BARENTS SEA, July 15. /TASS/. The Arctic Floating University expedition experts wrapped up research on the Kolguev Island in the Barents Sea's southern part, a TASS correspondent reported from aboard the Professor Molchanov research vessel. On June 26, due to the ice, the Professor Molchanov could not approach the Bugrino village bay. The expedition leaders had to adjust the route - they planned visiting the Kolguev Island on the way back, after missions ashore Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya.
"We've managed all the work planned for the Kolguev Island. In the limited time that we had, I think we've managed a good job, all the groups worked efficiently. Due to the coordinated work, we were able to accomplish the maximum," the expedition leader Alexander Saburov told TASS.
The ornithology group conducted bird surveys, microbiologists took samples of animal waste, as well as of soil, including in search for giant viruses, a form of life discovered in 2003.
Giant viruses have been found in Arctic ecosystems. Their study is important to understand the origin of eukaryotes in the life development. Moreover, the low Arctic temperatures could have preserved ancient representatives of giant viruses. If scientists are lucky to find them, the viruses may be compared with the living ones, and thus experts will study their evolution.
"We have selected samples for research, it is important that we have a geographical gradient from Franz Josef Land to the Kolguev," Artemy Goncharov of the Institute of Experimental Medicine said.
Matvey Bolotov of the Northern Arctic Federal University (NAFU) collected samples for zooplankton to compare obtained data with results he received there a year earlier.
Late summer
Researchers of freshwater lakes also will be able to compare results with last year's data. According to Nadezhda Zueva, associate professor at the Russian State Hydrometeorological University, the water temperature in the reservoir was +17 degrees, which is very warm water for the Kolguev Island. About similar time a year earlier, scientists could see very few plants in the lake. "This year, we are working later, and yet there are practically no plants. They have just started to grow. The shore is dry grass, dry sedge, and besides, it's warm on the island," she said. "We need to check what the weather was like. Perhaps it was clogged ice, maybe it was really cold, and now there is a heat wave when everything starts to grow. The caltha has just begun to bloom. It's very beautiful, but too late."
Soil specialists have found in the Kolguev peatlands objects that are typical for the southern cryolithozone with a certain type of swamps, and they are not typical for the northern tundra. "According to the new classification, these soils are called "peat oligotrophic destructive". They normally do not have an upper humus horizon with vegetation. This is the soil of bare peat patches. Bare peat patches are the result of cryogenic processes, wind erosion. Such large spots are typical for the southern cryolithozone, where polygonal swamps are not common, they are typical for large-hummocky swamps and parts of flat-hummocky swamps," Dmitry Kaverin of the Komi Scientific Center's Institute of Biology, the Russian Academy of Sciences' Urals Branch, told TASS.
The southern cryolithozone includes forest tundra and tundra, like that, for example, near Vorkuta or Naryan-Mar.
Arctic Floating University - 2024
On June 25, the Arctic Floating University departed from Arkhangelsk to conduct research in the White and Barents Seas, on the Kolguev Island, on islands of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.
The project's partners and sponsors are the Arkhangelsk Region's government, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Russian Geographical Society, VTB Bank, Norilsk Nickel, Roshydromet (the hydrometeorology service), the Russian Arctic National Park, the Floating University Coordination Center at MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology; also known as PhysTech), the Nauka (Science) year-round youth educational center.
The Arctic Floating University's expeditions continue under the Science and Universities national project, implemented by Russia's Ministry of Science and Higher Education.