What are the cities with arctic climate
What are the cities with arctic climate
What is life like in the world’s only city built on the Arctic Circle?
A monument to a mammoth called Mitya (Russian pet name for Dmitry).
Locals say that the best thing about Salekhard are its people and landscapes. Built on an endless expanse of tundra, it is one of the few cities in Russia’s Far North where, despite the harsh climate, the population grows every year. We asked residents of Salekhard why they like it here so much.
‘The only minus here is on the thermometer’
Andrey Syrovatsky is a PR manager for a local energy company. He moved to Salekhard in 2016 from the Krasnodar Territory, which is Russia’s warmest region. “I have relatives here, I had been to Yamal many times and knew where I was going,” Andrey says. “Here I have ideal work conditions and pay.”
Salekhard from above.
Salekhard is the administrative center of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the third largest city in the region. The largest cities are Novy Urengoy and Noyabrsk, both of which have a population over 100,000 people. Most of their residents work in the oil and gas sector (about 80 percent of Russia’s gas is produced in Yamal), while in Salekhard, with a population of around 50,000 people, residents are employed in reindeer herding (about 10 percent of locals come from indigenous peoples: Nenets, Khanty, Komi-Zyryans), fishing and the services sector. At the same time, Salekhard traditionally ranks among Russia’s top cities for high wages and salaries thanks to additional bonuses for climate and remoteness (in October 2020, it was in the third place after Moscow and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk). In addition, people living here are entitled to certain special benefits, such as early retirement, a relocation allowance and an annual leave allowance of 55 instead of the standard 28 days.
“Everything in Salekhard is developing fast, social support is good,” Andrey says. “I’ve noticed that young people leave to get a university degree but come back and, moreover, bring other people with them.”
The modern copy of the old Obdorsk fortress is the main attraction in Salekhard.
Although a settlement called the Obdorsk fortress first appeared here in the 16th century, Salekhard itself was built during Soviet times. The construction process took into account the northern climate, and so the buildings here are erected on stilts to preserve the permafrost. Furthermore, there are hardly any drab gray facades here since the architects used bright colors to compensate for the lack of sunlight and vegetation. In recent years, Salekhard has been visited by young artists who come to decorate its buildings with striking murals depicting icebreakers, foxes and reindeer. There are even pine trees growing in the city. They were planted in the 1960s by young specialists who came here to develop the Far North, and the trees have managed to take root in the tundra, which does not happen often.
Graffiti on the walls.
One of locals’ favorite places in the city is a 10-meter monument to a mammoth that was built on the banks of the Ob in 2004. Mitya, as it is popularly known here, is rarely seen “naked” since locals invent interesting new decorations for it for every holiday. For the FIFA World Cup, it wore a football scarf, and it is presently donning a protective mask. For the New Year, Mitya is usually dressed as Grandfather Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus.
Mitya the mammoth wearing Santa’s coat.
“In fact, the only minus for people here is the minus on the thermometer, as not everyone can withstand such temperatures. But I like this climate,” Andrey says. “The south, with its heat and humidity, didn’t quite agree with me, whereas here the temperature has been minus 40 for a month now, so when it rises to minus 25, it will no longer feel so cold.”
Winters are indeed harsh here, with temperatures ranging from minus 30 to minus 50, and dense fogs. Furthermore, frosts can last from autumn to spring, ending only by the end of May. Snow often remains on the road well into June, although some residents believe that it used to be even colder in the past.
Snowfall in May.
“Now the city is getting prettier every year, the climate has changed, even winters have become milder. Besides, when there is no wind, with temperatures not lower than minus 50 it does not feel that cold really,” says Nadezhda Terentyeva. She was born in a family of reindeer herders in the neighboring town of Labytnangi and has been living in Salekhard since 1984. Nadezhda says she finds it much harder to cope with summer heat in the city.
Warm evening in the city.
‘The cold was here long before people’
Salekhard is the only city in the world that lies right on the Arctic Circle at a latitude of 66 degrees 33 minutes 39 seconds north. This is commemorated by a monument sign called the 66th Parallel.
The 66th Parallel monument.
This means that the city has a polar day when the sun does not go beyond the horizon (this lasts for all of June) as well as polar twilight (when the sun seems to appear over the horizon but it is still dark).
