Khatanga (village)
The name Khatanga means "large water" in the local Evenki language. The locality is known to have existed since the 17th century. It is served by the Khatanga Airport.
Khatanga is relatively close to the Popigai impact structure, an asteroid impact structure and geological formation located in northern Siberia. The crater has been noted since September 2012 as a potential source of a significant new global supply of industrial diamonds.
Economy
Tourism
Khatanga is sometimes visited by Western sightseers touring the surrounding natural wilderness in Siberia. It has a hotel, a natural history museum, and weather reporting stations.
In 2019, mayor Yevgeny Vershinin announced plans to develop the locality to act as a hub for travelers on their way to the North Pole, hoping to compete with Longyearbyen, a Norwegian town on the island of Svalbard, for Arctic tourists. The locality has been used as a pit stop for northern expeditions in the past, with helicopters coming from Krasnoyarsk occasionally stopping there on their way to the North Pole.
The Khatanga airport is one of the largest and most operable in the Russian Arctic, with the main runway receiving renovations in 2009. However, the rest of the airport, especially the terminal, is in extremely poor condition.
Port
The locality is home to the ZAO Sea Commercial Port of Khatanga which accepts various Arctic cargo shipments. While the port only operates from June until September, it has five mooring berths capable of admitting vessels with draughts up to 4.6 metres (5.0 yd). Two of the berths service the port fleet, two receive general cargo, and one is reserved for oil products. Goods such as refrigerated cargo, timber, and bulk shipments of coal, sand, gravel, and oil are processed at the port.
Climate
Khatanga has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc).
Winters are bitterly cold, although they are not so extremely frosty as in more southern inner Siberia places, due to light milding influence of the Arctic Ocean.
Summer temperatures in Khatanga are mild with annual average temperature 12.7 °C (54.9 °F) in July. At the same time summer temperature maximumes are pretty high for its latitude (72 °N) and may reach 36.7 °C (98 °F) in July. Khatanga is the northernmost town in the world that sits below the treeline as summers are warm enough for trees growing. The only trees that can grow here is the Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Rupr.))..
Precipitation is quite low, but is somewhat heavier in summer, when it falls mostly as rain, than in the rest of the year, when it falls mostly as snow.
| Climate data for Khatanga | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | −1.6 (29.1) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
3.8 (38.8) |
8.8 (47.8) |
25.4 (77.7) |
33.1 (91.6) |
36.7 (98.1) |
29.9 (85.8) |
24.2 (75.6) |
12.5 (54.5) |
2.3 (36.1) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
36.7 (98.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −27.1 (−16.8) |
−27.4 (−17.3) |
−19.8 (−3.6) |
−9.9 (14.2) |
−1.1 (30.0) |
11.6 (52.9) |
17.3 (63.1) |
14.1 (57.4) |
5.4 (41.7) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−19.8 (−3.6) |
−25.4 (−13.7) |
−7.5 (18.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −30.9 (−23.6) |
−31.3 (−24.3) |
−24.7 (−12.5) |
−15.5 (4.1) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
7.2 (45.0) |
12.7 (54.9) |
9.8 (49.6) |
2.4 (36.3) |
−10.9 (12.4) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
−29.3 (−20.7) |
−11.6 (11.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −34.7 (−30.5) |
−34.9 (−30.8) |
−29.1 (−20.4) |
−20.5 (−4.9) |
−8.7 (16.3) |
3.9 (39.0) |
9.0 (48.2) |
6.3 (43.3) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
−14.1 (6.6) |
−27.2 (−17.0) |
−32.9 (−27.2) |
−15.3 (4.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −59 (−74) |
−55.9 (−68.6) |
−52.4 (−62.3) |
−42.9 (−45.2) |
−30.9 (−23.6) |
−14.3 (6.3) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
−18.6 (−1.5) |
−39.9 (−39.8) |
−51 (−60) |
−58.7 (−73.7) |
−59 (−74) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 17 (0.7) |
13 (0.5) |
13 (0.5) |
13 (0.5) |
16 (0.6) |
28 (1.1) |
43 (1.7) |
42 (1.7) |
32 (1.3) |
28 (1.1) |
22 (0.9) |
16 (0.6) |
283 (11.2) |
| Average rainy days | 0.03 | 0 | 0.03 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 76.26 |
| Average snowy days | 21 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 26 | 24 | 22 | 200 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 77 | 78 | 78 | 78 | 79 | 73 | 70 | 78 | 83 | 84 | 81 | 77 | 78 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 0 | 23 | 151 | 267 | 264 | 262 | 308 | 195 | 88 | 43 | 3 | 0 | 1,604 |
| Source 1: weatheronline.co.uk | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA (sun only, 1961-1990) | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 1,037 | — |
| 1959 | 1,979 | +90.8% |
| 1970 | 3,833 | +93.7% |
| 1979 | 4,868 | +27.0% |
| 1989 | 6,385 | +31.2% |
| 2002 | 3,450 | −46.0% |
| 2010 | 2,645 | −23.3% |
| Source: Census data | ||
References
- ^ "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
- ^ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
- ^ Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian).
- ^ Staalesen, Atle (July 23, 2019). "Russian Arctic town explores new way to North Pole". The Barents Observer. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
- ^ "Russian Arctic Ports: Khatanga". ARCTIS. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
- ^ "weatheronline.co.uk". Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- ^ "Hatanga Climate Normals 1961-1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved February 27, 2016.