Teriberka Weather Station

Teriberka Weather Station is a marine hydrometeorological station in the village of Teriberka, Kola District, Murmansk Oblast, opened in 1889. It was the first weather station on the Barents Sea coast and is one of the oldest still operating on the Kola Peninsula. The station stands on a hill by the sea within the Teriberka Nature Park and is still at work today.

History

The station opened on 13 August 1889. It was set up on the initiative of D. N. Ostrovsky, the Russian consul in Vardø, Norway, and the physician V. R. Gulevich; its first observer was I. G. Vidyakin, a medical apprentice. In 1898 the station came under the Main Physical Observatory.

Its observation programme grew over time: from 1914 the staff also measured sea water temperature and waves. In 1922 K. F. Ivanova became the station's first appointed head. During the Second World War the station was moved to Cape Zhiloy.

What to see

The station consists of two houses. The old wooden building is said locally to be the first ever built in the village; it is now abandoned and is best viewed from outside, as it is unsafe to go in. Meteorologists work in the newer building, and the instruments of the weather site stand on the hill around it.

Today Teriberka station is part of the coastal marine network of the Murmansk Hydrometeorological Service. It records the weather, sea level, water temperature and salinity, waves and ice, and also monitors greenhouse gases in the air, carbon dioxide and methane.

Getting to the weather station

The station lies within Teriberka, inside the nature park. You cannot drive up to it, as a barrier closes the road. Cars are left at the car park, where the park entrance fee is collected, and the last 400–500 metres are on foot.

The station is easy to see on the way to other well-known sights of Teriberka: nearby are the Stone Beach, with boulders known as "dragon eggs" or "dinosaur eggs", and the rock grotto called the Dragon's Nest.

Good to know

• The old house is in poor condition and is photographed from outside.
• The Teriberka Nature Park fee is paid at the entrance, by the car park.