Northbrook Island (Russian: остров Нортбрук) is an island located in the southern edge of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia. Its highest point is 344 m above sea level.
Northbrook Island is one of the most accessible locations in the island group. Thus it often served as a base for polar expeditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
A cape to the north of the island, at 80°55'N, was named Cape Bruce, after British zoologist and oceanographer William Speirs Bruce, a member of the Jackson–Harmsworth expedition.[3] In 1904, coal was mined about 150 metres (492 feet) up the slopes by explorers of the American Ziegler Polar expedition wintering over after their ship sank at Rudolf Island.
For a long time, Northbrook Island was thought to be a single entity. However during an archeological expedition on the icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn in 1985, Ratislav Gaidovskiy found that there was a narrow strait separating it into a large eastern part, and a smaller island, containing Cape Flora, to the west. The existence of this strait was confirmed in 2006 by Stanislav Rumyantsev on the icebreaker Yamal, in 2007 by Børge Ousland and Thomas Ulrich, and in 2012 by the crew of Professor Molchanov and Rossiya. It is assumed that the islands were until recently linked by a tombolo that has since been washed away.[5]
Although various names have been suggested, the land to the west of the discovered strait is now officially called West Northbrook Island (остров Западный Нортбрук), the larger entity to the east is East Northbrook Island (остров Восточный Нортбрук).[6]
Ostrov Robertsona (Остров Робертсона), Robertson Island is a small island lying right off Northbrook Island's eastern shore, close to its easternmost point. This island was named after Scottish Antarctic explorer Captain Thomas Robertson of the 1904 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the South Orkney Islands on ship Scotia.
Ostrov Novyy[citation needed] lies less than 2 km to the SSW of Robertson, closer to the shore. Both islands are less than 1 km in length.
^Capelotti, Peter Joseph; Forsberg, Magnus (2015). "The place names of Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa: Leigh Smith's Eira expeditions, 1880 and 1881–1882". Polar Record. 51 (256): 16–23. doi:10.1017/S0032247413000429. p. 19.
^Alʹbanov, Valerian Ivanovich. (2000). In the land of white death : an epic story of survival in the Siberian Arctic. New York: Modern Library. ISBN0-679-64100-9. OCLC43953944.
^Barr, William (2016). "A new island in Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa [Franz Josef Land]". Polar Record. 52 (264): 372–373. doi:10.1017/S0032247415000807.
Media related to Northbrook Island at Wikimedia Commons
