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
Apostolic Vicariate of the Comoros Archipelago Apostolic Vicariate of the Comoros Archipelago The Apostolic Vicariate of the Comoros Archipelago is a tiny Latin apostolic vicariate (missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction) of the Roman Catholic Church in the Indian Ocean between insular Madagascar and continental Africa, comprising the Comoros and Mayotte, with a church in each. The see is at Moroni, Comoros on Grande Comore island. It is exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province. On 5 June 1975, the Holy See established an Apostolic Administration of Comoros on the present territory, which was split from the Diocese of Ambanja (on Madagascar),