ARKHANGELSK, May 15. /TASS/. The Russian Arctic National Park sets up the first scientific station on its territory, on the Alexandra Land Island of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago, the Park's Director Alexander Kirilov told TASS, adding it would be a complex station for scientific research.
"We are creating the first scientific station in the national park, on Franz Josef Land," he said. "Some equipment has been delivered, and we plan the rest will be delivered by August, 2024. The station will be designed for comprehensive research."
The station will operate at the Omega field base. By using a laboratory, scientists will conduct year-round observations on the archipelago. The scientific station is a joint project of the National Park and the Russian Geographical Society. The purchase of equipment for field research and primary processing is underway.
This year, scientists plan to work in different directions: specialists of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution will continue monitoring the Barents Sea polar bear group to assess its conditions. They will study the spatial and seasonal distribution of animals, the dynamics of the number of bears, as well as the animals' health. Scientific groups plan to map locations of the so-called polar bear maternity hospitals and to analyze when females are getting out from their dens. One of the goals the expedition is facing is to estimate bear litters' sizes on the Alexandra Land Island and to analyze satellite images of the ice cover as well as data on the animals that came out on the ice.
Scientists of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth (the Russian Academy of Sciences) plan scientific research in geology, geophysics, seismology, permafrost, biology, including marine biology, as well as hydrometeorology. "The scientific station will be available for professional scientists, working in the high-latitude Arctic, and it will favor the development of civil sciences, where anyone interested can help scientists by doing work that does not require special training, but which is important for data collection. It is possible to join the Alexandra Land studies on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago as early as in August this year - to assist scientists in collecting materials for research," the national park's director added.
The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia's northernmost and largest specially protected natural area that includes the Franz Josef Land Archipelago and the northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago. The national park's territory is among most hard-to-reach territories both in Russia and in the world.