Dikson (Krasnoyarsk)
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Dikson
Диксон
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Dikson ( Russian Диксон ) is the northernmost settlement and port city in the area where the Yenisei flows into the Kara Sea . Dikson was once the pivotal point for the Northeast Passage and the starting point for many polar expeditions. Today Dikson is a small town in the Siberian Krasnoyarsk Region (formerly Taimyr Autonomous County ) in Russia with 676 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010).
geography
Dikson is located at the eastern exit of the Yenisei Bay into the Kara Sea , both on the island, also called Dikson , and on the opposite Siberian mainland. In the marine area protected between the island and the mainland, there is a seaport and an airport ( ICAO code UODD ) on the island immediately north of the settlement , which is connected to the main town by a ferry that runs once a day and one immediately after the arrival Aircraft.
history
Dikson is named after the island of the same name, known since the 17th century as Dolgy ("The Long One") or Kuzkin (after the first discoverer), but in 1875 by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld after his patron Baron Oscar Dickson , a seafarer, explorer and renamed Arctic Expedition Sponsor. In the Russified version, the “c” in the name, which has been official since 1884, was omitted. The first settlement on the island arose in 1915 around the first Russian radio station in the Arctic. In the 1930s, the Soviet head office Nördlicher Seeweg built the seaport as part of making the Northeast Passage navigable. During the Second World War Dikson became a naval port and served as a protection and intermediate station for the Soviet supply convoys through the Arctic Ocean . As such, Dikson became one of the targets of the Wunderland operation of the German navy ; on August 27, 1942, the Admiral Scheer shelled the port and damaged the port facilities and two ships. The airport was built on the barrier island during the Cold War. Some military units were also stationed at the time. According to secret CIA documents from 1952, which have since been published, Dikson was one of the locations for the Soviet Union's strategic bomber fleet , which at the time consisted of Tupolev Tu-4 machines. In 1956 Dikson received urban-type settlement status .
In the 1980s, the place experienced a brief boom after the general secretary of the CPSU , Mikhail Gorbachev , announced the expansion of the Northeast Passage and Dikson could hope for a significant increase in sea traffic. Up to 7.5 million tons of freight annually were temporarily transported through the Northeast Passage. At that time, several apartment blocks were built, which are mostly empty today: The number of residents fell from almost 5,000 to less than 700. The Northeast Passage is only used significantly west of Norilsk (approx. 1 million tons of freight annually), in Dikson the handling sank to 3000 tons. Even the summer excursion traffic on the Yenisei does not reach the place: the ships turn in Dudinka, about 650 kilometers south of the river. In these latitudes, the ice near the coast usually does not melt until mid-June and begins to freeze again at the beginning of October. The polar night lasts about 82 days. From December 8th to January 5th it is pitch black, so there is not even twilight on the horizon. The "black snowstorms" with wind speeds of up to 40 m / s are notorious. Since the provincial capital Krasnoyarsk is 2507 kilometers away, the inhabitants see themselves mostly on their own, as a "tundra island". Visitors who want to travel to Dikson, including Russian ones, generally need a special permit.
Population development
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1959 | 3470 |
| 1970 | 3889 |
| 1989 | 4449 |
| 2002 | 1198 |
| 2010 | 676 |
Note: census data
economy
In 1957, the mainland and island settlements were merged to form Dikson parish . Dikson remained an important port until the end of the Soviet Union , but since then the population has decreased significantly: by over 85% from the mid-1980s to today. The summer sea transport season is limited to mid-August to the end of September, when passengers are also carried to a small extent. Outside of this period, ships are dependent on the help of icebreakers. In addition to petroleum products and wood, the cargo handled includes above all gravel and sand, as well as supplies for the population. Except by sea, the place can only be reached with irregular, roughly two-hour scheduled flights of the KrasAvia from Norilsk (last on Wednesdays), for which tickets are only available at the local counter, or with charter flights with helicopters.
After the discovery of the huge Siberian oil field Wankor in 1988, corporations like Rosneft and Shell examined whether it would be possible to ship the extracted oil via Dikson, which would have given the coastal town an economic boom. The talk was of a 780 kilometer pipeline with seven pumping stations and an annual capacity of 18 million tons. According to the Rosneft subsidiary Vankorneft, this could have doubled production. However, these plans were quickly dashed due to the falling oil price, the oil is being transported via the Russian pipeline network towards China (East Siberian-Pacific Pipeline) and the Baltic States (BPS-2).
Map of Dikson
Postage stamp 50 years of Dikson
Climate diagram by Dikson
Web links
- Dikson web portal (Russian)
- Diary from the ice
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
- ↑ a b http://englishrussia.com/2014/11/03/trip-to-russian-northern-most-town-dixon/
- ↑ a b https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/2015/10/life-dikson
- ↑ Ice cream of no return. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed June 27, 2018 .
- ↑ https://de.rbth.com/reisen/2015/11/07/eiskalt-und-unvergeslich-die-funf-froststen-stadte-ruslands_537297
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.energy-pedia.com/news/russia/rosneft-looking-to-double-the-reserves-on-vankor-field
- ^ Thane Gustafson: Wheel of Fortune - The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia , Cambridge / London 2012
