The flagship of the Russian polar fleet, the vessel Akademik Fyodorov, which is sailing southeast on a research mission along the Arctic archipelago Northern Land in the Laptev Sea, is picking up nine Russian researchers from the drifting polar station, Itar-Tass reports.
“All researchers are feeling well and continuing experiments and studies scheduled as part of the International Polar Year programme,” a spokesman for the Arctic and Antarctica research institute of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, Sergei Balyasnikov, said on Wednesday.
The main objectives set to the drifting station crew include studying the mechanisms of interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere, comprehensive oceanographic research, and ice monitoring.
The ice-floe on which the station was set up has deformed considerably due to intensive melting and become smaller, but the crew persevered through the high-altitude Arctic mission.
The Akademik Fyodorov is less “a week away from the polar port of Tiksi”, the institute official said earlier.
“The expedition is conducting oceanographic and geological research, probing the ocean bed with special equipment as part of the International Polar Year programme,” he said.
Over the weekend, the researchers and specialists flew by helicopter to Cape Massivny for geological prospecting and ornithological studies.
“Systemic ornithological research was carried out on the Franz Josef Land and the Northern Land, particularly the nesting sites of ice gulls that are included in the Red Book,” the spokesman said.
They examined eight colonies, six of which were described for the first time, and “banded 12 birds and fixed satellite tracking sensors on eight species to monitor their migration”.
An international crew of the new drifting North Pole 35 station will arrive from St. Petersburg in Tiksi by August 27.
The spokesman said helicopters from board the Akademik Fyodorov, whose passage through the ice was ensured by the nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya, would bring structures for the winterers’ camp to the specially chosen ice platform north of the Novosibirsk Islands. Polar explorers will land on the ice platform.
The drifting of the North Pole 35 station with regular rotation of researchers and specialists is planned for over 12 months, the press secretary said.