Physical environment of the underground nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya, Russia

Matzko, John R.

doi:10.3133/ofr93501

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The respective mean annual temperature and precipitation for 1955 to 1998 decrease northward, from -5.4°C and 396 mm at Malye Karmakulye (cf. Matzko, 1993) to -8.40C and 329 mm at Russkaya Gavan', and to -10.3°C and 283 mm at Cape Zhelaniya (Table 1; Figure 1). Temperatures in March at Cape Vychodnoi on the Kara Sea coast are 2°C colder (-180C) than at Russkaya Gavan', but summer temperatures are similar (Chizov et al, 1968).…”

Section: Climatology Of Novaya Zemlyamentioning

confidence: 96%

Changes in glacier extent on north Novaya Zemlya in the twentieth century

Zeeberg¹,

Forman

2001

The Holocene

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Glacier retreat on north Novaya Zemlya for the past century was documented by registering glacier terminus positions from expedition and topographic maps and remotely sensed images. Recession of tidewater calving glaciers on north Novaya Zemlya in the first half of the twentieth century was relatively rapid (>300 m yr-1), consistent with post-‘Little Ice Age’ warming documented by a 122-year instrumental record from Malye Karmakuly. The glaciers completed 75 to 100% of the net twentieth-century retreat by 1952. Between 1964 and 1993 half of the studied glaciers were stable; the remainder retreated modest distances of <2.5 km. This stability coincides with decreasing average temperatures, especially during the winter, which is counter to model prediction. There is a statistically significant covariance of unfiltered winter and summer temperatures from Novaya Zemlya and a smoothed 88-year record of SSTs in the southern Barents Sea (r>0.75). Elevated SST in the Barents Sea appear to reflect increased advection of warm North Atlantic water associated with a positive North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO). Winter temperatures are periodically correlated with the NAO (r = 0.75 to 0.9) reflecting repeated penetration of Atlantic cyclones into the Arctic. During the twentieth century, an overall positive glacier mass balance trend at Novaya Zemlya is associated with a positive phase of the NAO, elevated southern Barents Sea SST, and a concomitant increase of winter precipitation. Strong NAOs enhance winter precipitation and (3–5 yr delayed) summer temperatures on Novaya Zemlya and have a variable effect on Novaya Zemlya glaciers.

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Section: Climatology Of Novaya Zemlyamentioning

confidence: 96%

Changes in glacier extent on north Novaya Zemlya in the twentieth century

Zeeberg¹,

Forman

2001

The Holocene

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“…The west coast of Novaya Zemlya, particularly in the summer, may be periodically bathed by relatively warm (>3"C) North Atlantic or North Atlantic derived waters, particularly in water depths of >200 m (Pfirman et al 1994). Hence, the climate of Novaya Zemlya reflects the moderating effects of North Atlantic water with a mean annual temperature on the south island at Malye Karmakuly of -57°C and at the northern tip of the northern island at Cape Zhelanya of -8.7"C, with corresponding average precipitation values of 317 mm to 150 mm (Matzko 1993;Zeeberg 1997). The climate of Novaya Zemlya is similar to that of Spitsbergen, which also lies athwart North Atlantic waters, with a MAT of -4 to -8°C (Hisdal 1985).…”

Section: Northern Novaya Zemlyamentioning

confidence: 99%

Postglacial emergence and Late Quaternary glaciation on northern Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia

Forman

Lubinski

Zeeberg

et al. 1999

Boreas

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Recent observations on postglacial emergence and past glacier extent for one of the least accessible areas in the Arctic, northern Novaya Zemlya are here united. The postglacial marine limit formed 5 to 6 ka is registered on the east and west coasts of the north island at 10 f 1 and 18 f 2 m aht, respectively. This modest and late isostatic response along with deglacial ages of >9.2 ka on adjacent marine cores from the northern Barents Sea indicate either early (>13 ka) deglaciation or modest ice sheet loading (<1500 m thick ice sheet) of Novaya Zemlya. Older and higher (up to 50 m aht) raised beaches were identified beneath a discontinuous glacial drift. Shells from the drift and underlying sublittoral sediments yield minimum limiting I4C ages of 26 to 30 ka on an earlier deglacial event@). The only moraines identified are within 4 km of present glacier margins and reflect at least three neoglacial advances in the past 2.4 ka.

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“…The two major islands in the archipelago are separated by the Matochkin Strait that is at its maximum 3 km wide [Matzko, 1993], and so for all but the smallest scales of atmospheric motion, the two main islands can be considered as one ( Figure 1 and supporting information Figure S1). The archipelago is an extension of the Ural Mountains and has maximum heights in excess of 400 m.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[6] Although a number of authors have referred to these highspeed winds as a bora [Matzko, 1993;Zeeberg, 2002], there has been no systematic study of their structure, the role that Novaya Zemlya plays in their formation, nor their impact on the ocean. In this paper, we will use the recently released Interim Arctic System Reanalysis (ASRI) [Bromwich et al, 2010] to investigate this phenomenon highlighting the commonality with observations of the Yugoslavian Bora [Smith, 1987] as well as idealized studies of stratified flow over topography in the presence of an environmental critical layer [Clark and Peltier, 1984;Bacmeister and Pierrehumbert, 1988].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Novaya Zemlya Bora and its impact on Barents Sea air‐sea interaction

Moore

2013

Geophysical Research Letters

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Novaya Zemlya is a mountainous archipelago in the Eastern Arctic. Weather station data indicates that southeasterly high‐speed winds are frequent, especially during the winter. Although it has been proposed that a bora is responsible for these winds, there has been no quantitative analysis of the flow in the region. Here we present the first high‐resolution climatology of the three‐dimensional wind field near Novaya Zemlya. The high‐speed wind events are shown to share many characteristics with bora as well as models of downslope windstorms. The highest wind speeds occur where Barents Sea dense water is observed to form, and we show that there is a doubling in the turbulent heat transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere during bora. It is argued that the bora plays an important role in the transformation of the Atlantic water that passes by the archipelago en route to the central Arctic Ocean.

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Physical environment of the underground nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya, Russia

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Changes in glacier extent on north Novaya Zemlya in the twentieth century

Changes in glacier extent on north Novaya Zemlya in the twentieth century

Postglacial emergence and Late Quaternary glaciation on northern Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia

The Novaya Zemlya Bora and its impact on Barents Sea air‐sea interaction

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