Severnaya Zemlya north from Siberia. The climate data below, taken from the Golomyanniy Meteorological Station gives an indication of the weather experienced in the archipelago. Severnaya Zemlya is a polar desert with sparse vegetation and permafrost at less than . Rare vascular plants include species of "Cerastium" and "Saxifraga". Non-vascular plants include the moss genera "Detrichum", "Dicranum", "Pogonatum", "Sanionia", "Bryum", "Orthothecium" and "Tortula", as well as the lichen genera "Cetraria", "Thamnolia", "Cornicularia", "Lecidea", "Ochrolechia" and "Parmelia". Common flowering plants of the high Arctic such as the purple saxifrage ("Saxifraga oppositifolia") and the Arctic poppy ("Papaver radicatum") also occur on Severnaya Zemlya. According
Severnaya Zemlya to a survey of prior observations by De Korte, Volkov, and Gavrilo, thirty-two bird species have been observed on Severnaya Zemlya, 17 of which are known to breed on the islands. Eight species are widespread across the archipelago: five of which are colonial seabirds: little auk ("Alle alle"), black-legged kittiwake ("Rissa tridactyla"), black guillemot ("Cepphus grylle"), ivory gull ("Pagophila eburnea"), and glaucous gull ("Larus hyperboreus"); and three species of tundra bird: the snow bunting ("Plectrophenax nivalis"), purple sandpiper ("Calidris maritima"), and brent goose ("Branta bernicla"). The most common mammal on Severnaya Zemlya is the collared lemming ("Dicrostonyx torquatus"), also known