ST. PETERSBURG, May 3. /TASS/. The North Pole - 41 drifting polar station wrapped up work in the Arctic Ocean, press service of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg) said. The first expedition of the kind in recent 10 years worked in the Arctic for about 19 months, where participating experts collected valuable data on climatic and other processes in the Arctic.
"The North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform has sailed independently from the ice field into open water near the Spitsbergen Archipelago," the press service said. "The vessel now drifts waiting for favorable weather and ice to start sailing towards the port of Murmansk, from where an aircraft will take the polar explorers to St. Petersburg."
Over the mission's 19 months, the polar station on the world's first ice-resistant self-propelled platform, which was built for it, has covered about 3,000 nautical miles (5,500 km). In a straight line, from the starting point near the New Siberian Islands, the route's length has made 900 nautical miles (1,600 km). During the drift, the scientists completed a program in 50 areas of interdisciplinary scientific research, including the study of the Arctic from the Arctic Ocean's bottom to the stratosphere.
"The North Pole - 41 Expedition has become a great success of Russian scientists, designers and shipbuilders. The unique project, which ten years ago seemed fantastic, and which emerged from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, has been implemented and has fully confirmed its feasibility both from the scientific and from economic points of view. For decades to come, we will be provided with up-to-date data on conditions of the Arctic environment, and we will build up our scientific positions in high latitudes," the press service quoted the institute's Director Alexander Makarov as saying.
How the expedition was going
The North Pole - 41 drifting station was opened on October 2, 2022. The ice-resistant North Pole platform in the Arctic Ocean was moored to an ice field of 42 square kilometers. The polar explorers unloaded onto the ice equipment and vehicles and started comprehensive studies of the Arctic's main processes.
Together with the first ice floe, the station had covered almost 3,000 km until, due to the warmth, the ice began collapsing. Late last summer (2023), the polar explorers managed to leave the ice floe to moor successfully to another, more stable, ice field. Initial plans were the expedition would continue to late 2023, but later on its term was extended so that scientists could collect big amounts of data. Over that time, aircraft were used to deliver team shifts, though most scientists have worked on the station throughout the expedition's term.
The North Pole expeditions
The North Pole - 41 Expedition continues the Soviet program of complex drifting research missions in the Arctic's high latitudes. The world's first polar research drifting Arctic station North Pole (North Pole - 1) began operation on May 21, 1937. As many as 40 such expeditions have been organized.
In 2013, a team of scientists was evacuated from the North Pole - 40 drifting station, and the program was suspended for almost ten years. In September, 2022, the program resumed at a new technological level - the expedition is supported by the North Pole ice-resistant platform.
The world's first ice-resistant self-propelled North Pole platform is designed for year-round expeditions in the Arctic Ocean's northern latitudes. It does not require icebreakers to sail to the designated area, and it can drift for up to two years and sail back to the port. The vessel takes on board 14 crew and 34 researchers. The platform is equipped with an on-board scientific complex of 15 laboratories, a mobile field camp for accommodation on ice floes.