Researchers at the Russian Arctic National Park have discovered that a peninsula located in the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago had melted and completely disappeared, the park reported on Friday
MURMANSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2021) Researchers at the Russian Arctic National Park have discovered that a peninsula located in the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago had melted and completely disappeared, the park reported on Friday.
The park employees discovered a two-mile-wide strait that was formed in the middle of the Cape Mesyatsev on the Eva-Liv Island during surveillance of the area.
"Based on the observations, we concluded that the cape was a glacier, the remaining part of it is now a piece of a glacier that stands on a sandbank. The discovery requires the attention of the hydrographic management and prompts changes in the sailing directions," Alexander Kirilov, the director of the national park, said in a statement.
The existing maps of the island were compiled over 50 years ago and are now outdated, he noted.
The Eva-Liv Island was discovered in 1894 by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who assumed there were two separate islands that he named in honor of his wife and daughter, Eve and Liv.
"Now it turns out that the island's area is decreasing every year, and its future shape is unknown," Kirilov added.
The outlines of the glaciers of Franz Josef Land are rapidly changing due to climate change. The melting of the glacier took more than one year, with the first reports that the peninsula with Cape Mesyatsev separated from the island appearing in 2017, according to the national park said. The information was confirmed earlier this year after quadrocopter filming.
