Editor’s Note: Today’s story is the answer to the July Puzzler.
Call it an alluvial face-off. On the southern end of Severny Island in the Russian Arctic, rivers rush down from rugged terrain flanking a broad valley. Upon reaching flatter ground, the waters slow and distribute sediment into cone-shaped features called alluvial fans. Several appear in opposing orientations alongside a braided river in this Landsat 9 image.
Severny Island (Ostrov Severnyy) is a mountainous, uninhabited landmass in the frigid high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Part of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the island is largely covered in glacial ice. Some glaciers, especially in the north, terminate in the sea, while others end on land, feeding meltwater into glacial streams.
Sediment-laden streams, along with the island’s topography, create favorable conditions for the formation of alluvial fans. The features typically appear at the base of steep mountain ranges, where narrow river channels open onto flatter terrain. There, rivers can slow, divide into smaller channels, and deposit sediment. Over time, the channels migrate back and forth to build up fan-shaped deposits. Dueling fans line several northwest-southeast-trending valleys in the wider view below.
A wide view of southern Severny Island in the Russian Arctic shows ice-capped mountains interrupted by broad valleys lined with alluvial fans. The image was acquired on August 1, 2025, by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9. NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren DauphinSeasonal snowmelt and glacial runoff likely keep Severny’s rivers supplied with ample fan-building material. Hydrologists note that higher river flows during the warmer months, driven by snowmelt, can carry more sediment out of the mountains. Glaciers also produce large volumes of eroded material as they grind downslope, some of which flushes out in meltwater.
Smaller, land-terminating mountain glaciers, like those on southern Severny Island, are particularly prone to melting as the atmosphere warms. Severny’s ice is relatively understudied due to its remoteness, but satellite observations give scientists an understanding of its health. Recent analyses incorporating digital elevation models found that land-terminating glaciers across the Novaya Zemlya archipelago thinned during the 2000s and 2010s, especially at lower elevations.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.
Downloads
August 1, 2025
JPEG (19.56 MB)
References & Resources
Małecki, J. (2022) Recent contrasting behaviour of mountain glaciers across the European High Arctic revealed by ArcticDEM data. The Cryosphere, 16, 2067–2082. Melkonian, A.K., et al. (2016) Recent changes in glacier velocities and thinning at Novaya Zemlya. Remote Sensing of Environment, 174, 244-257. NASA Earth Observatory (2009, July 30) Novaya Zemlya. Accessed July 13, 2026. National Geographic Society (2023, October 19) Alluvial Fan. Accessed July 13, 2026. Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College (2026, June 9) Cold climate conditions as a driver of alluvial fan deposition in the Lost River Range, Idaho, USA. Accessed July 13, 2026.You may also be interested in:
Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.
Cañon Fiord’s Whirling Waters
3 min read
During the 2022 summer melt season, sediment plumes and fractured sea ice traced swirling eddies in a branch of the…
ArticleA Sea of Spinning Clouds
3 min read
Icy, isolated Peter I Island stirred up a show in the atmosphere off the West Antarctic coast.
ArticleSigns of Thaw in the Bering Sea
3 min read
Drifting sea ice fragments near Alaska’s Saint Lawrence and Nunivak islands and colorful water around the Yukon Delta heralded the…
Article 1 2 3 4 Next Keep ExploringDiscover More from NASA Earth Science
Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters
Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox.
Earth Observatory Image of the Day
NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery.
Explore Earth Science
Earth Science Data
Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data
Hence then, the article about fans of the arctic was published today ( ) and is available on NASA ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Fans of the Arctic )
Also on site :
- Olympic Gymnastics Legend, Who Scored the World’s First Perfect 10, Relives Her Greatest Performance 50 Years Later
- Drew Barrymore's Buttercream-Yellow Walmart Kitchen Collection Is the Summery Refresh Your Space Needs
- ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus Talks AI Training at United Nations Summit: Artists ‘Deserve a Place at the Table’