The world\u2019s largest country could become a little bigger as glaciers retreat<\/p>\n
Two of Russia\u2019s Arctic archipelagos could grow larger as retreating glaciers reveal previously unknown islands, a researcher has said.
\nNovaya Zemlya, northeast of the Russian coastal city of Arkhangelsk, and Franz Josef Land, some 350 km further north, are of particular interest to hydrographers because new land features could emerge there, Andrey Leonov told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
\n\u201cI would say those are the places where we expect new islands to be \u2018born.\u2019 Though there is no 100% certainty for such a forecast,\u201d said Leonov, who heads Arctic studies at St. Petersburg\u2019s Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping.
\nThe Arctic is becoming increasingly accessible as the climate changes, and Moscow sees the region as important to Russia\u2019s future economic development. Maritime routes along the country\u2019s northern coast are expected to gain strategic importance as traditional alternatives become more vulnerable to disruption.
\nRussia is expanding its icebreaker fleet, already the world\u2019s largest, to improve navigation along the Northern Sea Route and extend the shipping season.<\/p>\n
In the longer term, Arctic mineral extraction is expected to become more commercially viable, while Moscow continues efforts to establish the extent of its territorial claims in the region.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Lavrov outlines Arctic \u2018challenges and opportunities\u2019 (FULL ARTICLE)<\/p>\n
The Arctic also has military significance. Russia has sought to protect its economic interests there, while the region lies along potential flight paths for US and Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles in the event of a nuclear conflict.
\nNew islands have been discovered in Russia\u2019s Arctic before, although any land emerging near Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land would have little impact on the overall extent of Russia\u2019s territorial gains.
\nLeonov cautioned that newly discovered geographic features may not remain islands permanently.
\n\u201cWe had a case when a new island formed when the glacier front retreated. But just a few years later a sand connection rose between it and the mainland, so the island turned into a peninsula,\u201d he explained.
\nAnother feature in Franz Josef Land, known as Mesyatsev Cape in the 1990s and later renamed Mesyatsev Island, disappeared completely in 2024. The formation was actually a mass of ice that eventually melted away, Leonov said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The world\u2019s largest country could become a little bigger as glaciers retreat Two of Russia\u2019s Arctic archipelagos could grow larger as retreating glaciers reveal previously unknown islands, a researcher has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t