Oymyakon

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Oymyakon (English)
Оймякон (Russian)
Өймөкөөн (Sakha)
-  Rural locality  -
Selo[citation needed]
Oymyakon forests.jpg
Oymyakon in February 2013
Map of Russia - Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (2008-03).svg
Location of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic in Russia
Oymyakon is located in Sakha Republic
Oymyakon
Oymyakon
Location of Oymyakon in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Administrative status
Country Russia
Federal subject Sakha Republic
Administrative district Oymyakonsky District[citation needed]
Municipal status
Municipal district Oymyakonsky Municipal District[citation needed]
Statistics
Population (July 17, 2011 est.) 500 inhabitants[1]
Time zone VLAT (UTC+10:00)[2]
Postal code(s)[3] 678752
Dialing code(s) +7 41154[citation needed]
[[:commons:Category:{{#property:Commons category}}|Oymyakon]] on Wikimedia Commons

Oymyakon (Russian: Оймяко́н, Yakut: Өймөкөөн, Öymököön) is a rural locality (a selo) in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located along the Indigirka River, 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of Tomtor on the Kolyma Highway. Oymyakon is one of the coldest permanently inhabited locales on the planet.

Etymology

It is named after the Oymyakon River, whose name reportedly comes from the Even word kheium, meaning "unfrozen patch of water; place where fish spend the winter."[4] However, another source states that the Even word heyum (hэjум) (kheium may be a misspelling) means "frozen lake".[5]

Geography

Oymyakon, population 500, is in eastern Yakutia at approximately 750 meters above sea level. At the village's northerly position, day length varies from three hours in December to 21 hours in June.

History

During World War II, an airfield was built here for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front.[6]

Climate

With an extreme subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwd), Oymyakon is known as one of the candidates for the Northern Pole of Cold, others being Eismitte and the town of Verkhoyansk. The ground there is permanently frozen (continuous permafrost).

In 1924 a temperature of −71.2 °C (−96 °F) was recorded in Oymyakon. That is the lowest temperature ever recorded in an habitat center. There is a communist-era sign in Oymyakon that recall this event (http://all-that-is-interesting.com/worlds-coldest-city/2). On February 6, 1933, a temperature of −67.7 °C (−90 °F) was recorded at Oymyakon's weather station.[7][8][9] Only Antarctica has recorded lower official temperatures (the lowest being −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F), recorded at Vostok Station on 21 July 1983.)[10][11]

The weather station is in a valley between Oymyakon and Tomtor. The station is at 750 meters (2,460 ft) and the surrounding mountains at 1,100 meters (3,600 ft), causing cold air to pool in the valley: in fact, recent studies show that winter temperatures in the area increase with altitude by as much as 10 °C (18 °F).[12]

Sometimes the temperature drops below 0 °C (32 °F) in late September and may remain below freezing until mid-May. In Oymyakon sometimes the average minimum temperature for January, February and December remains below −50 °C (−58 °F). Sometimes summer months can also be quite cold, but June and July are the only months where temperature has never dropped below −10 °C (14 °F). Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk are the only two permanently inhabited places in the world that have recorded temperatures below −60.0 °C (−76 °F) for every day in January.[13][14]

Oymyakon has never recorded an above freezing temperature between October 25 and March 17.[15]

Although winters in Oymyakon are long and excessively cold, summers are mild, sometimes with hot, and very hot, days. The warmest month on record is July 2010 with an average temperature of +18.7 °C (65.7 °F).[citation needed] In June, July and August temperatures over 30 °C (86 °F) are not rare during the day. On July 28, 2010, Oymyakon recorded a record high temperature of 34.6 °C (94 °F),[16] yielding a temperature range of 102.3 °C (184.1 °F). Verkhoyansk and Yakutsk are the only other places in the world with a temperature amplitude higher than 100 °C (180 °F).[citation needed]

The climate is quite dry, but as average monthly temperatures are below freezing for seven months of the year, substantial evaporation occurs only in summer months. Summers are much wetter than winters.