“I had read a lot about it before moving here, but it was all wrong,” says Maria Fedchenkova. “For the first two months, I felt sleepy all the time.» Maria is a neonatal intensivist who works treating newborn babies. She first arrived in the Far North at the end of 2019 when, after a hectic job in a busy hospital in Kaluga (in central Russia), she was looking for a quieter place to live. And Salekhard is definitely that. She was not deterred by the frosts and found that good thermal underwear and felt boots, the warmest footwear there is, really help.
A contest of icy art in Salekhard.
Maria says the hardest things to get used to were the polar day and the polar night. But her work schedule helped with this since her hospital shifts can sometimes last 36 hours. “It no longer mattered really what part of day or night it was outside,” Maria says.
Crossing frozen Ob river.
Another problem she had to face was the price of food. “Tomatoes at 500 rubles [$6.5] may be slightly frozen or have a plastic taste,” Maria says. Prices here are three times higher than in central Russia, mainly because the city is so remote and located far from other towns or federal highways. There is only an airport in the city, and the nearest railway station is on the other bank of the Ob River in the town of Labytnangi. In summer it can be reached by ferry and over the ice in winter since, due to the difficult river bed, a bridge has not been built here yet. At the end of 2020, a year-round 344 km long road to the city of Nadym was opened, and Salekhard got its first supermarket from one of the big chains.
A deer on the road.
To reach patients based beyond Salekhard, including nomads in the tundra, Maria is flown by an air ambulance. “The cold was here long before people,” she says. “I wanted to learn the skills of surviving in harsh conditions, to find wisdom and become stronger. I like what I am experiencing in this place.”
Tourism beyond the Arctic Circle
A spirit of adventure inspired by the Far North attracts many tourists each year. In 2019, when travel was still possible, out of 200,000 visitors to the region almost 9,000 were foreigners. Many people come here especially for the main local holiday, the Day of the Reindeer Herder. After all, Yamal is not just Russia’s main oil and gas producing region but also the center of reindeer husbandry. Residents of Yamal say there are more reindeer than people here, and this is true. There are more than 700,000 reindeer and just 550,000 people.
The Day of the Reindeer Herder.
Every spring, nomads come to Salekhard on beautifully decorated reindeer sleds and entertain tourists. The day is filled with competitions for traditional indigenous sports. Traditional dishes such as stroganina and venison are served, and everyone can take a ride in a reindeer sled or on a snowmobile. Tourists can even accompany nomads to the tundra to stay in a reindeer skin tent and try on the life of a reindeer herder.
If you get lucky, you can see rare natural phenomena without even leaving Salekhard. For example, you can sometimes see the northern lights or halo, when three suns appear in the sky at the same time.
Many tourists come to see the remains of the unfinished Transpolar Highway project (Project 501). It was built by prisoners from a labor camp that was located outside Salekhard in 1949-1954.
If using any of Russia Beyond’s content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.
Задание 1. Переведите предложения с русского языка на английский
1. Общая площадь Российской Федерации составляет более 17 миллионов километров.
2. В мире нет стран с такой разнообразной флорой и фауной.
3. Озеро Байкал — самое глубокое озеро на земном шаре.
4. На территории Российской Федерации 11 часовых поясов.
5. Россия является конституционной республикой, с президентом во главе.
6. Законодательная власть принадлежит Федеральному Собранию, состоящему из двух палат.
7. Президент контролирует только исполнительную ветвь власти.
Задание 2. Викторина «Как хорошо ты знаешь Родину?»
Ответьте на вопросы
— the biggest lake on the territory of Russia?
— the longest Russian river (in European and Asian parts of the Russian Federation)?
— a city with subtropical climate?
— cities with arctic climate?
— old historical cities?
— places of recreation and tourism?
ОБУЧАЮЩИЙ МОДУЛЬ 9.2
The United States of America
Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст
Topical Vocabulary. total area общая площадь
total area общая площадь
to occupy занимать
to stretch from…to… протянуться от…до…
to be bordered by граничить с
to comprise smth. включать что-либо
to vary from…to… варьировать от…до…
a barren desert бесплодная пустыня
a high peaked mountain горная вершина
a deep valley глубокая долина
to be located быть расположенным
a plain равнина
a mountain chain горная цепь
to separate Europe from Asia отделять Европу от Азии
to flow into впадать в
the current population население на данный период
| vast mineral resources | богатые запасы полезных ископаемых |
to include oil and natural gas включать нефть и природный газ
a non-ferrous metal цветной металл
mineral wealth запасы полезных ископаемых
a constitutional republic конституционная республика
a branch власть (как часть правительства)
Task 1.Answer the following questions:
1. What territory does Russia occupy?
2. What countries is it bordered by?
3. What are the major plains, mountain chains and rivers of Russia?
4. How can you characterize Russia’s climate?
5. What mineral resources does Russia possess?
6. What industries are developed in Russia?
7. What is the political system of Russia?
Task 2.Translate into English:
1. Россия – самая большая страна в мире с общей площадью около 17 млн. кв. км, расположена в Восточной Европе и северной части Азии.
