Mona Islands

They are located in the Kara Sea, about 30 km north of the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia, Russia.

Mohn worked out and published the meteorological observations of various polar expeditions, including those of Nansen in the "Fram" (1893–1896).

Russian scholars deem that Vladimir Rusanov and his ill-fated party disappeared somewhere around the area of the Mona Islands.

Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, under Commander Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken, destroyers Friedrich Eckoldt, Erich Steinbrinck and Richard Beitzen, entered the Kara Sea along with submarines U-601 (Captain Grau) and U-251 (Lt. Captain Timm) in August 1942, in order to destroy Soviet warships.

The Germans knew that many ships of the USSR fleet had sought refuge in the Kara Sea because of the protection that its icy pack provided during ten months in a year.

Memorial plaque commemorating Vladimir Rusanov's expedition which was lost in this area of the Kara Sea. This plaque is located in Gerkules Island, which is named after Rusanov's ship.