ARKHANGELSK, July 21. /TASS/. The Arctic Floating University expedition recorded an abnormally rapid retreat of a glacier on the Wilczek Land Island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, Nikita Demidov, a leading engineer at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, a geologist, told TASS from aboard the Professor Molchanov research vessel.
"The Arctic Floating University expedition has recorded an abnormally rapid retreat of a glacier during a mission ashore the Wilczek Land Island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago. Experts have compared the glacier's current position with satellite imagery data to find that in less than 20 years, the island's glacial dome has split into two parts, exposing a surface of several square kilometers," he said.
Many whale bones were found on the sea terrace that had emerged from under the glacier. Some skeletons that appear from the permafrost have preserved well. "The paleontology find indicates an episode of extremely rapid sea level change near Eurasia's northernmost archipelago, which has occurred in the recent few thousand years," the expert added.
About the Arctic Floating University voyage
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.