De Long Islands

The De Long Islands are a small group of islands located northeast of the New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, belonging to northeastern Russia. They are part of the larger New Siberian Islands archipelago, which divides the Laptev Sea from the East Siberian Sea. The climate is harsh, characterized by Arctic conditions with snow for most of the year, sparse tundra vegetation, and limited fauna. The archipelago is administratively part of Sakha (Yakutiya). The De Long Islands are named after American explorer George Washington De Long, whose expedition in the ship Jeannette became trapped in ice and sank in 1881, with De Long and his crew perishing from exposure and starvation while attempting to reach the Siberian coast.12