ARKHANGELSK, July 18. /TASS/. The Arctic Floating University expedition began work on the Oran Islands in the north of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago on Thursday, the expedition leader Alexander Saburov told TASS from aboard the Professor Molchanov scientific research vessel.
"Microbiologists and ornithologists are working on the Oran Islands, where the weather is favorable," he said.
The Oran Islands are small rocky islands in the Barents Sea north, consisting of the Big and the Small Oran Islands. There is a walrus rookery, and bird rookeries on the rocks, where uria, black-legged kittiwake, Atlantic puffin and other Arctic birds nest. It is not at all every year that the Arctic Floating University is lucky to go ashore the Oran Islands.
Further on, the Professor Molchanov headed for Cape Zhelaniya, where, at night, the expedition participants will go ashore.
The Professor Molchanov departed from Arkhangelsk on July 9, and the expedition will continue to August 1. The project's sponsors and partners are Russia's Ministry of Science and Higher Education, VTB Bank (the general sponsor), the Russian Geographical Society, the Norilsk Nickel Company, and the Floating University Coordination Center based at MIPT.