Novaya Zemlya: The islands where the largest bomb was exploded

Novaya Zemlya also known as Nova Zembla is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean  located in the extreme northeast of Russia, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Fissingsky on the Northern island. West of Novaya Zemlya is the Barents Sea and to the east is the Kara Sea.

Novaya Zemlya has a total area of  90,650 km2  and is composed of two main islands, Severny to the North and Yuzhny to the South Island. These islands are separated by the Matochkin Strait.

Administratively, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya District, one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.

The population of Novaya Zemlya, as of the 2010 census was about 2,429 of which 1,972 resided in Belushya Guba an urban-type settlement that is the administrative center of Novaya Zemlya District.

The indigenous population (from 1872 to the 1950s when it was resettled to the mainland) consisted of about 50–300 Nenetses who subsisted mainly on fishing, trappin, reindeer herding, polar bear and seal hunting.

Natural resources of the archipelago include copper, lead and zinc.

Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War years, and parts of it are still used for airfields today.

The Soviet Air Force maintained a presence at Rogachevo on the southern part of the southern island, on the westernmost peninsula.

Novaya Zemlya was the site of one of the two major nuclear test sites managed by the USSR, used for air drops and underground testing of the largest of Soviet nuclear bombs, in particular the October 30, 1961 air burst  explosion of Tsar Bomba, the largest, most powerful weapon ever detonated. Polar bears enter into human-inhabited areas more frequently than previously, which has been attributed to decrease of seals forcing the bears to come inland to find food. In February 2019, a mass migration occurred in the northeastern portion of Novaya Zemlya. Dozens of polar bears were seen entering homes, public buildings, and inhabited areas, so 

Arkhangelsk authorities declared a state of emergency on Saturday, February 16, 2019.
Severny island is the northern island of the  archipelago approximately 400 km north of the Russian mainland. It has an area of 48,904 square kilometres. Severny has an inner ice cap with numerous glaciers , most of which have their terminus in the eastern or western shore of the island.

Forty percent of the island is covered by the Severny island glacier, which is the largest glacier by area and by volume in Europe. 

Sukhoy Nos cape, located at the southern end of the island, was used for nuclear weapons testing between 1958 and 1961. The Tsar Bomba hydrogen bomb test destroyed all buildings in the village of Severny (both wooden and brick). The village was located 55 kilometres (34 miles) from ground zero within the Sukhoy Nos test range. Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon detonated (October 30, 1961) and was the most powerful anthropogenic explosion in human history. It had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT, scaled down from its maximum 100 megaton design yield. Severny is now the site of a base and has a harbor.

There is a meteorological station at Cape Zhelaniya, Severny's northernmost cape.

Yuzhny is the southern island of the archipelago, lying north of Russia. It has an area of 33,275 square kilometres (12,800 sq mi), which while smaller than the northern island of Severny, makes it one of the largest island of the Arctic sea. It is separated from Severny Island by the narrow Matochkin strait which is covered with ice most of the year. West of Yuzhny Island lies the Barents Sea and to the east the Kara Sea.

Originally home to the Nenets people, the island was largely evacuated in the 1950s to make way fornuclear weapons testing. 

Novaya Zemlya also known as Nova Zembla is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in northern and the extreme northeast of Russia, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Fissingsky on the Northern island. West of Novaya Zemlya is the Barents Sea and to the east is the Kara Sea.

Novaya Zemlya is composed of two main islands, the northern Severny Island and the southern Yuzhny Island, which are separated by the Matochkin Strait. Administratively, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya District, one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. Yuzhny Island is known for its large seabird population. The island's vegetation largely subsists on tundra.

The population of Novaya Zemlya, as of the 2010 census was about 2,429 of which 1,972 resided in Belushya Guba an urban-type settlement that is the administrative center of Novaya Zemlya District.

The indigenous population (from 1872 to the 1950s when it was resettled to the mainland) consisted of about 50–300 Nenetses who subsisted mainly on fishing, trappin, reindeer herding, polar bear and seal hunting.

Natural resources include copper, lead and zinc.

Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War years, and parts of it are still used for airfields today.

The Soviet Air Force maintained a presence at Rogachevo on the southern part of the southern island, on the westernmost peninsula.

Novaya Zemlya was the site of one of the two major nuclear test sites managed by the USSR, used for air drops and underground testing of the largest of Soviet nuclear bombs, in particular the October 30, 1961 air burst  explosion of Tsar Bomba, the largest, most powerful weapon ever detonated.

In recent times, polar bears enter into human-inhabited areas more frequently than previously, which has been attributed to decrease of seals in the frozen Arctic sea forcing the bears to come inland to find food. In February 2019, a mass migration occurred in the northeastern portion of Novaya Zemlya. Dozens of polar bears were seen entering homes, public buildings, and inhabited areas, so 

Arkhangelsk authorities declared a state of emergency.

The climate of the islands is arctic, the average annual temperature in Maloye Karmakuly is -4.5.  Winter average temperatures in January is -14.1 with record lows of -36 degrees Celsius. The record high in July was 28.3 degrees Celsius. Precipitations are very low (35 mm per year).