At the World's End: Yamal Peninsula

Yamal is a peninsula, which is located on the very north of Siberia and is washed by the Kara Sea. Its length is seven hundred kilometers, and its width is up to two hundred and forty. What is interesting about this piece of sushi?

Geographical information and natural resources

The Yamal Peninsula has a flat relief, its average height is fifty meters.

It is noteworthy that a large number of natural gas deposits are concentrated here - about twenty percent of all Russian reserves. Most of it is extracted in the largest of them: Kharasaveyskoye, Bovanenkovskoye, Kruzenshternovsky, South Tambeyskoye and Severo-Tambeyskoye. Natural gas, located on Yamal, is distinguished by its exceptionally high quality.

Climate

The climate of Yamal is quite cold. The main part of the peninsula is in the subarctic belt, and the northern coast is in the Arctic. The average temperatures are -24 ° C in January and + 5 ° C in July. Precipitation falls a little - about 400 millimeters a year.

Water resources

The Yamal Peninsula has a large number of shallow lakes, the largest of which is called Yambuto. In the middle of October, all the water bodies freeze, and in the beginning of June they are opened from the ice.

Nature of Yamal

This peninsula is located immediately in two natural zones - the tundra and the forest-tundra. The soil here is represented by substrata, gleyzems and peat soils. Most of the territory is bound by permafrost.

Flora and fauna

Of plants, the most common are mosses and lichens.

The animal world of the peninsula is quite diverse. On the Yamal you can find a reindeer, lemming, Arctic fox. And from the birds - a white owl, partridge, a buzzard buzzard, a sandpiper, a red-breasted goose, a sailor, a snowball, a pink gull and others. In the coastal waters live pike, whitefish, muxun, burbot, lenok, grayling, sturgeon, perch.

Population

More than half the population of the Yamal Peninsula is Russian. The second place is occupied by Ukrainians, the third - Nenets and Tatars. This is due to the fact that the Yamal Peninsula has long been a part of the Moscow kingdom, then the Russian Empire, the USSR, and now it is part of the Russian Federation.

The main occupation of the inhabitants of the peninsula is reindeer herding and fishing. They do not have the opportunity to cultivate the land because the soil here is extremely infertile.

By the way, the name of the peninsula is formed from two words - "I" and "small", which in translation into the language of the local population means "the end of the world".

sights

If you decide to visit the Yamal Peninsula, then first of all make sure that the calendar is winter. Yes exactly! After all, being on Yamal in the summer is absolutely impossible - there are huge hordes of mosquitoes.

Yamal old-timers say that it is much easier to survive the winter here than the summer, because you can hide from the cold in warm houses, and there is no escape from mosquitoes.

In summer, the indigenous inhabitants of Yamal take their deer herds closer to the sea, because mosquitoes bite not only humans but also animals. But researchers, geologists and oil companies have to stay in the habitable places.

What interesting sights can be seen on the peninsula? If you go to Salekhard, the center of the Yamal-Nenets District, you can visit the Ice Palace, the Aviation Museum and look at the life-size sculpture of a mammoth. But most importantly - you will get a rare opportunity to enjoy the magnificent view of the Northern Lights - a real business card of this city.