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Paratroopers land at Barneo drifting station to do research with scientists

MOSCOW, April 05 /ITAR-TASS/. A field party of the Russian Airborne Troops has flown from Olenegorsk, northern Murmansk region, to the drifting Russian polar station Barneo to do research on one of the floes, the Defence Ministry press service said on Saturday, April 5.

“The military and the civilian researchers studied the condition of one of the large drifting floes in the Arctic Ocean, and took temperature, air, water and ice samples,” it said.

The military specialists examined the surface of the floe, the cracks and clearings in it.

The main purpose of the fieldwork is to assess whether the drifting floes are fit for dropping cargoes in high altitudes in the event of search and rescue operations. The survey has been organised in cooperation with the Russian Geographical Society.

The Barneo station is located near the North Pole and has been in operation since 2000. It has two Mi-8 helicopters and an airfield to receive Antonov-74 planes.

The Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Arctic and Antarctic Institute have been doing research at the station since 2006 to study physical properties of the upper layers of water, ice, ocean species, the ozone layer and the atmosphere.