Geography of Franz Josef Land per year). Though most of the land is covered by glacial ice, it does have outcrops covered with moss. The northeastern part of the archipelago is locked in pack ice most of the year round; however the ice sometimes retreats north past the islands in summer (September). Bibliography Geography of Franz Josef Land The Geography of Franz Josef Land refers to an island group belonging to Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia. It is situated in the Barents Sea of the Arctic, north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard. At latitudes between 80.0° and 81.9° north, it is the most northerly
Retreat of glaciers since 1850 1977 and 1995. In the Novaya Zemlya archipelago north of Russia, research indicates that in 1952 there was of glacier ice along the coast. By 1993 this had been reduced by 8% to of glacier coastline. In Greenland, glacier retreat has been observed in outlet glaciers, resulting in an increase of the ice flow rate and destabilization of the mass balance of the ice sheet that is their source. The net loss in volume and hence sea level contribution of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) has doubled in recent years from per year in 1996 to per year in 2005.