Franz Josef Land and snow bunting. Some ivory gulls, little auks and Brünnich's guillemots opt to spend the winter on the islands. The polar bear population of Franz Josef Land lies within the Barents Sea subpopulation, which also includes polar bears inhabiting Svalbard and the western coast of Novaya Zemlya. In 2004, the Barents Sea subpopulation was estimated at 2,650. There is also a population of Arctic fox, which typically have their territories near seabird habitats. Being declared as a marine mammal sanctuary, the island has rich biodiversity of rare marine mammals. Three species of seals habit the archipelago. Harp seal is the
Sukhoy Nos the former USSR, being the third detonating site of three on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (designated "Zone C"), as well as the northernmost site. It was used between 1958 and 1961 and was the 1961 explosion site of the RDS-220 hydrogen bomb, also known as Tsar Bomba. Sukhoy Nos Sukhoy Nos, also Sukhoi Nos () is a cape on Severny, the northern island of the archipelago Novaya Zemlya, belonging to Arkhangelsk Oblast of the Russian Federation, projecting into the Barents Sea. The site lies near the southwestern corner of the island, very close to the Matochkin Strait, which separates Severny