2. Обширная территория России омывается Северным Ледовитым, Атлантическим и Тихим океанами.
3. Россия граничит с Норвегией, Финляндией, Монголией, Китаем и бывшими (former) республиками СССР.
4. Волга, самая главная река России, впадает в Каспийское море.
5. Среди крупнейших горных цепей России – Урал, отделяющий Европу от Азии.
6. Озеро Байкал – самое глубокое озеро на земном шаре, находится в Российской федерации.
7. Россия располагает большим количеством месторождений полезных ископаемых.
8. Полезные ископаемые России включают (include) нефть, природный газ, уголь, железо, золото и цветные металлы.
Task3. Do you know?
— old historical cities?
— the biggest Russian lake?
— the longest Russian river (in European and Asian parts of the RF)?
Breaking the Ice: Cities
Breaking the Ice: Cities
Temperatures are reaching an all-time high in the Arctic Circle, but what does this mean for those who call it home?
This week, we’ll be focussing on Arctic cities, featuring a conversation with David Chapman and Agneta Larson of Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, whose research areas centre around architecture and physiotherapy, respectively. Featuring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) we’ll be discussing the influence climate change is set to have, and is already having, on Arctic inhabitants with reference to SDGs 11, 3, 13, & 17 (Sustainable Cities & Communities; Good Health & Wellbeing; Climate Action; Partnership for the Goals).
To freeze, or not to freeze…
Increasing atmospheric temperatures have a multitude of consequences, especially in Arctic environments where this effect is amplified. Here, the atmosphere has warmed at twice the rate in comparison to global trends. To put this into context, an average increase of two degrees is often used as a milestone in reports and presents itself a line humanity should be unwilling to cross, but this is already the reality in the Arctic.
In Abisko, our neighbouring Lake Torneträsk has seen a gradual decline in the number of days per year that it is covered in ice (see below)– something echoed throughout the Arctic, with the depletion of sea ice. Atmospheric temperatures also have an influence on the type of precipitation that reaches the ground, with cooler temperatures leading to snowfall, and warmer favouring rainfall.
But why are these factors so important?
3 – Good Health and Wellbeing
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting the High Northern latitudes, you may know that they experience what are known as polar days (24 hours of sunlight) and polar nights (24 hours without sunlight) occurring in summer and winter months, respectively. Both David and Agneta are based in northern Sweden, where David explains “The bit they [inhabitants] don’t like about winter is the very dark winter that happens before the snow comes”, due to the almost perpetual darkness people find themselves in.
Image of Porsön, Luleå both with (right) and without (left) snow cover. Notice the contrasting luminance levels. Credit: David Chapman
During these times of darkness, David highlights the fact that most of the ambient lighting within a community comes from snow, reflecting over 90% of light. With this factor, star- and moon- light are able to illuminate the landscape on clear nights, which “makes outdoor activities enjoyable and safe” Agneta adds. This is in great contrast to asphalt and building materials, which rather absorb most light and lead to dimmer surroundings.
With higher temperatures meaning less snowfall (and more rain…) communities are plunged further into darkness, negatively affecting mental and physical wellbeing. Agneta explains that “with darkness, people generally stay indoors and there are less opportunities to socialise” reducing mobility and affecting circadian rhythms, capacity, and vitality. This potentially worsening the risks of depression, which Arctic communities are particularly susceptible to in winter months.
13 – Climate Action
Urban lifestyles are not the only ones at risk, as the Arctic population consists of approximately 9% of indigenous inhabitants. Tradition is a vital part of Arctic living, where knowledge is passed down through generations. However, changing climates bring changing conditions, as a consequence, prior familiarity with the landscape and seasonal conditions are no longer as dependable.
“They [inhabitants] can’t really use their knowledge about how strong the ice is in March because the ice becomes weaker when it doesn’t freeze in the same way it did ten years ago” Agneta remarks, detailing how this will lead to unknowingly riskier outdoor activities. This concern has been realised by Canada’s southernmost Inuit community in Rigolet, where increasing numbers of indigenous people are having to rely on store bought food because it’s both easier and safer.
