ARKHANGELSK, July 22. /TASS/. The Floating University expedition of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology (IO) on board the Professor Molchanov research vessel departed from Arkhangelsk to study the Arctic seas, the project's organizers told TASS.

It is for the first time, that the voyage is on board a vessel owned by the national hydrometeorology service's Northern branch, Sevhydromet. The researchers plan to work on the continental slope in the Kara Sea and in the Laptev Sea. During the previous voyage that the Professor Molchanov made between June 25 and July 16, the ice situation in the Russian Arctic's western sector and the Kara Sea was rather complicated.

"They will work depending on the ice situation. The ice situation has been improving. Right, in certain areas it is complicated, but in most locations the ice situation suits the planned works. It's summer in the Arctic, after all," Sevhydromet's leader Roman Ershov told TASS.

Within 41 days, six scientific teams will explore water masses on the shelf and the continental slope of the Russian Arctic seas. The expedition features 19 scientists, and 26 students - participants in the Russian Floating University program. They have joined the expedition after classes at the Winter School of the Floating University in 2024, where they learned various aspects of ocean sciences, and then used the program to find scientific supervisors, with whom they are going on this expedition. The students and postgraduates study natural sciences at universities in Russia's regions. The scientific teams unites 45 people.

"This year, the expedition's geography will expand eastbound significantly. We plan to work on the continental slope in the Kara Sea and in the Laptev Sea. This way we will be able to take measurements in a region where climate change is particularly pronounced, and were expeditions are very rare due to the ice cover that remains there almost year-round," the expedition's scientific leader Alexander Osadchiev, head of MIPT's Laboratory of Arctic Oceanology, and a leading researcher at IO said.

Results of the MIPT-IO expedition in 2023 have contributed to the understanding of how water masses' structure and circulation affect ice along the Northern Sea Route.

Expeditions of floating universities

The MIPT-IO Floating University expedition is among five expeditions under the Floating University program, due in 2024. More than a hundred students, selected across Russia, will join the research this year. In recent years, the program has developed into a national project. A coordinating center has been working at MIPT, and a working group has been supervised by the National Oceanography Commission.

"Many sectors have reported a shortage of personnel - the scientific community has been facing this problem for quite a time, and programs of the kind favor building a professional track to progress from student to scientist," the MIPT Coordinating Center's Director Natalia Stepanova-Chubarenko said.

Hydrometeorology service

Sevhydromet's specialists will help students in conducting research. According to the ship's scientific assistant Mikhail Shunin, the expedition participants plan to measure vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and bio-optical characteristics from the surface to the bottom - by using hydrological probes, sampling of water and sediments, and other studies.

During the expedition, its participants will learn the Russian Hydrometeorology Service's history. They will see on board the vessel a part of the exposition devoted to the service's 190th anniversary, prepared by the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic jointly with Sevhydromet. The exhibition presents outstanding scientists, researchers, hydrologists, meteorologists.

The expedition will end in late August, when its participants go ashore in Tiksi.