Severnaya Zemlya but currently there are no human inhabitants in Severnaya Zemlya except for the Prima Polar Station near Cape Baranov. The largest glacier in the Russian Federation, the Academy of Sciences Glacier, is located in Severnaya Zemlya. The archipelago is notable as well in connection with the ongoing multiyear Arctic sea ice decline. Until recently, ice joined the islands to Eurasia, even at its smallest extent during the late summer melt season, blocking the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific. By the late summer of 2012, however, the permanent ice had reached a record low extent and open water
Pay-Khoy Ridge do not have permanent population. The closest permanent settlements are Amderma and Ust-Kara. The ridge is located in tundra, to the north of the tree line. The Pay-Khoy ridge forms a curved orogen together with the Ural Mountains, the Vaygach Island and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The Pay-Khoy and Novaya Zemlya are younger than the orogeny that formed the Ural mountains. They were formed during the Cimmerian Orogeny between the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. Pay-Khoy Ridge The Pay-Khoy ridge () is a mountain range at the northern end of the Ural Mountains. It lies within the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.