For other islands and geographic features called "Vilkitsky" see Vilkitsky (disambiguation).

Vilkitsky Island, (Russian: Остров Вильки́цкого; Ostrov Vil'kitskogo) is an island in the Kara Sea

Kara Sea

The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....

. It is located 40 km northeast of Shokalskogo Island, off the tip of the Gydan Peninsula

Gydan Peninsula

The Gydan Peninsula is a geographical feature of the Siberian coast in the Kara Sea. It is roughly 500 km long and 260 km wide. This wide peninsula lies between the estuaries of the Ob and Yenisei Rivers , which are two of the most important rivers of Russia and the world...

 in North Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

. This island is bleak and windswept and is covered with tundra. Vilkitsky Island is crescent-shaped and it is divided in two by a narrow sound in its midst. It is 42 km in length but only 12 km wide at its broadest zone.

The sea surrounding this island is covered with pack ice in the winter and there are numerous ice floes even in the summer. There is a large shallow area between Vilkitsky Island and its southern neighbor, Neupokoyeva Island (Остров Неупокоева).

Vilkitsky Island belongs to the Tyumen Oblast

Tyumen Oblast

Tyumen Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tyumen. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous okrugs—Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Tyumen is the largest city, with over half a million inhabitants...

 administrative division of the Russian Federation. It is also part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve

Great Arctic State Nature Reserve

The Great Arctic State Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia...

, the largest nature reserve of Russia .

Island is named after Russian hydrographer Boris Vilkitsky

Boris Vilkitsky

Boris Andreyevich Vilkitsky was a Russian hydrographer and surveyor. He was the son of Andrey Ippolitovich Vilkitsky....

's father Andrey Vilkitsky.

This island is not to be confused with other islands called "Vilkitsky", like the small Vilkitsky group (now mentioned as Dzhekman Islands in most maps) which is part of the Nordenskjold Archipelago, the Vilkitsky Islands located in the Laptev sea

Laptev Sea

The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy...

 off the eastern shores of the Taymyr Peninsula

Taymyr Peninsula

The Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of mainland Eurasia and Asia...

, and also Vilkitsky Island in the De Long Group

Vilkitskogo Island

Vilkitsky Island is the southernmost island of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. At barely 1.5 km sq it is the smallest island of the group. Highest elevetion is 70 meters. It is also outside of the limits of permanent ice and is unglaciated...

 in the Eastern Siberian Sea.

The Vilkitsky Islands in the Laptev sea are named after Russian hydrographer Boris Vilkitsky

Boris Vilkitsky

Boris Andreyevich Vilkitsky was a Russian hydrographer and surveyor. He was the son of Andrey Ippolitovich Vilkitsky....

.

See also

• Kara Sea
  Kara Sea
  The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....