RussiaIsland

Bely Island

1,762 km² of land in the Kara Sea.

N 10 km

Lighthouses

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

1,762km²

Area

350km

Coastline

10m

Highest point

5°C

Warmest sea

August

6km

To the mainland

When to go to Bely Island

Good all year round.

The sea is warmest in August (5 °C) and coolest in January (-2 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

-2°-16°-20°

Jan9

-2°-15°-20°

Feb8

-2°-14°-18°

Mar8

-2°-9°-13°

Apr8

-1°-4°-6°

May8

0°2°0°

Jun11

2°6°4°

Jul11

5°6°5°

Aug13

4°4°3°

Sep14

1°-1°-3°

Oct16

-1°-9°-12°

Nov10

-2°-13°-17°

Dec11

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island in Kara Sea, Russia

Bely Island is an island in Russia. It covers 1,762 km², with 350 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 10 m. The nearest mainland is 6 km away.

Getting there

Sabetta International Airport (SBT)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 230 km in a straight line
6 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

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On the island

What you find on Bely Island.

1lighthouses

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 5 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.

100 %0–50 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Bely Island1,762 km²

Tenerife2,038 km²

Long Island3,529 km²

50 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon high (°C)	-16	-15	-14	-9	-4	2	6	6	4	-1	-9	-13
Night low (°C)	-20	-20	-18	-13	-6	0	4	5	3	-3	-12	-17
Sea (°C)	-2	-2	-2	-2	-1	0	2	5	4	1	-1	-2
Rain (mm)	28	27	28	29	35	57	58	57	52	51	38	37
Wet days	9	8	8	8	8	11	11	13	14	16	10	11
Sun h/day	—	1.5	7.9	11.9	12.1	9.2	6.3	3.5	1.6	0.2	0.3	—
Wind (km/h)	24	23	23	22	21	21	19	21	24	26	24	24

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	+0.6	+0.6	+0.6	+0.4	+0.3	+0.7	+5.5	+5.1	+4.4	+2.5	+0.5	+0.7
2021	+0.6	+0.6	+0.5	+0.4	+0.2	−0.3	+0.9	+4.4	+1.3	+0.7	+0.3	+0.6
2022	+0.6	+0.6	+0.6	+0.4	+0.2	−0.2	+3.2	+5.7	+1.3	+0.9	+0.8	+0.7
2023	+0.7	+0.6	+0.6	+0.4	+0.1	±0.0	+1.6	+4.4	+3.7	+1.3	+0.4	+0.6
2024	+0.6	+0.6	+0.6	+0.4	+0.1	−0.8	−1.3	+1.8	+1.4	−0.2	+0.5	+0.6
2025	+0.7	+0.6	+0.7	+0.7	+0.4	+1.6	+3.7	+5.4	+4.1	+1.7	+1.0	+0.8

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Popov Station, Bely Island — Mmlkn · CC BY-SA 3.0

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Dikson Island

Russia25 km²48 m304 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q548594) · CC0
Outline	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperature	NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
Climate	NASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Towns	GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons