ST. PETERSBURG, May 22. /TASS/. Biologists, who participated in the North Pole-41 expedition, expect to discover new species of living organisms in samples of the Arctic water and soil. Leader of the expedition's biological research group Olga Zimina told reporters earlier biologists never had access to the depth of almost 5 km in the Arctic.
"This time, the biological program was maximum extensive, compared to all previous drifting stations. <...> In this expedition, we've got a solid foundation that could have been impossible before. <...> We've worked maximum at the depth of 4.9 km, earlier it was an absolutely inaccessible Arctic zone for us, for biologists. I think we expect new discoveries and new organisms when we have analyzed the data," she said.
During the expedition, biologists collected data on all components of the Arctic biosphere - they tracked the activity of living organisms at the bottom, in the cold water column of the Arctic Ocean seas, inhabitants of the ice column, as well as mammals and birds, she said.
Their special attention focused on microplastics - they have collected samples at different depths, and now in laboratories the scientists will assess the harmful particles' content in the northern seas and their impact on living organisms.
The scientific work following the expedition will take about a year, she added. At the same time, the next team of biologists will leave for the Arctic on the North Pole-42 expedition this autumn already. The new biological research program in the region will be even broader, especially in studying the Arctic's basic food chain - plankton, she said.
About the North Pole
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 expeditions of the kind 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.