Chukotkan Autonomous Okrug
Physical geography
and
climate
The Chukotkan Autonomous Okrug, since 1993 directly placed under administration of the Russian Federation (i.e. excluded from the Magadan Region), consists of the north-eastern corner of Siberia, or the extreme north of the Russian Far East, including the Chukotka Peninsula. It is bordered by the East Siberian and Chukchi seas to the north and the
Bering Sea
to the west. It is only 80 km across the shallow
Bering Strait
from
Alaska
, or 75 km from St. Lawrence Island (Alaskan). The okrug is bound by the
Sakha
Republic
to the west and by the Koryak Autonomous Okrug and the Magadan Region to the south. Most of the landscape is mountainous and rises to elevations between 1000 and 2000 m. Flat lowland areas occur around the lower and middle parts of the
Anadyr
River
and around Chaunskaya Guba. The arctic
Wrangel Island
is part of the okrug.
Most of the area is barren tundra, except for some spots of forest tundra and taiga in the east (
Kolyma
, Bolsh. and Mal. Anyuy rivers) with larch, and in the south (
Anadyr
Basin
) with cedar scrub vegetation. The okrug has an arctic- to subarctic-maritime climate and is almost entirely situated within the zone of continuous permafrost. The frost-free period is ca. 1-1.5 months in the northern and central areas, but up to over 3 months in the
Anadyr
Basin
and along the eastern coast south of the
Bering
Strait. Winter
ice covers the entire coast (October-June in the north), and the open sea to the north has sea ice during most of the year. Average temperatures are -12° (south-western coast) to -36°C (central eastern interior) in January, and +4° (
Chukotka
Range
, northern coast) to +12° (
Anadyr
Basin
) in July. The minimum temperature measured in
Anadyr
in January is -51°C.
See: http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffpag/chukotka.html