The Firnley Islands are covering the entrance to the
Vilkitsky Strait from the west. They are all relatively small islands,
Dlinnyy, the largest of the group, is only about 5 km in length. The sea surrounding the islands is covered with fast ice in the winter, which is long and bitter, and the climate is exceptionally severe. The surrounding sea is obstructed by pack ice even in the summer, so that these islands are connected with the mainland for most of the year. This island group belongs to the
Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the
Russian Federation. It is also part of the
Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve of Russia. The Firnley Islands were named by
Fridtjof Nansen after
Thomas Fearnley?, a
Norwegian merchant who was one of the main financiers of the
Fram expedition.
Adjacent islands Although located relatively close by, the following islands are usually not considered part of the Firnley group: •
Moristy Island is a round isolated island located 20 km north of the Firnley group. Moristy is 600 m across. •
Lishny Island lies 35 km further SSE of Yuzhnyy Firnleya, north of
Toll Bay and 16 km from
Cape Sterligov on the coast. Lishniy is 1.3 km long and 650 m wide and is location of a missing nuclear generator. •
Levinson-Lessing Island (Ostrov Levinsona-Lessinga) is located close to the shore, 23 km to the NE of Lishniy. This 7 km long island was named after prominent Russian geologist
Feodor Yulievich Levinson-Lessing. ==See also==