Herald Island (Arctic)
Encyclopedia
Herald Island or Gerald Island is a small, isolated Russia
n island in the Chukchi Sea
, 70 km (43.5 mi) to the east of Wrangel Island
. It rises in sheer cliffs, making it quite inaccessible, either by ship or by plane. The only sliver of shoreline is at its northwestern point, where the cliffs have crumbled into piles of loose rocks and gravel. Its area is 11.3 km² (4.36 sq mi) and the maximum height above sea level is 364 m (1,194 ft). The island is unglaciated and uninhabited.
Herald Island belongs administratively to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
of the Russian Federation. Along with Wrangel Island
, Herald Island is part of the Wrangel Island Wildlife Preserve, a Russian National Park, since 1976. Cape Dmitrieva in Herald Island, marks the easternmost limits of the nature reserve
.
, and igneous rocks. The northeastern tip of this island consists of a 600 m (1,969 ft)-thick sequence of sandstone
, phyllite
, quartz
ose sandstone, quartz
-chlorite
-sericite
schist
mylonite
, and cataclastic quartz syenite
. These rocks are of either Proterozoic
or Late Paleozoic
age. The bulk of this island consists of a Jurassic
granite
pluton
.
The polar day lasts from the middle of May until the 20th of July. The polar night lasts from the middle of November through the end of January.
Winters are prolonged, and characterized by sustained freezing weather and strong northern winds. The mean temperature in January is -21.3 °C, and the coldest months are February and March. During this period the temperature can remain below -30 °C over a period of weeks, with frequent snowstorms and wind speeds of 40 m/s (131.2 ft/s) or more. The summer is cool, with some frosts and snowfall. The mean temperature in July fluctuates from 2 to 2.5 °C (35.6 to 36.5 F). The mean relative humidity is around 88%, and the yearly precipitation is around 120 mm (4.7 in).
, captain of the survey vessel HMS Herald
, who was searching for the vanished expedition of Sir John Franklin
. Kellett landed on Herald Island and named it after his ship. He also sighted Wrangel Island
in the distance.
Herald Island was next visited in 1855 by the USS Vincennes
under Lt. John Rodgers
. An attempt was made to reach Wrangel Island, which was inaccessible because of sea ice. The ill-fated Arctic expedition of George W. DeLong
in the Jeannette
entered sea ice near Herald Island in 1879, hoping to reach Wrangel Island and open water near the North Pole. No landing was made, and the ship remained trapped in ice until it was finally crushed. In 1881, the US revenue cutter Corwin
under Calvin L. Hooper searched Herald Island for message cairns or other signs that might have been left by the Jeannette crew. With the aid of John Muir
's mountaineering skills, they were able to reach the top of the island and conduct a thorough search, as well as make geological and biological observations and collect specimens.
No wintering has been recorded on Herald Island, but four crewmen of the ill-fated exploration ship Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition
, reached Herald Island in January 1914 after their ship sank crushed by ice. These four men, Sandy Anderson, Charles Barker, John Brady and Edmund L. Golightly, died there without leaving any record. Their skeletons were found in 1924 by Captain Louis Lane's expedition on the MS Herman. The cause of their death still remains a mystery because there was enough food and ammunition in the place where their remains were found.
In 1916 the Russian ambassador in London issued an official notice to the effect that the Imperial government considered Herald, along with other Arctic islands, integral parts of the Russian Empire
. This territorial claim was later maintained by the Soviet Union
. In 1926, the Soviet icebreaker Stavropol under G.A. Ushakov approached Herald Island, but was unable to come to shore because of thick sea ice. The icebreaker Krasin
made several attempts to reach Herald Island in 1953 while en route to Wrangel Island, but was hindered by thick fog. A landing was finally made on the return trip, when the island was fully surveyed.
Some U.S. individuals, including the group State Department Watch, assert American ownership of Herald Island based on the 1855 landing. A 1988 resolution of the Alaska State Senate supported this claim. However, the United States government has never claimed Herald Island, and recognizes it as Russian territory. In 1994, the Alaska State Supreme Court ruled in D. Denardo v. State of Alaska that Herald Island, along with several islands, is not part of Alaska.
In 2004 Herald Island and neighboring Wrangel Island, along with their surrounding waters, were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
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...
n island in the Chukchi Sea
Chukchi 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...
, 70 km (43.5 mi) to the east 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...
. It rises in sheer cliffs, making it quite inaccessible, either by ship or by plane. The only sliver of shoreline is at its northwestern point, where the cliffs have crumbled into piles of loose rocks and gravel. Its area is 11.3 km² (4.36 sq mi) and the maximum height above sea level is 364 m (1,194 ft). The island is unglaciated and uninhabited.
