YEKATERINBURG, January 16. /TASS/. Specialists of the Tyumen State University will conduct studies of more than a dozen settlements, which will be used as "anchor points" in the Russian Arctic, to restore and develop the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the university’s press service said on Monday.
"This work will be done in the framework of the university’s project called ‘Russian harbors of the Trans-Arctic route: Areas and Societies of the Russian Arctic coast on the eve of new epoch in NSR development’," the press service said. "Restoration and development of the Northern Sea Route has been announced a major Russian priority, which requires urgent complex research of the key settlements ("anchor points") on Russia’s Arctic coast."
The research will be done in various complex directions: historic, geographic, social, anthropological analyses of the current state and further development of the NSR "anchor points" and their communities. Results of the work would be a benchmark for further studies into infrastructures, social conditions, values and life plans of the people living in settlements along the Northern Sea Route.
"The material will be of great importance for following research of the Arctic’s social transformations, for planning of the Trans-Arctic Route’s development," the press service said.
The research results would be also of high applied importance: the information will be useful for the Ministry of Transport, the state authority for sea and river transport, for the NSR Administration in planning infrastructures for the NSR "anchor points", as well as for local municipal and regional authorities.
The Northern Sea Route - the main sea route in the Russian Arctic. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Transport forecasted cargo flow along the Northern Sea Route by 2020 may grow tenfold to 65 million tons per year. The route crosses seas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukotka) and partially the Pacific Ocean (the Bering Sea). The Northern Sea Route from the Kara Gate to the Providence Bay is about 5,600 km long. The distance between Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok along the Northern Sea Route is more than 14,000 km - compare it to the distance to be covered by the Suez Canal - more than 23,000 km.