Thermal imaging of Skellefteå (left) and Gammelstad Church Town (right) showing surface temperature differences in winter cities. Credit: David Chapman
11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
Sweden is a country famed for its sustainable development practice, but even in rebuilding Kiruna, a town north of the Arctic circle, the majority of concepts used are “dated” and developed with traditional design approaches in mind. This brings up concerns as to whether the best-known practice is actually the best practice in areas vulnerable to the implications of climate change.
The Northernmost town in Sweden, Kiruna, set to be relocated as a consequence of the mining industry. Credit: Elisa Ferrari
17 – Partnership for the Goals
The evolution of a city is complex and involves a continuous, sometimes arduous route to success, and its journey is never complete as it expands and develops. With multiple stakeholder interests to consider and substantial investments required, the process also needs to be made as flexible as possible to enable adaptation in an ever changing world. Research can help to understand how to go about the process best, but ultimately “it’s not just about creating research, it’s also about how it’s governed throughout the entire process” David remarks. This highlights the importance of cooperation required to mitigate and adapt to climate change between government, society, and private sectors.
Overall
There are an estimated 4 million people who currently call the Arctic their home, but with climate change, that figure is at risk. Areas are having to be relocated over thawing permafrost, traditional ways of life are seizing, and mental and physical wellbeing is being tested. Adapting to climate change is already the norm in these Arctic regions, and its success is fundamental to a resident’s way of life, but without perfect foresight the only certain thing about their present, and our future – is the uncertainty climate change brings.
Exercise № 2. How well do you know your Homeland?
What is (are):
• the biggest Russian lake?
• the longest Russian river (in European and Asian parts of the Russian Federation)?
• a city with subtropical climate?
• cities with arctic climate?
• old historical cities?
• places of recreation and tourism?
Text B: “Moscow”
Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia. It is also the capital of Moscow Oblast, and it stands on the Moskva River. Moscow is the economic, political and cultural centre of Russia. Railways and numerous airlines link the city with all parts of Russia. Navigable waterways, including the Moscow Canal, Moskva River, and Volga-Don Canal, make the port areas of the city directly accessible to shipping from the Baltic, White, Black, and Caspian seas and the Sea of Azov.
Moscow covers an area of about 880 sq.km. Concentric boulevards divide the city into several sections. At the centre of the concentric circles (and semicircles) are the Kremlin, the former governmental seat of Russia, and adjacent Red Square, which form the centre of a radial street pattern. Moscow has a modern underground system famous for its marble-walled stations.
Situated on the north bank of the Moskva River, the Kremlin is the dominant landmark of Moscow. A stone wall, up to 21 m in height and 19 towers, surrounds this triangular complex of former palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of tsarist times, some of them dating from the Middle Ages. The Great Kremlin Palace, completed in 1849, is the most imposing structure within the Kremlin. Other notable Kremlin palaces are the Granovitaya Palace (1491) and the Terem (1636).
Among many cathedrals, now used mainly as museums, are the Cathedral of the Assumption (Успения) and the Archangel Cathedral, each with five gilded domes, and the Cathedral of the Annunciation (Благовещения) (13th-14th century), with nine gilded domes. Another landmark of the Kremlin is the Tower of Ivan the Great, a bell tower 98 m high. On a nearby pedestal is the Tsar’s Bell (nearly 200 tons), one of the largest in the world. A recent addition to the Kremlin is the Palace of Congresses, completed in 1961. In this huge modern building were held meetings of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and congresses of the Communist party of the Soviet Union; theatrical and other artistic performances have been held here as well.
St Basil’s Cathedral, famous for its unique architecture and coloured domes, stands on the Red Square.
One of the best-known sections of Moscow is the Kitaigorod (Chinese City), the ancient commercial quarter lying to the east of the Kremlin. This section is now the site of many government office buildings. Other points of interest in Moscow include the Central Lenin Stadium, comprising about 130 buildings for various sports and the tall Ostankino TV tower, which contains a revolving restaurant and an observation platform.
General understanding:
1. Where is Moscow located?
2. Is Moscow a port city?
3. How is Moscow divided into sections?
4. What is known about Moscow Underground system?
5. What are the places of interest in Moscow?
6. Why is the Kremlin the most important place of interest for tourists?
7. What Russian Orthodox cathedrals are situated inside the Kremlin?
8. What is Palace of Congresses used for at present time?