Herald Island belongs administratively to the 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...
of the Russian Federation. Along with 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...
, Herald Island is part of the Wrangel Island Wildlife Preserve, a Russian National Park, since 1976. Cape Dmitrieva in Herald Island, marks the easternmost limits of the nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
.
Geology
Herald Island is composed of sedimentary, metamorphicMetamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...
, and igneous rocks. The northeastern tip of this island consists of a 600 m (1,969 ft)-thick sequence of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, phyllite
Phyllite
Phyllite is a type of foliated metamorphic rock primarily composed of quartz, sericite mica, and chlorite; the rock represents a gradation in the degree of metamorphism between slate and mica schist. Minute crystals of graphite, sericite, or chlorite impart a silky, sometimes golden sheen to the...
, quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
ose sandstone, quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
-chlorite
Chlorite
The chlorite ion is ClO2−. A chlorite is a compound that contains this group,with chlorine in oxidation state +3. Chlorites are also known as salts of chlorous acid.-Oxidation states:...
-sericite
Sericite
Sericite is a fine grained mica, similar to muscovite, illite, or paragonite. Sericite is a common alteration mineral of orthoclase or plagioclase feldspars in areas that have been subjected to hydrothermal alteration typically associated with copper, tin, or other hydrothermal ore deposits...
schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
mylonite
Mylonite
Mylonite is a fine-grained, compact rock produced by dynamic recrystallization of the constituent minerals resulting in a reduction of the grain size of the rock. It is classified as a metamorphic rock...
, and cataclastic quartz syenite
Syenite
Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock of the same general composition as granite but with the quartz either absent or present in relatively small amounts Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock of the same general composition as granite but with the quartz either absent or...
. These rocks are of either Proterozoic
Proterozoic
The Proterozoic is a geological eon representing a period before the first abundant complex life on Earth. The name Proterozoic comes from the Greek "earlier life"...
or Late Paleozoic
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...
age. The bulk of this island consists of a Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
pluton
Pluton
A pluton in geology is a body of intrusive igneous rock that crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Plutons include batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, lopoliths, and other igneous bodies...
.
Climate
The climate is severe. For most of the year, the region is covered by masses of cold Arctic air with low moisture and dust content. In summer, warmer and moister Pacific air blows from the south-east. Dry and strongly warmed air masses periodically blow from Siberia.The polar day lasts from the middle of May until the 20th of July. The polar night lasts from the middle of November through the end of January.
Winters are prolonged, and characterized by sustained freezing weather and strong northern winds. The mean temperature in January is -21.3 °C, and the coldest months are February and March. During this period the temperature can remain below -30 °C over a period of weeks, with frequent snowstorms and wind speeds of 40 m/s (131.2 ft/s) or more. The summer is cool, with some frosts and snowfall. The mean temperature in July fluctuates from 2 to 2.5 °C (35.6 to 36.5 F). The mean relative humidity is around 88%, and the yearly precipitation is around 120 mm (4.7 in).
History
Several nations have participated in the discovery and exploration of Herald Island. The island was discovered in 1849 by Sir Henry KellettHenry Kellett
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett KCB was a British naval officer and explorer.-Naval career:Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822...
, captain of the survey vessel HMS Herald
HMS Herald
Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Herald:* The first Herald was an 18-gun ship sloop launched in 1806, re-classed as a 20-gun Sixth Rate in 1810 and 24-gun in 1817, and broken up in 1817....
, who was searching for the vanished expedition of Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
. Kellett landed on Herald Island and named it after his ship. He also sighted 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...
in the distance.
Herald Island was next visited in 1855 by the USS Vincennes
USS Vincennes (1826)
USS Vincennes was a 703-ton Boston-class sloop of war in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1865. During her service, Vincennes patrolled the Pacific, explored the Antarctic, and blockaded the Confederate Gulf coast in the Civil War. Named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes, she was...
under Lt. John Rodgers
John Rodgers (naval officer, Civil War)
John Rodgers was an admiral in the United States Navy.-Early life and career:Rodgers, a son of Commodore John Rodgers, was born near Havre de Grace, Maryland. He received his appointment as a Midshipman in the Navy on 18 April 1828...
