Barsakelmes - in the past the second largest island, and now - a natural boundary in the north of the dry Aral Sea, in the Kyzylorda region of Kazakhstan. The name Barsa-Kelmes (“you will go - you will not return”) according to legend is connected with the tragic fate of several families who took refuge on the island during the internecine war. Having crossed the strait on ice in winter, people were cut off from the coast by storms that destroyed the ice bridge. They managed to survive the winter, hunting animals and birds, making bonfires from saxaul and melting snow, but in summer meltwater bodies dried up and all refugees died of thirst.
Island Features
The study of Barsakelmes began with Butakov's expedition in 1848. The island itself and the Aral Sea on the map can be viewed below. Since that time, scientists have noticed that this part of the land changes its size. This is due to the strong shallowing of the water area. For example, in the 1960s the island was 23 km long, in the 1980s - 30 km, reaching an area of 300 square meters. km In the 1990s, as the reservoir dried up, Barsakelmes turned into a peninsula, and by 2009 the sea around had dried up and it became a mainland tract.
Climate
The island of Barsakelmes Aral Sea is located in a sharply continental climate region. This is manifested in large seasonal and daily temperature fluctuations. This part of the land belongs to the North Turan climatic region of the desert zone. The average July temperature is + 25 ° ... + 26 ° C, the maximum - + 42 ° ... + 44 ° C. In February, it usually happens from -10 ° C to -13 ° C. The lowest temperature was recorded at -36 ° C.
The cold period is long (from the first decade of December to the first decade of March), but it is characterized by frequent thaws with zero temperature. The period of average daily temperatures in excess of 0 ° lasts 227-237 days from March 20/25 to November 8/13. Frostless weather is set for a period of 173-178 days.
In summer, humidity is low, cloudy days only 10% (in winter - 50%). Spring is short and snow is melting rapidly. The amount of precipitation is small - 126-128 mm per year, with most of them falling in the cold seasons. The rainiest months are April and October. A stable snow cover with a depth of 10-15 to 40 cm lasts 80-90 days. The depth of soil freezing reaches 45 cm. In winter, strong frosty winds are frequent. The drying up of the sea made the climate sharper, the average summer temperatures increased by 2-2.5 ° C, the winter ones decreased by 1-2 ° C.
Soil composition
The island of Barsakelmes until 1965 had many inland waters. These were mainly lagoon lakes, which were located on its western side. These reservoirs had a total area of 490 hectares, their depth reaching 1.5-2 meters. Soils typical for the Aral Sea region are gray-brown, among which solonchak and takyr-saline soils are most common. The drying up of the sea led to an increase in surface salinization due to the transport of sea salt by the winds.
Relief
The island in the Aral Sea is divided into two parts by relief. The first is an elevated plateau in the south with a maximum height of 108 m, the second is a lowland in the north. In the northwest, north and east on the former shores are sand dunes. In width, they reach two kilometers in the west and 200-440 m in the east.
Population
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the island of Barsakelmes was uninhabited, there was no permanent population on it. It was easy enough to explain. First of all, this is due to the location and climate features. In 1929-1939 a hunting office “Soyuzpushniny” was operating on Barsakelmes, residential houses in the central estate and dugout shelters appeared for the period of hunting gophers. Temporary ponds were built to collect snow and rain water for the needs of people and livestock and antelopes brought to the island.
Barsakelmes Nature Reserve
In 1939, a reserve was organized on the island, one of the tasks of which was the reproduction of rare and endangered species. As early as 1929, saigas were brought to Barsakelmes, in 1953 - kulans, whom it was planned to domesticate and cross with horses to obtain mules. By the middle of the century, the gazelle, brown hare, gopher sandstone, pheasant and gray partridge were acclimatized . Kulans and gazelles were the main objects of protection, but after 2009 the herds left the peninsula and scattered across the steppe. By the end of the 1980s, there were only 30 saigas left, the rest were either shot as a result of uncontrolled hunting, or became prey for wolves that settled on the island in those years. Presumably, part of the herd migrated to the mainland on winter ice.
Vegetable world
The island of Barsakelmes is distinguished by special representatives of the flora. Angiosperm plants here are 257 species belonging to 172 genera of 46 families. Representatives of haze-mongers prevail, of which there are 41 species, including black saxaul, biyurgun, and warbler common for the arid zone. Grassy hodgepodge, as well as varieties of quinoa and climactopters are widespread. The cereal family is represented by numerous desert and brittle wheatgrass, as well as feather grass. Among the Compositae, gray wormwood prevails. Cruciferous - 26 species, most of all descurization of Sofia and Goldbachia. Legumes are much less common, but sandy acacia, large-flowered caragana and camel spine sometimes dominate in small areas . These five families comprise 57% of the total local flora.
In general, the plant world belongs to the Turan floristic province. Endemic Kazakhstan species: Turgai feather grass, small-barbed Kandym, prickly quinoa, stiff-haired petrosimony, several species of wormwood: rod-shaped, five-lobed, fine-walled. There are numerous thickets of tamarix. One of the decorations of Barsakelmes are desert saxaul groves, with a stand height of 2.5-3 meters.
Animal world
There are 20 species of terrestrial vertebrates, among them the only amphibian, green toad, living in the vicinity of temporary water bodies. Among reptiles, the most common is takyr round-headed. Pallas muzzle, snake-arrow, squeaky gecko, living in the bi-jungle-gray-wormwood desert, are very common. In the dunes there is a fast foot-and-mouth disease. Rare species are patterned snake and steppe tortoise.
The island of Barsakelmes is rich in various representatives of birds. The avifauna consists of approximately 211 species of birds, both nesting and migratory. In the coastal zone a mute swan, a curly pelican, a mallard, a teal-cracker, a gray duck, a wide-toed nest, a stilt, and a chagra nestled at one time. Great damage to nests located on the ground on beaches and sandy islands is caused by foxes. Pegans, black swifts, bald beasts, stone sparrows, jackdaws, golden bees live on the cliffs, and in some years ravenous birds such as saker and kestrel nest.
By 1990, there were 12 species of mammals: small jerboa and tarbaganchik (natives), white-bellied shrew, ground squirrel (commercial species), gray hamster, fox, wolf, etc. The previously encountered corsac was exterminated by foxes in the 1960s.
To summarize
The history of the island is quite interesting. There are legends about him. This land area is unique and mysterious. Many people claimed that time passes on it imperceptibly (an hour on the island was equal to days on the mainland). Large ships that sailed into the Aral Sea disappeared there. On the map that is currently being drawn up, the island is not displayed, since in 2009 it ceased to exist due to the drying out of most of the water area.