Russian and Germany scientists will hold a workshop in St. Petersburg on November 8-11 this year to focus on studying the Laptev Sea region, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute said.
The meeting’s main purpose is to discuss the previously obtained scientific results and planning future joint Russian-German research in the region. The workshop was jointly organized by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, Russia), Russian-German Laboratory for Polar and Marine Research of Otto Schmidt (OSPMRL, AARI, Russia), Institute for Polar and Marine Research and Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI, Germany).
Since 1993 the two countries has been implementing the Agreement on Cooperation in Polar and Marine Research between the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education and Scientific Research of the Federal Republic of Germany. The agreement has helped carry out the Russian-German research projects involving over 10 institutions in Germany and more than 15 research institutes and universities of Russia. The most ambitious was the Laptev Sea System, which includes three projects: "Global change in the seas of the Eurasian Arctic Shelf: frontal zones and ice-holes of the Laptev Sea," "Experimental Station on the island of Samoilovsky", "Russian-German Laboratory for Polar and Marine Research of Otto Schmidt (OSPMRL).
On August 23, 2010 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Samoilovsky Experimental Station. Mr. Puting said there was a need for creation of a joint research observatory in the delta of Lena River and continuation of Russian-German research.