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 Sea well as shallow depths (mostly less than 50 m), slow sea currents, low tides (below 25 cm), frequent fogs, especially in summer, and an abundance of ice fields which fully melt only in August–September. The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of Yukaghirs, Chukchi and then Evens and Evenks, which were engaged in fishing, hunting and reindeer husbandry. They were then absorbed by Yakuts and later by Russians. Major industrial activities in the area are mining and navigation within the Northern Sea Route; commercial fishing is poorly developed. The largest city and port is Pevek,