Электронная библиотека
публикации о музее-заповеднике «Кижи»

Zaonezhie is a large peninsula situated in the northern part of Lake Onega. The length of the peninsula is 80 km; its width is from 30 to 40 km. In the southern part the peninsula is continued by a group of islands called Kizhi skerries. One of them is Kizhi Island. Onego Lake makes the local climate relatively genial. Its water is a peculiar kind of accumulator of solar energy and a temperature stabilizer.

Lake Onega is the second-largest freshwater lake in Europe. Maximum length of the lake is 250 km and its maximum width is 80 km. The total volume of water is 250 km3. It is a body of sweet water. The content of minerals in it is three times lower than in Lake Baikal. The maximum depth of the lake is 110 meters. In the heart of the summer the surface water warms up to 20 °C but the bulk of water is cool the whole summer. Its temperature is +5 °C. Ice forms in November or December and may be 0.9 m thick.

During the whole period of the local meteorological monitoring the lowest air temperature was –38 °C and highest temperature was +30 °C. The average summer temperature is +16 °C and the average winter temperature is –10 °C. Annual average rainfall is 650 mm. Snow covers the ground for about 150 days, from the end of October till the middle of April. Thickness of snow cover on the island does not exceed 1 meter. There is hardly any snow on open places because of constant winds. An annual average wind speed is 4.5 m/s, but it might be 25 m/s during periods of cyclonic storms. Winds mainly blow from south or southwest.

The relief and the geological structure of the island are varied. There are a lot of various minerals here. Shunghite has recently become very popular. What are its chemical properties? And what is the rate of ionizing radiation background on the island? For this information see Information poster №3.