Climate data for Oymyakon (1981-2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) −16.6
(2.1)		 −12.5
(9.5)		 2.0
(35.6)		 11.7
(53.1)		 26.2
(79.2)		 31.1
(88)		 34.6
(94.3)		 32.9
(91.2)		 23.7
(74.7)		 11.0
(51.8)		 −2.1
(28.2)		 −6.5
(20.3)		 34.6
(94.3)
Average high °C (°F) −42.5
(−44.5)		 −35.4
(−31.7)		 −20.8
(−5.4)		 −3.7
(25.3)		 9.1
(48.4)		 20.0
(68)		 22.7
(72.9)		 18.2
(64.8)		 8.9
(48)		 −9.2
(15.4)		 −30.7
(−23.3)		 −42
(−44)		 −8.8
(16.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −46.4
(−51.5)		 −42
(−44)		 −31.2
(−24.2)		 −13.6
(7.5)		 2.7
(36.9)		 12.6
(54.7)		 14.9
(58.8)		 10.3
(50.5)		 2.3
(36.1)		 −14.8
(5.4)		 −35.2
(−31.4)		 −45.5
(−49.9)		 −15.5
(4.1)
Average low °C (°F) −50
(−58)		 −47.3
(−53.1)		 −40
(−40)		 −23.9
(−11)		 −4.7
(23.5)		 4.0
(39.2)		 6.2
(43.2)		 2.6
(36.7)		 −3.7
(25.3)		 −20.4
(−4.7)		 −39.3
(−38.7)		 −48.8
(−55.8)		 −22.1
(−7.8)
Record low °C (°F) −65.4
(−85.7)		 −67.7
(−89.9)		 −60.6
(−77.1)		 −46.4
(−51.5)		 −28.9
(−20)		 −9.7
(14.5)		 −9.3
(15.3)		 −17.1
(1.2)		 −25.3
(−13.5)		 −47.6
(−53.7)		 −58.5
(−73.3)		 −62.8
(−81)		 −67.7
(−89.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 6
(0.24)		 7
(0.28)		 5
(0.2)		 6
(0.24)		 13
(0.51)		 34
(1.34)		 45
(1.77)		 39
(1.54)		 23
(0.91)		 14
(0.55)		 12
(0.47)		 8
(0.31)		 215
(8.46)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 3.0 2.6 1.4 1.8 3.2 6.6 8.7 7.7 5.1 4.9 4.0 3.0 52.0
Mean monthly sunshine hours 28 118 244 284 282 304 298 236 151 113 58 13 2,129
Source #1: Погода и Климат,[17] February record low[8][18]
Source #2: NOAA (precipitation days and sunshine hours)[19]

In the media

Oymyakon has been featured in a number of television series:

  • The episode "The Winter's Tale" of the 1996 PBS weather documentary series Savage Skies.
  • The season two episode "Siberia" of the documentary series World's Most Dangerous Roads.
  • Oxford geographer Nick Middleton's television series and accompanying book Going to Extremes, in which he discusses his visit to this village and describes ways in which inhabitants cope with the extreme cold. Middleton describes how Oymyakon lies between two mountain ranges, trapping cold air between throughout the year.[20] In the winter, once every two days, the village's cattle's herd bull was harnessed between the shafts of a sledge with a big water tank on it and led to the spring. The men broke the ice on the spring, let the bull drink its fill, filled the water tank from the spring, and let the bull pull the tanker sledge back into the warm. The water spring was naturally warm and so stayed liquid below the surface ice.
  • Cameraman Geoff Mackley along with Rachael Wilson and Mark Whetu from New Zealand, made an episode for Discovery Channel series Dangerman. They were accompanied by translator Rob Walker (USA) and Vyacheslav Ipatiev (TourServiceCenter). Geoff rode the water bull to the spring, and spent a night outside in a tent.[21][22]
  • The episode "Hot and Cold" in the 2010 BBC series Extreme World features the village.[23]
  • The episode "Chilling Out" in the 1 April 2012 Episode of Australia's "60 Minutes".[24]
  • The travel series Departures Season 3 Episode 2 "Russia: The Bull of Winter" March 13, 2010. Travelers Scott Wilson and Justin Lukach, Director of Photography/Director Andre Dupuis, Translator Bogdan Almazov.[25]
  • "Coldest Road," an episode of the Discovery Channel three-part series Driven to Extremes starring Tom Hardy

See also

  • Eismitte probably the only candidate for the title of "Northern Pole of Cold" if one considers both mean annual temperature and mean winter temperature
  • Verkhoyansk the other candidate "Northern Pole of Cold" if one considers mean winter temperature
  • Yakutsk, coldest major city

References

  1. ↑ "The Coldest Inhabited Place on Earth: Oymyakon, Russia". Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №248-ФЗ от 21 июля 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #248-FZ of July 21, 2014 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
  3. ↑ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
  4. ↑ Е. М. Поспелов. "Географические названия мира". Москва, 1998, p. 307.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lebedev, Igor Aviation Lend-Lease to Russia Nova Publishers (1997) pp.44-49
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Bijal P. Trivedi, Life Is a Chilling Challenge in Subzero Siberia, National Geographic Channel, May 12, 2004.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Oymyakon&oldid=865413"