ARKHANGELSK, July 20. /TASS Correspondent Irina Skalina/. The Arctic Floating University's expedition returned from the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago on Saturday, a TASS correspondent reported from the Professor Molchanov research/survey vessel. The route of more than 5,000 km crossed the White, Barents and Kara Seas. The researchers had five stops on islands in the Barents Sea, were caught in three storms, one of which was 6 points strong.

"The plan that we had for the expedition has been fulfilled by 90%. The most important result is that for the first time in many years we have managed to visit all the largest island territories in the Barents Sea: the Vaygach Island, the Kolguev Island, and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. And we have carried out successful work there. Though due to the weather, due to rather difficult storm conditions, we were unable to go ashore at all the planned locations on Novaya Zemlya, I believe that five stops are good enough for efficient work in all scientific areas," the expedition's leader Alexander Saburov told TASS.

The Arctic Floating University is a joint project of the Northern Arctic Federal University (NAFU) and the Northern Branch for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. The expeditions continue since 2012. In the current year, the expedition has featured 55 participants, including 22 students and postgraduates from 13 scientific and educational organizations.

For the first time in recent years, the Floating University has managed to make a complete oceanology section from the Salm Island on Franz Josef Land to Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya. A section is a line with points having fixed coordinates, where scientists make measurements and sample water. The section from the Salm Island to Cape Zhelaniya is important in terms of seeing how water masses get distributed in the Barents Sea.

Ocean studies specialists have processed data on temperature and salinity, made images of how water masses look on the section in 2023, and have begun to compare results to results of previous years. "We are looking for changes that occur in the water structure here and we are analyzing how the atmosphere exchanges carbon dioxide with the ocean. In the section, we observe the Atlantic core in the same location where it was observed in earlier years. This year, the temperature was lower than it was in 2017 and it may be roughly compared to the data of 2013," Anna Vesman, head of the scientific group of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, explained to TASS.

Ocean experts will compare the data to results of other expeditions, so that eventually to have a general picture of the so-called Atlanticization of the Arctic. This process is associated with the entry of warmer waters from the Atlantic Ocean into the Arctic seas.

Litter, underwater noise and space weather

For the first time, unmanned aerial vehicles have been used to monitor litter on the Arctic coast. Environment specialists have received high-resolution images. In the future they will use neural networks to register litter as well as to correlate results of manual registrations at every 100 meters of the coast line. "During one stop, a team examines two or three landfills, while a drone can multiply the area," the expedition leader said.

A new direction for the Arctic Floating University was to measure underwater noise produced by the Professor Molchanov vessel. The measurement was conducted by Artem Ponomarev of the Krylovsky Research Center. The objective was to create a technology for sonar measurements of civilian vessels. This will make the basis for future domestic noise pollution standards for civil marine equipment.

During the expedition the Northern Arctic Federal University's graduate student Alexander Gordeychik onboard the vessel used a special antenna to receive more than 7 terabytes of information from small spacecraft. Specialists will analyze the data to understand how the space weather in the circumpolar regions affects them and will develop recommendations to increase the life of satellites in orbit.

Plants, animals and underwater robots

The Northern Arctic Federal University's another student, Matvey Bolotov, sampled seawater to study for the first time the species composition in the microscopic marine fauna in the coastal zones of the Vaygach Island and the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago. Similar studies in the high-latitude Arctic have been carried out only by Norwegian scientists on the Norwegian Sea coast. The researcher hopes to identify up to 30-35 species of organisms.

Zooplankton is an important link in the Arctic seas' trophic chain - it is eaten by various fish species. Additionally, these organisms are sensitive to climate change. "They are very active in responding to climate change. Monitoring can tell about the changes that have happened in the ecosystem. I'm laying a research platform for future studies," the student told TASS.

For the first time on the Arctic islands biologists have studied macrophytes (aquatic plants large enough to be seen by the naked eye) in fresh water. The obtained data will be the starting point in monitoring the vegetation cover of lakes in the Russian Arctic.

Another two students, Daniil Shushkov and Alexander Shkriabin, tested two underwater robots for the first time in the Arctic seas. Normally, this equipment is limited to pools with shallow depth and fresh water. The authors with their products have participated in numerous national competitions and won prizes. As they say, their products may be used to inspect the underwater part of a ship's hull, to explore the sea bottom and to collect samples.

Another new direction for the Arctic Floating University is to analyze thermal power equipment operations. Specialists of the Polar State University in Norilsk have examined diesel power plants and collected a database of images and thermal imaging examples of equipment degradation in Arctic conditions. They plan to create an application to assess automatically conditions of power plants.

The project's partners and sponsors are the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic, VTB, Novatek, Norilsk Nickel, the Arkhangelsk Region's government, and the Russian Geographical Society.