Dunay Islands

The Dunay group and adjacent islands.

Location of the Dunay Islands.

The Dunay Islands, or Duunay Aryta, (Острова Дунай) is a group of islands in the Laptev Sea. They are located close to the mouths of the Lena River, off the northwestern shores of the Lena Delta.

The Dunay islands form a compact cluster; their shores are very irregular with narrow beach ridges, sand bars and swales. The maximum length of the main island is 16 km and its maximum breadth 8 km. The island in the SE is called "Ostrov Yegorsha".

The strait between these islands and the Lena Delta shore is known as Proliv Dzhiyelligestyakh-Oburuosa.

The area where these islands lie is subject to severe Arctic weather. Although there are some offshore polynyas towards the north, there is fast ice between the Dunay Islands and the Lena Delta for about nine months every year.^[1]

There is a meteorological station in the islands called Dunay. It had some importance during the golden years of the Northern Sea Route. Administratively these islands belong to the Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation

Adjacent islands

• 15 km to the WSW of Dunay lie the Bulgunnyakhtakh-Belkey Islands (Ostrova Bulgunnyakhtakh-Bëlkëy). These are five small islands in a chain 73°50′02″N 123°48′40″E / 73.834°N 123.811°E / 73.834; 123.811. The largest one is only 4 km in length. Although located farther offshore, they are a continuation of the Lena delta islands.

• 33 km to the west of Dunay's westernmost tip lie two very narrow "C"-shaped islands. The southern one is called Samolyota Island (Остров Самолёта; Ostrov Samolëta) 73°51′54″N 123°07′30″E / 73.865°N 123.125°E / 73.865; 123.125, and the northern one Aerosyemki Islands (Острова Аэросъёмки; Ostrova Aeros"yëmki) 73°57′25″N 123°10′12″E / 73.957°N 123.17°E / 73.957; 123.17. Both these islands are little more than long curved landspits of over 10 km across and less than a few hundred meters wide. Their curve is open towards the east. While Samolyota is a long, continuous landspit, Aerosyemki is broken in no less than three places, forming four separate smaller islands.

References

• Encarta Encyclopedia.
• William Barr, The First Soviet Convoy to the Mouth of the Lena.
• geographical data
• Ostrova Bulgunnyakhtakh-belkey

v t e Islands of the Laptev Sea (Russian Arctic) Aerosyemki Anzhu Islands Arangastakh Belkovsky Island Bolshevik Bolshoy Begichev Brusneva Bulgunnyakhtakh-Belkey Chychas-Aryta Daldalakh Dallalakh Dunay Islands Dzhyangylakh Faddey Islands Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Komsomolets Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands Kotelny Lena Delta Islands Leykina Maly Lyakhovsky Lyakhovsky Islands Makar Island Maliy Begichev Maly Taymyr Muostakh Nanosnyy New Siberian Islands Orto Ary Peschany Petrushka Preobrazheniya Psov Island Sagastyr Saint Andrew Island Saint Peter Islands Salkay Samakh Ary Dyete Samolyota Semyonovsky Severnaya Zemlya Shelonsky Islands Starokadomsky Stolbovoy Vos'mogo Marta Vilkitsky Islands Yarok Zalivnyye Islands

Coordinates: 73°51′N 124°31′E / 73.850°N 124.517°E / 73.850; 124.517