TASS, October 6. The Russian Academy of Sciences' expedition Clean Arctic - Vostok-77 plans to read fully all icons of the Pomors calendar and to compare them with modern climate observations, the expedition's press service told TASS.
"The Pomors calendar is an outstanding example of the Russian medieval science. On a wooden or bone bar, the Pomors marked all the days of a year in the form of notches on its edges, and marked with special icons holidays and annual astronomical and natural events. Several dozen different Pomors calendars have been preserved, and some icons on them have not been read. The expedition participants believe that a complete analysis of the Pomors' weather signs and calendar-related proverbs, sayings may clarify the meaning of those icons on the Pomors' calendar," the press service quoted Veronika Simonova, the expedition's scientific director, as saying.
Scientists stress that Pomors were the most qualified meteorologists in the Arctic in the 17 - 19 centuries. The Mezen Pomors, who live in the Arkhangelsk Region's north-east, have preserved quite a lot of weather signs that clearly worked in the 18 - 20 centuries. A team of experts, led by ecologist Maxim Tokarev, will compare those signs with the current climatic situation.
"Our task is to establish the most accurate timing of snowfall and melting, the beginning of ice drift on the Mezen River, and of other natural phenomena in the 19th century. These data are top important for comparing climate indicators and for making climate change models for the Arctic. The 20-century expeditions studied quite well the Pomors' weather signs, and nowadays we need maximum and accurate data. The Pomors ancestors were excellent meteorologists and they studied very attentively the Arctic weather, thus their culture has preserved a lot of important information, at times their data is no less accurate than instrumentally measured data," the scientist said.
About expedition
Clean Arctic - Vostok-77 is the biggest scientific expedition in terms of the number of participants in continental high-latitude scientific expeditions over the history of the North's studies. It will have 77 expedition teams. The route has been structured to meet the objectives, set by the Russian Academy of Sciences' research centers, and in accordance with due studies under university grants. Over a year-long term, 700 participants from more than 20 research centers and federal universities, as well as the Russian Geographical Society volunteers, will conduct 200 studies at routes that will be as long as 12,000 km.
One of the tasks the expedition is facing is to study and preserve rare Northern languages.
TASS is the expedition's general information partner.