Severnaya Zemlya

Largely uninhabited archipelago in the Arctic Ocean off north central Siberia, in the Russian Federation. Severnaya Zemlya consists of four large and several small islands separating the Kara Sea from the Laptev Sea, and administratively forms part of Krasnoyarsk krai (territory). Together, the islands cover an area of about 37,000 sq km/14,286 sq mi.

Severnaya Zemlya was located by the Russian Arctic explorer Boris Andreevich Vilkitski in 1913. Several weather and radar stations have been established here since 1930. Around half the total area of the islands is covered with a layer of permanent ice, which at points rises to a height of 965 m/3,166 ft. Vilkitski Strait, between Severnaya Zemlya and Cape Chelyuskin on the mainland, has the worst ice conditions of any part of the Northeast Passage.