ST. PETERSBURG, October 4. /TASS/. Specialists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) began working on a drifting ice floe in the Arctic Ocean in the framework of the North Pole-41 expedition. For the first time in history the scientists work from the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform, not from a camp on ice, the institute’s press service said on Monday.

"The North Pole-41 Russian drifting polar station has begun working in the Arctic Ocean," the press service said. The expedition is organized by specialists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. "The expedition’s ensign was flown on board the vessel."

The North Pole has been moored to the ice floe of about 42 square kilometers. Scientific equipment, transport and appliances have been brought to the ice. The scientists have organized first field scientific laboratories and have tested data transmission. The first meteorology forecast was sent off the ice successfully.

"The mooring is the first stage. We need not just to fix the vessel in the place where we have moved into the ice, but also to see how it is stuck there. The wind resistance is quite high now, thus we’ll be able to see the reaction rather quickly," the expedition’s leader Kirill Filchuk told a TASS correspondent, who is aboard the platform.

The ice, to which the North Pole has been frozen, most likely will drift across the Greenland Sea’s polar region. After leaving the Fram Strait, the platform will sail to Murmansk.

First expedition since 2013

"I eye this as resumed regular studies on drifting ice, we continue a certain historical line," the expedition leader told TASS. "Since the break was quite long, this event in a certain sense is a milestone."

The North Pole-41 expedition continues the Russian program of drifting polar stations, which began in 1937 with an expedition led by Ivan Papanin. In 2013, the program was terminated due to the ice thawing in the Arctic. Specialists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute have analyzed and summarized the unique experience of previous expeditions and suggested the best option for long-term research laboratories - to use the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform.

"The Arctic climate continues changing actively. Its current specific feature is the high variability of ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean seas. <...> Observation data directly from the Central Arctic, among other things, will be used to ensure safe navigation along the world's one of most promising transport routes - the Northern Sea Route," AARI’s Director Alexander Makarov said.

North Pole platform

The world’s first self-propelled ice-resistant platform - the North Pole - is designed for year-round expeditions in the Arctic Ocean’s northern latitudes. The vessel is being frozen into a large drifting ice floe, and during this drift scientists will conduct geological, acoustic, geophysical and oceanographic studies.

AARI’s director earlier told TASS, it will be for the first time that by using the new platform polar explorers will be able to focus exclusively on scientific work, without wasting time to make a camp on a drifting ice floe, like they had to do for decades. The platform has 15 equipped laboratories, a helicopter pad and everything necessary for scientists to organize research sites right on the ice. The platform can provide comfortable and safe working conditions for people at the polar station at the air temperature of minus 50 degrees and humidity of 85%.

The North Pole’s construction was ordered by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring as a part of the state program for social and economic development of the Arctic zone. The vessel was laid on April 10, 2019. In early autumn, 2022, the platform joined AARI’s scientific expedition fleet and its maiden expedition kicked off.