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
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