Ust-Nera
Ust-Nera (Russian: Усть-Нера; Yakut: Уус Ньара, romanized: Uus Nyara) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Oymyakonsky District in Yakutia, Russia. Located in one of the coldest permanently inhabited regions on Earth, Ust-Nera is approximately 870 kilometers (540 mi) northeast of the republic's capital, Yakutsk. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 6,463.[3]
Ust-Nera is located at the confluence of the Nera and Indigirka Rivers, from which it takes its name (the ust- part means river mouth in Russian). Ust-Nera is located about 200 kilometers (120 mi) north of the selo of Oymyakon, which one of two places in the Sakha Republic (the other being Verkhoyansk) which lays claim to being the northern Pole of Cold, the coldest location in the northern hemisphere.
Ust-Nera has an extremely cold subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwd) with mild, wet summers and severely cold, dry winters.
Ust-Nera was founded in 1937 in conjunction with gold mining and exploration in the Indigirka and Kolyma regions.[citation needed] In the Soviet era, it served as a base for forced labor camps of the gulag. Urban-type settlement status was granted to Ust-Nera in 1950.[2]
Within the framework of administrative divisions, the urban-type settlement of Ust-Nera[1] serves as the administrative center of Oymyakonsky District.[2] As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Oymyakonsky District as the Settlement of Ust-Nera.[2] As a municipal division, the Settlement of Ust-Nera is incorporated within Oymyakonsky Municipal District as Ust-Nera Urban Settlement.[12]
Gold mining is the main occupation. The Kolyma Highway was extended northwest to Ust-Nera in 1937; this section is now the main route between Yakutsk and Magadan. The Ust-Nera Airport is serving air traffic. River traffic on the Indigirka is limited by the rapids 100 kilometers (62 mi) downstream.
