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Russia RussiaIsland

Vaygach Island

3,329 km² of land in the Kara Sea.

When to go

Vaygach Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 10 km

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

In numbers

3,329km²

Area

357km

Coastline

measured on a simplified outline

157m

Highest point

100

People

7°C

Warmest sea

August

4km

To the mainland

When to go to Vaygach Island

Good all year round.

The sea is warmest in August (7 °C) and coolest in February (-2 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

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

Vaygach Island is an island in Russia. It covers 3,329 km², with 357 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 157 m. About 100 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 4 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • Amderma Airport (AMV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 82 km in a straight line
  • 4 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Vaygach Island.

  • 1lighthouses
  • 3ruins and archaeological sites

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

Cross-checked with our atlases

Vaygach Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Vaygach Island, each with its own numbers.

  • 7mountainsPeakyas

7 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Gora Olen'ya Golova
  2. Malaya Parangalava
  3. Gora Bol'shaya Parangalava
  4. Gora Marape
  5. Gora Ichopova
  6. Gora Langeseda
  7. Gora Bolvanskaya

Open Peakyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 54 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 46 %0–50 m
  • 54 %50–200 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.

Vaygach Island3,329 km²
Mallorca3,685 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)-12-12-10-5-1410961-4-7
Night low (°C)-16-17-14-10-51664-1-7-11
Sea (°C)-2-2-2-1-1047630-1
Rain (mm)413540435272666669736357
Wet days131011121213121415191717
Sun h/day0.51.36.910.010.68.87.84.62.50.50.0—
Wind (km/h)262524242222202124262727

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020±0.0−0.1−0.1−0.2±0.0+3.2+6.5+3.9+3.1+2.5+0.3+0.4
2021±0.0−0.1−0.2−0.4−0.7+0.2+3.0+3.2+1.7+2.0+1.0−0.2
2022−0.1−0.1−0.2−0.4−0.6−0.3+2.2+4.1+2.0+2.1+2.1+0.7
2023+0.1±0.0−0.1−0.3−0.3+2.6+6.0+6.4+4.0+2.7+1.2−0.1
2024±0.0−0.1−0.2−0.3−0.6−1.3−0.2−0.5+2.7+2.2+2.0+1.1
2025+0.3±0.0−0.1±0.0+0.2+2.0+3.0+5.6+3.8+3.2+2.2+0.8

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q207677) · CC0
OutlineNatural Earth · public domain
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsPeakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit