- Brusneva Island
Brusneva Island ( _ru. Остров Бруснева,Ostrov Brusneva), is a small island in the
Laptev Sea . It is located off the eastern side of the Lena delta in the Tiksi Bay, only 5 Km ENE ofTiksi . Its length is 2.3 Km and its maximum breadth less than 1 Km. The name of this island is also spelt as "Brusnova" in some maps.Tiksi Bay, the area where Brusneva Island lies, is subject to severe Arctic weather with frequent gales and blizzards. The sea in the bay is frozen for about nine months every year.
History
In August 1901 Russian Arctic ship "Zarya" headed across the
Laptev Sea , searching for the legendarySannikov Land (Zemlya Sannikova) but was soon blocked by floatingpack ice in theNew Siberian Islands . During 1902 the attempts to reach Sannikov Land continued while "Zarya" was trapped in fast ice. Leaving the ship, Russian Arctic explorer BaronEduard Toll and three companions vanished forever in November 1902 while travelling away fromBennett Island towards the south on loose ice floes. After its ordeal in the ice, a badly-leaking "Zarya" was finally moored close toBrusneva Island in Bukhta Tiksi, never to leave the place again. The remaining members of the expedition returned toSaint Petersburg , while Captain Matisen went toYakutsk .The island was named after Russian Engineer M. I. Brusnev, a member of the Russian Arctic Expedition. Brusnev led one of the two search parties that were dispatched in the spring of 1903 in order to search for ill-fated Baron Eduard Toll. Brusnev's group searched the shores of the New Siberian Islands, while the other, led by
Aleksandr Kolchak travelled by whaleboat toBennett Island .Brusnev found the remains of amammoth in the island ofNew Siberia during his unfruitful search for Eduard Toll. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0065-9746(1929)2%3A23%3A1%3Ci%3ATCOTMA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8 The Carcasses of the Mammoth and Rhinoceros Found in the Frozen Ground of Siberia ] ]References
* [http://worldmaps.web.infoseek.co.jp/russia_guide.htm Geographical data]
* [http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/russia/map/m4050611/ostrov_brusneva.html] & [http://land.worldcitydb.com/ostrov_brusneva_4050611.html Location]
* [http://www.aina.ucalgary.ca/scripts/minisa.dll/144/proe/proarc/se+arctic,+v.+34,+no.++3,+Sept.+1981,*?COMMANDSEARCH Brusnev]
* [http://epic.awi.de/Publications/Polarforsch2000_11.pdf Monitoring of Macro-Zoobenthos in the Lena River Mouth]
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