The Arctic Archipelago That Is Slowly Vanishing Into The Sea

Countries & Cities · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Located in the remote Arctic waters of eastern Russia, the Lyakhovsky Islands are a group defined by extreme isolation and constant physical change. Named after explorer Ivan Lyakhov, this rugged chain serves as a stark reminder of the volatile nature of northern landscapes, where entire islands can simply disappear over time.

The Lyakhovsky Islands represent the southernmost cluster of the larger New Siberian Islands archipelago. Situated in the Arctic seas, they are geographically isolated from the Russian mainland by the 60-kilometer-wide Laptev Strait. To their north, the 50-kilometer-wide Sannikov Strait separates them from the Anzhu Islands, a group that includes major landmasses like Kotelny and Faddeyevsky. The archipelago is dominated by two primary islands: Bolshoy Lyakhovsky, which spans 5,156.6 square kilometers and reaches a peak elevation of 311 meters at Emy Tas, and the smaller Maly Lyakhovsky, covering 975.5 square kilometers.

The geography of this region is far from static. The islands are subject to intense environmental pressures, most notably severe erosion. This process has already claimed Semyonovsky Island, which once measured four square kilometers before it completely vanished from the map. Other notable features include the detached island of Stolbovoy and the tiny islet of Ostrov Khopto-Terer, located off the southwestern cape of Great Lyakhovsky. These landforms are remnants of a complex geological history that continues to reshape the Arctic coastline.

Beyond their physical reality, the islands have captured the imagination of literature. Jules Verne featured the region in his 1885 novel Waif of the Cynthia and again in his 1890 work César Cascabel. In the latter, the author used the term Liakhov Islands to describe the entire New Siberian group, though the narrative focus remained primarily on Kotelny Island. These literary references highlight the islands' status as a frontier of the unknown, a place where the harsh realities of the Arctic meet the romanticized exploration of the late 19th century.

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