Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea) Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition led by Boris Vilkitsky on the ships "Taymyr" and "Vaygach" on behalf of the Russian Hydrographic Service in order to chart the last blank areas of Russian maps. Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea) Vilkitsky Island (; "Ostrov Vilkitskogo") is the southernmost island of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. Administratively Vilkitsky Island belongs to the Sakha Republic administrative division of the Russian Federation. The island is named after Russian hydrographer Boris Vilkitsky. The island is outside of the limits of permanent ice and is unglaciated. At barely Vilkitsky
East Siberian taiga quite warm for the northerly location. Precipitation is low, ranging from to , decreasing from east to west. The topography of this ecoregion is varied, consisting of wide, flat plains and areas of karst topography. In contrast to the neighbouring West Siberian taiga, large bogs and wetlands are conspicuously absent. Some trees also shed their leaves annually, a characteristic of deciduous forests. Vegetation consists mainly of vast, dense forests of Dahurian Larch ("Larix gmelinii"), with Siberian Larch ("Larix sibirica") and hybrid between the Dahurian and Siberian Larches ("Larix x czekanowskii") occurring as one moves to the west. Cranberry ("Vaccinium oxycoccus")