The polar night fell in the northernmost region of Russia – on Rudolf Island, Franz Josef Land archipelago. Here, the solar disk will not rise above the horizon for 133 days. Few inhabitants of high latitudes spend winter in these places during such a harsh period. Polar bears and arctic foxes are sedentary or move where they can find food. Lemmings do not crawl out from under the snow at all. However, even in such conditions, the work of a year-round station of Russian Arctic National Park will continue.
The research outpost is located on the island of Alexandra Land at a latitude of 80 degrees. Every year, two to five employees of the specially protected natural area spend the winter here.
“The polar night implies certain everyday difficulties: you have to constantly use lighting, cook more high-calorie food, and it becomes more difficult to do work outside. However, the staff of the national park find positive moments in this time, for example, the opportunity to see the auroras stretching across the entire sky or observe the more distant galaxies for several months," said the director of Russian Arctic Alexander Kirilov.
The polar night – a consequence of the Earth's axial tilt of 23 ° 26 ′ – is observed at latitudes above 67 ° 24 ′. In Russia, 23 cities fall into this zone: Apatity (67 ° 34 ′), Bilibino (68 ° 03 ′), Verkhoyansk (67 ° 33 ′), Vorkuta (67 ° 30 ′), Gadzhievo (69 ° 15 ′), Dudinka (69 ° 24 ′), Zaozersk (69 ° 24 ′), Zapolyarny (69 ° 25 ′), Igarka (67 ° 28 ′), Kirovsk (67 ° 37 ′), Kovdor (67 ° 34 ′), Kola (68 ° 53 ′), Monchegorsk (67 ° 56 ′), Murmansk (68 ° 58 ′), Naryan-Mar (67 ° 38 ′), Norilsk (69 ° 21 ′), Olenegorsk (68 ° 09 ′), Ostrovnoy (68 ° 03 ′), Pevek (69 ° 42 ′), Polyarny (69 ° 12 ′), Severomorsk (69 ° 04 ′), Snezhnogorsk (69 ° 12 ′), Srednekolymsk (67 ° 27 ′). Norway has only six cities; Sweden and the United States, one each.
"And yet a real full polar night, when at true noon even the reflection of sunlight is not visible, can be observed in Russia only on the territory of Russian Arctic National Park," said Viktor Kuznetsov, advisor to the director of the specially protected area.
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The length of Russian Arctic National Park is 200 kilometers. Its northernmost point, Rudolf Island, is located at latitude 81.5 °; the southernmost, Cape Flora, at 79.56 °, where the polar night is slightly shorter and begins later.