Northwest Russian–Novaya Zemlya Tundra

It covers the southern shores of the White Sea (the Kanin Peninsula), the coast of the Barents Sea east to the Yamal Peninsula, the southern half of Novaya Zemlya, and numerous inlets and islands. The low tundra wetlands are important breeding grounds for waterfowl. The ecoregion is in the Palearctic realm, and the tundra biome. It has an area of 284,122 square kilometres (109,700 sq mi).

Northwest Russian-Novaya Zemlya tundra
Landscape on Kolguyev Island
Ecoregion territory (in purple)
Ecology
Realm	Palearctic
Biome	tundra
Geography
Area	284,122 km2 (109,700 sq mi)
Countries	Russia
Coordinates	68°15′N 57°15′E / 68.25°N 57.25°E / 68.25; 57.25

The ecoregion stretches 1,000 km across the northern coast of Russia. The terrain is mostly lowland tundra, with extensive marshes, lakes and wetlands. At the western end is the Kanin Peninsula, surrounded by the White Sea and with very sparse human habitation. About 100 km east of the Kanin Peninsula, and 100 km north of the coast, is Kolguyev Island. 100 km southeast of Kolguyev is the delta of the Pechora River and the Nenets Nature Reserve. Farther east is the Yugorsky Peninsula, and Yuzhny Island, the southern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The ecoregion ends in the east just short of the Ob River delta.

 

The region has a Humid continental climate - cool summer subtype (Koppen classification Dfc). This climate is characterized by high variation in temperature, both daily and seasonally; with long, cold winters and short, cool summers with no averaging over 22 °C (72 °F). Mean precipitation is about 460 mm/year. The mean temperature at the center of the ecoregion is −20 °C (−4 °F) in January, and 12.9 °C (55.2 °F) in July.

The lowland tundra features extensive inland wetlands and meadows, with characteristic shrub-moss-lichen floral communities. A characteristic of the ecoregion is that the coastal meadows reach far inland.

During the summer, large populations of migratory geese, swans, ducks and other migratory birds inhabit the area for nesting. A population of the vulnerable Lesser white-fronted goose is found on the Kanin Peninsula.

There is one significant nationally protected area in this ecoregion - the Nenets Nature Reserve, which includes the delta of the Pechora River.

• List of ecoregions in Russia