Dikson Island

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Dikson Island is in the Kara Sea, near the mouth of the Yenisei River in Russia. Across from the island on the mainland is the town of Dikson, a port and weather center, served by Dikson Airport. The island and the nearby settlement are named after Oscar Dickson, a Swedish Arctic pioneer.

The island was once called Dolgy (Long) Island or Kuzkin. In 1875, Finnish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld renamed it after Oscar Dickson; the name was Russified and became official in 1884.

Dikson has about 1,100 residents. In 1915 it became the site of Russia’s first Arctic radio station. A seaport on the mainland was built in 1935, and in 1957 the two settlements were merged. During World War II, the town was bombed in August 1942 by the German battleship Admiral Scheer in Operation Wunderland. The island was also a transfer point for Latvia’s March 1949 deportations.

The area has an Arctic tundra climate. There are four seasons, but daylight changes in extreme ways: the sun does not rise from about mid‑November to early February, and it does not set from early May to mid‑August. Because of seasonal lag, February is usually the coldest month, while August is the warmest.