Heiss Island is an island in Franz Josef Land

Franz Josef Land

Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.
It is located in the central area of the archipelago, north of Hall Island

Gallya

Hall Island is an island in Franz Josef Land, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.Hall Island is almost completely glacierized...

, between Champ Island

Champ Island

Champ Island is an island in the central area of Franz Josef Land, Russia.Champ Island has a surface of and there is a wide unglacierized zone in the southwest of the island. The highest point of the island is ....

 and Wilczek Land

Wilczek Land

Wilczek Land , is a large-sized island located at . It is a part of Franz Josef Land, Russia.Wilczek Land is the second largest island of the Franz Josef Archipelago. It is almost completely glaciarized except for two narrow areas along its western shores. The highest point on the island is 606...

. Its area is 132 km².

Heiss island is almost unglacierized, having only a small ice-cap off its centre by its northern shore. Highest point 242 m.

The strait to the south of Heiss Island is known as Proliv Markama, which narrows down to only 5 km at this point.
On the east lies a strait known as Proliv Austrisky, beyond which lie the smaller Komsomol Islands. 7 km wide Proliv Yermak in the north, separates Heiss Island from the Zichy Land

Zichy Land

Zichy Land is a geographical subgroup of Franz Josef Land, Russian Federation.It is formed by the central cluster of large islands in the midst of the archipelago...

 subgroup of the Franz Josef Archipelago.

The cape on the southwestern shore of Heiss island is called Mys Ostantsovyy.

History

Kheysa

Kheysa

Ernst Krenkel Observatory was a former Soviet rocket launching site located on Heiss Island, Franz Josef Land. It is named after a famous Arctic explorer Ernst Krenkel, a member of the crew of the North Pole-1 drift ice station and other notable Soviet polar expeditions.It served the MR-12 from...

, a now abandoned Soviet rocket launch

Rocket launch

A rocket launch is the takeoff phase of the flight of a rocket. Launches for orbital spaceflights, or launches into interplanetary space, are usually from a fixed location on the ground, but may also be from a floating platform such as the San Marco platform, or the Sea Launch launch...

ing site, was located on this island.

Now Heiss Island is home to the Krenkel hydrometeorological station (80°37′ N, 58°03′ E).

This island (including the Komsomol Islands) was originally named after veteran Arctic explorer Isaac Hayes

Isaac Israel Hayes

Isaac Israel Hayes was an Arctic explorer and physician.Hayes was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania. After completing his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Hayes signed on as ship's surgeon for an 1853-5 expedition led by Elisha Kent Kane to search for John Franklin...

, who undertook a historical Polar expedition in 1850. The island's name in English should have been Hayes Island, but German cartographers Germanized its name after transliterating from the Russian and the corrupted name "Heiss" (meaning "hot" in German) has stuck.

Adjacent islands

• 7 km to the east of Heiss Island's eastern shore lie the Komsomol Islands (Острова Комсомольские; Ostrova Komsomolskiye). They consist of a 7 km-long triangular island and two very small islets off its northern cape. This island group was named after the Soviet time Komsomol
  Komsomol
  The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
  
  s.

• There is a 1.2 km long islet located off a small bay west of Heiss Island's northeastern cape.

External links

• Location: http://worldmaps.web.infoseek.co.jp/russia_guide.htm & Kheysa
• Pictures of Heiss Island: http://www.sevmeteo.ru/foto/15/
• Polar Marine Geosurveys: http://www.pmge.ru/modules.php?name=Contenteng&pa=showpage&pid=3
• Ages and types of rocks in Hole Heiss-1 drilled in Heiss Island: -