Alger Island (Russian: Остров Алджер; Ostrov Aldzher) is an island in Franz Josef Land, Russia. Lat 80° 22′ N, long 56° 03′ E.

Alger Island
Russian: Остров Алджер
Alger Island is located in Russia
Alger Island
Alger Island
Location of the Franz Josef Archipelago.
Geography
LocationArctic
Coordinates80°23′N 56°00′E / 80.383°N 56.000°E / 80.383; 56.000
ArchipelagoFranz Josef Archipelago
Length10 km (6 mi)
Width4.7 km (2.92 mi)
Highest elevation429 m (1407 ft)
Highest pointKupol Vostok Pervyy
Administration
Demographics
Population0

Geography edit

The length of Alger Island is 10 km (6.2 mi) and its maximum width 4.7 km (2.9 mi). Its highest point is the 429 m (1,407 ft) high summit of the Kupol Vostok Pervyy (Купол Восток Первый) ice dome that covers part of the island.[1] There are wide unglaciated areas on the northern and the southwestern shores.

Alger Island is located north of McClintock Island, separated from it by a 2 km (1.2 mi) narrow sound.

Off Alger Island's southwestern shores lies Ostrov Matil'dy (Остров Матильды), a very small, barely 1 km (0.62 mi) long, island.

80°23′N 56°00′E / 80.383°N 56.000°E / 80.383; 56.000

History edit

The island was discovered in 1899 by Walter Wellman on board the Capella. He named it after U.S. Secretary of War Russell A. Alger who had donated $250 to Wellman's expedition.[2]

The wintering site of the 1901 failed American Baldwin-Ziegler North Pole Expedition was on Alger Island.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Kupol Vostok Pervyy: Russia
  2. ^ Capelotti, Peter Joseph; Forsberg, Magnus (2015). "The place names of Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa: the Wellman polar expedition, 1898–1899". Polar Record. 51 (261): 624–636. doi:10.1017/S0032247414000801. p. 630
  3. ^ Capelotti, Peter Joseph (2016). The greatest show in the Arctic: the American exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898-1905. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-8061-5222-6.

External links edit