MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. An expeditionary party of the North Fleet, currently on a research mission to the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, on Wednesday did ice research at the northernmost point of the archipelago, the press service of the Fleet said.
Novaya Zemlya, consisting of the Northern and Southern islands, is a de facto extension of the Ural Mountains. It occupies an area of 90,650 sq. km and separates the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea.
The expeditionary party was taken to the starting point of the route by the Georgy Pobedonosets large amphibious ships. Vehicles and equipment were unloaded in Natalia Bay on an unimproved stretch of the coast.
"The expedition teams on quadbikes examined an abandoned Arctic airfield and a regiment camp located 15 km away from the Kara Sea coast and visited memorial sites on Zhelaniya Cape," the report said. "Also, they climbed to the ice dome of the Northern Island."
"Following requests from the directorate of the Institute of Geography at the Russian Academy of Sciences to the commanders of the North Fleet, the party tracked down some equipment that researchers left behind ten years ago," the press service said. "They prepared the equipment for return to the main land and also did a number of tests on the ice shield."
The first stage of the comprehensive expedition that received assistance of the Russian Geographic Society concentrated on the archipelago’s land surface. The second phase included research of the littoral areas from the sea.
The forthcoming third phase will encompass the research from the sea and from the water and on the ground. It will be crowned by a trek from Cape Zhelaniya to Ice Haven bay in honor of the trailblazers and researchers of Novaya Zemlya.