. An attempt was made to reach Wrangel Island, which was inaccessible because of sea ice. The ill-fated Arctic expedition of George W. DeLong
George W. DeLong
George Washington DeLong was a United States Navy officer and explorer.- Biography :Born in New York City, he was educated at the United States Naval Academy in Newport, Rhode Island...
in the Jeannette
USS Jeannette (1878)
The first USS Jeannette was originally HMS Pandora, a Philomel-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy, and was purchased in 1875 by Sir Allen Young for his arctic voyages in 1875-1876. The ship was purchased in 1878 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., owner of the New York Herald; and renamed Jeannette...
entered sea ice near Herald Island in 1879, hoping to reach Wrangel Island and open water near the North Pole. No landing was made, and the ship remained trapped in ice until it was finally crushed. In 1881, the US revenue cutter Corwin
USRC Thomas Corwin (1876)
The Thomas Corwin was a United States Revenue Cutter and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea...
under Calvin L. Hooper searched Herald Island for message cairns or other signs that might have been left by the Jeannette crew. With the aid of John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
's mountaineering skills, they were able to reach the top of the island and conduct a thorough search, as well as make geological and biological observations and collect specimens.
No wintering has been recorded on Herald Island, but four crewmen of the ill-fated exploration ship Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition
Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-1916
The Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1916 was organized and led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson. The expedition was divided into a Northern Party led by Stefansson, and a Southern Party led by R M. Anderson. The objective of the Northern Party was to explore for new land north and west of the known lands...
, reached Herald Island in January 1914 after their ship sank crushed by ice. These four men, Sandy Anderson, Charles Barker, John Brady and Edmund L. Golightly, died there without leaving any record. Their skeletons were found in 1924 by Captain Louis Lane's expedition on the MS Herman. The cause of their death still remains a mystery because there was enough food and ammunition in the place where their remains were found.
In 1916 the Russian ambassador in London issued an official notice to the effect that the Imperial government considered Herald, along with other Arctic islands, integral parts of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. This territorial claim was later maintained by 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....
. In 1926, the Soviet icebreaker Stavropol under G.A. Ushakov approached Herald Island, but was unable to come to shore because of thick sea ice. The icebreaker Krasin
Krasin (1916 icebreaker)
The first icebreaker Krasin was built for the Imperial Russian Navy as Svyatogor. She had a long, distinguished career in rescue operations, as well as a pathfinder and explorer of the Northern Sea Route...
made several attempts to reach Herald Island in 1953 while en route to Wrangel Island, but was hindered by thick fog. A landing was finally made on the return trip, when the island was fully surveyed.
Some U.S. individuals, including the group State Department Watch, assert American ownership of Herald Island based on the 1855 landing. A 1988 resolution of the Alaska State Senate supported this claim. However, the United States government has never claimed Herald Island, and recognizes it as Russian territory. In 1994, the Alaska State Supreme Court ruled in D. Denardo v. State of Alaska that Herald Island, along with several islands, is not part of Alaska.
In 2004 Herald Island and neighboring Wrangel Island, along with their surrounding waters, were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
External links
- Russian Arctic Reserve (includes information on the flora and fauna of Herald Island): http://www.wild-russia.org/bioregion1/1-wrangel/1_wrangel.htm
- D. Denardo v. State of Alaska, in which the Alaska Supreme Court declared that Herald and other islands are not part of Alaska
- Alaska Senate Joint Resolution No. 61, introduced 2/4/1988, as appended to the decision in D. Denardo v. State of Alaska.
- Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, 2003, Status of Wrangel and Other Arctic Islands. U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. (Fact sheet on Wrangel Island).
- Fujita, K., and D.B. Cook, 1990, The Arctic continental margin of eastern Siberia, in A. Grantz, L. Johnson, and J. F. Sweeney, eds., pp. 289–304, The Arctic Ocean Region. Geology of North America, vol L, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado.
- Hooper, Calvin L. (1884). Report of the cruise of the U.S. revenue steamer Thomas Corwin, in the Arctic Ocean, 1881. Govt. print. off., Washington.
- Wrangel Island. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 62, No. 6. (Dec., 1923), pp. 440–444. online (requires JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
access). - Island in the Sea, L. Zybtsev, at the "Russian Robinson" club (Russian), 1992.
- L.V. Gromov. Осколок древней Берингии (Russian language: "A fragment of ancient Beringia"). Moscow, 1960.
- A.I. Mineev. Остров Врангеля (Russian language: "Wrangel Island"). Moscow, Leningrad, 1946.
- Советская Арктика: моря и острова Северного Ледовитого океана (Russian language: "The Soviet Arctic: the sea and islands of the Arctic Ocean"). Moscow, 1970.
- Niven, J. The Ice Master, The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk.
- Deaths on the island: http://www.civilization.ca/hist/cae/sur10e.html