MURMANSK, October 15. /TASS/. The Northern Fleet’s Gorizont (Horizon) hydrographic survey vessel finished studies in the Arctic Ocean’s seas and returned to its base in the Murmansk Region’s Mushukovo. The Arctic voyage was a record-long trip for the Fleet’s hydrographers over recent years, the Northern Fleet’s press service said on Sunday.
"Main efforts of the Gorizont’s crew and of the expedition unit, led by Captain 3rd Rank Denis Behtold, were aimed at oceanographic research in the far and near sea zones, including the Barents, Kara and East-Siberian Seas, in the Laptev Sea," the press service said. "The voyage lasted for 70 days."
The hydrographers went ashore a few times on islands of the Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Archipelagos. Near the Novaya Zemlya’s Vice glacier, they confirmed existence of an island, which the Moscow Region’s school students had found on space pictures. In early 2018, the school pupils announced they found a new island on pictures from the space. Besides, the press service continued, the expedition made studies near the Nanosny and Yaya Islands in the Laptev Sea.
During the expedition, the hydrographers took measures of more than 10,500km, took pictures of sea bottoms’ 2,000km - the East Siberian Sea’s "white spots," more than 1,000km of detailed pictures of the sea bottoms’ topography and hydro-location studies for navigation in those waters. For the first time over many decades, they studied the shore lines on the Northern Land Archipelago’s islands. As the ice situation was favorable, the expedition bypassed the Severnaya Zemlya from the east along the Arctic Cape. The global history knows only a few routes of the kind.
During the voyage, specialists studied the shores, bottoms’ landscapes, water parameters and the Earth’s various physical fields - both for updating navigation maps and for interests of the Northern Fleet. For example, they made complex studies of the radio-navigation and satellite-navigation systems in the northern area. The Gorizont vessel participated in the Northern Fleet’s Complex Expedition on the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, during which the specialists studied areas, where during WWII the Nazi installed automatic meteorology stations. The vessel also provided hydrometeorology support to the Northern Fleet’s warships, which participated in the East-2018 military exercises.
Students on board
During the expedition in 2018, students of the Sedov Water Transport Institute (a branch of the Ushakov State Navy University), and undergraduates of the Makarov University of Sea and River Fleet participated in the long voyage.
The information, collected during the expedition, will be sent to the Navy’s cartographic department, to the Armed Forces’ topographic service, to the national hydrometeorology services. It will be used for updating the oceanographic data and maps and navigation instructions. Some information will be sent to the Russian Geographical Society and to the Northern Fleet’s Museum.