga, but as one moves eastward, the trees diminish in size and eventually give way to the tundra plains that dominate all of northeastern Russia and the various archipelagos.

All the major rivers of northern Russia the Pechora, Ob, Yenisey, Lena, and Kolyma flow northward into the Arctic Ocean making them of little use for transportation. In spring when the ice melts in the south, the northern coasts remain blocked by sea ice. Water flowing north backs up into the vast swamps and marshes that cover much of western Siberia. Much of Arctic Russia was never glaciated, so pre-glacial soils were never disturbed and thus provide a cover over the bedrock that sustains forests. Permafrost prevails, with vast wetland areas and numerous shallow lakes.

Environmental conditions in the Russian Arctic are of concern due to the unpredictable nature of the current Russian economy. Exploitation of timber, coal, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources has led to significant environmental degradation in some locations and disruption of traditional ways of life.

The inland portions of Arctic Russia have a continental climate with warm summers and extremely cold winters. Most years, even large rivers freeze to the bottom for several months. Along the northern coast, however and on the islands, summers are cool and short and winters cold but dry. Active low-pressure systems and the moderating influence of the Pacific in the east create a more temperate climate than farther west. The mean annual temperature ranges from 0° in interior locations to 39° F in the Far East.