Kamchatka Region and Koryak Autonomous Okrug

	Physical geography and climate
	Population, economic development and infrastructure
	Indigenous land use and dependence on the environment
	Environmental threats
	Map (1997)
	Article collection

Physical geography and climate

The Kamchatka Peninsula is part of the volcanic arc system of the western Pacific margin. It reaches from the latitude of 62° to 51° N, over a distance of 1500 km. Administratively, it forms the Kamchatka Region, the northern half of which is the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. It is bound by the Chukotkan Aut. Okrug in the north and by the Magadan Region in the north-west. Most of the landscape is mountainous and rises to elevations between 1000 and 2000 m in the north, and between 2000 and 4000 m in the south. Active volcanoes occur from the narrow part of the peninsula at Kalaga to its southern tip, most of them along the eastern side. The highest mountain, the volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka, rises to 4750 m. Flat lowland areas are restricted to broad river valleys around the Penzhinsk Bay, the Kamchatka Valley in central southern Kamchatka, and some coastal areas, especially along the western side to the south of the village Kovran. The Komandorskiye ( Commander) Islands , the eastern end of the Aleutian Island Arc, form part of the region. Administratively, they are the national-territorial district of the Aleut people.

The northern part of the area is barren tundra and high mountain vegetation, alternating with forest tundra (mostly with cedar scrub vegetation) in the lowlands. Open birch forests and other leafed forests cover the hillsides of the southern part of the peninsula, while larch taiga occurs in the Kamchatka Valley and its tributary river valleys. The lowlands of the western coastal area are swampy grasslands. The Commander Islands are barren tundra. The okrug has an subarctic to moderate maritime climate. Except for the southern coastal areas, the peninsula lies within the zone of temporary permafrost. The frost-free period is ca. two months in the mountains, but up to 4 months along the south-eastern coast and on the Commander Islands . Winter ice may occur along most of the coast, and especially covers the Sea of Okhotsk . Average temperatures are between -4° (south-eastern coast) and -24°C (interior highlands) in January, and +8° to +12° in July. The minimum temperature measured in Petropavlovsk in January is -34°C.