I found a very interesting book on an obscure topic, with some relevance to the WesWorld:
The Northern Sea Route and the Economy of the Soviet North
By Constantine Krypton; Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1956
It's about the efforts of the USSR to explore and develop the Northern Sea Route both as a route between Europe and East Asia and to access the resources of the far north. It covers availability of fuel along the route, efforts for weather forecasting, aerial ice recon, and the development of the Soviet icebreaker fleet.
What follows is pretty much straight out of the book, with the stuff about the seaplane bases, weather stations, and icebreakers courtesy of myself.
The ports of Yary on the Kara Sea and Salekhard near the mouth of the Ob has coal mined from the Pechora Basin, with an energy content of 7,500 kcal/lb and a low ash content. It is suitable for fuel or steel-making purposes. This deposit is estimated at 60 billion tons, and annual output is about 200,000 tons/year. Yari also has a seaplane base for monitoring ice and iceberg conditions.
The port of Dikson has coal from the Tunguska Basin near Norilsk. Its quality is similar to Pechora Basin coal, and its size is estimated at 8 billion tons. Output presently is small, only about 50,000 tons/year, but with the recent discovery of rich copper, nickel, platinum, and other metal deposits near Norilsk in 1922, output is expected to grow, and as Norilsk develops, the volume of commercial shipping down the Yenisey River to the Northern Sea Route is expected to increase.
The port of Tiksi at the mouth of the Lena River has coal from the Zyranka deposits. This coal has a slightly greater energy content than Pechora coal, but the size of this deposit is only about 150 million tons.
The ports of Kovlyuneskin and Anadyr on the Bering Sea are supplied by the coal fields on the Chukot Penninsula, and these field supply the coaling stations at Big Diomede Island and Provedenia. The Chukotsk-Anadyr' region, one of the least studied areas of the Russian Federation, has substantial mineral deposits, including gold, platinum, nickel, silver, zinc, lead, copper, antimony, arsenic, mercury, molybdenum, tin, iron, manganese, titanium, coal, fluorite, graphite, mica, Iceland spar, semiprecious stones, and mineral springs. There are more than forty known gold deposits and fourteen tin deposits, four of which are of major size. Geologic conditions indicate that there are large quantities of gold and tin. Quartz has been found on Wrangel Island, and gold on the upper Kolyma.
The mining area in the upper reaches of the Kolyma River is noted for its gold mining industry. The industry receives most of its supplies from and ships most of its output to the southern ports of the Russian Far East via the Sea of Okhotsk. The Kolyma area led the Russian Federation in gold production.
Weather forecasting is provided by stations North Pole 1, North Pole 2, and North Pole 3, which have been established on arctic pack ice at 82N169E, 85N, on Severnaya Zemlya at 81N95E, and on Zemlya Franza Iosifa at Rudolfa.
There are aerial ice reconnaissance stations at Dikson, Cape Chelyuskin Cape Shmidt, Wrangel Island, and Big Diomede Island. During the shipping season, patrol aircraft monitor ice conditions and provide reports to ships on routes through the ice.
Four Arctica class icebreakers work to extend the period that passage through the Northern Sea Route, while Belomore class icebreakers keep ports accessible. It is expected that when the three Admiral Rodzhestvenskiy class icebreakers are completed, passage through the Northern Sea Route will be possible year-round.
These efforts to improve safe navigation on the Northern Sea Route have been reflected in declining insurance rates. Compared to 1914, the premium for a passage through the Northern Sea Route has declined from 6% to 0.8% for a cargo. The commerical opportunity this decline reflects should not be overlooked by those interested in trade between Europe and East Asia.
Thursday, December 12th 2024, 6:15am
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