TASS, September 27. The Clean Arctic - Vostok-77 expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences studied marshes and swamps in Karelia to find how they influence the climate, the scientific expedition's press service told TASS.

"Both Karelia and the Murmansk Region, like the Russian North in general, are very important regions for the planet's climate. Here, in the Arctic, are located giant carbon-depositing territories of swamps. They are natural carbon polygons that protect the planet from the global greenhouse effect. Our expedition features experts of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geography - they have been working on this issue since 1991, and very soon researchers from the Northern (Arctic) Federal University will join us," the press service quoted the expedition leader Andrey Nagibin as saying.

The expedition's three teams worked near Louhi, Kalevala and Kostomuksha. First of all, they surveyed local marshes and waterlogging reservoirs.

Interestingly, the expedition has attracted local residents, who, under contracts with the scientific centers, for several years would collect and send to the scientists monthly data on processes in swamps and other natural objects. For example, five-year observations will continue on the Kalevala Nature Park's largest swamp - Yupyauzhshuo. The swamp's area is about 30,000 hectares.

About 70% of Karelia's all marshes and swamps are located in the region's north, in the valley between the White Sea and the border with Finland. Peat deposits there are estimated at about 9 billion tons. Those huge deposits are holding a giant amount of carbon.

About expedition

Clean Arctic - Vostok-77 is the biggest scientific expedition in terms of the number of participants in continental high-latitude scientific expeditions over the history of the North's studies. It will have 77 expedition teams. The route has been structured to meet the objectives, set by the Russian Academy of Sciences' research centers, and in accordance with due studies under university grants. Over a year-long term, 700 participants from more than 20 research centers and federal universities, as well as the Russian Geographical Society volunteers, will conduct 200 studies at routes that will be as long as 12,000 km. One of the tasks the expedition is facing is to study and preserve rare Northern languages. TASS is the expedition's general information partner.