ST. PETERSBURG, May 22. /TASS/. Organizers of the North Pole drifting expeditions to the Arctic plan to attract scientists from various institutes across the country. The first in recent ten years expedition (North Pole - 41), which ended in May, featured mostly specialists from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (St. Petersburg). A new mission will offer participation to scientists from other Russian scientific institutions, the expedition's leader Kirill Filchuk told TASS.
"We can see interest from many organizations involved in geophysics, hydrochemistry. The last expedition featured representatives of the Institute of Oceanology, the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This cooperation may be and should be expanded, and to North Pole - 42 and subsequent expeditions we will attract more specialists from other institutes," he said.
The involvement of specialists from the country's various institutions will favor collecting maximum amounts of data on current processes in the Arctic, and will make more effective work in certain specific areas, he added. It will be a unique opportunity for scientific institutions and their specialists to work in the Arctic seas for a year or more on the unique North Pole ice-resistant platform.
While speaking about the upcoming expedition - North Pole - 42, he said the list of participants is being put together. However, he continued, a few scientists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute who, even after many months in the North Pole - 41 expedition, intend to go return to the Arctic this autumn. Alexander Makarov, the institute's director, noted to TASS that both the ship's captain and part of the crew also planned to take part in the second consecutive expedition.
Specialists have been working on North Pole - 42's scientific program, he continued. The program will add research directions, new tasks, including ensuring the Northern Sea Route's operation.
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.