ARKHANGELSK, July 7. /TASS/. The Arctic Floating University expedition started working in the Barents Sea by analyzing the expedition participants' adaptation to Arctic conditions, said Alexandra Yelfimova, a senior researcher at the Endocrinology Laboratory of the Professor Tkachev Federal Research Center for Comprehensive Arctic Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Urals Branch). The researchers are studying heart rate variability, hormone levels, mental and emotional conditions, and sleep quality.
"When exploring the Arctic, people get exposed to a wide range of difficult climatic, ship and social conditions, and they need to get adapted to them as soon as possible so that to be able to carry out successfully the scientific tasks they are facing," she said. "Therefore, it is of fundamental importance to develop methods aimed at studying the body adaptation processes and at offering measures to maintain appropriate adaptability of researchers to working conditions."
At several control points, specialists will take from the expedition's participants samples of morning and evening saliva, as well as venous blood to monitor levels of cortisol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA, known as androstenolone), and these tests will be followed by tests to determine DHEA/cortisol, testosterone/cortisol indices, as those values will be used to assess the body's adaptive reserves. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, which is released mainly under stress, and DHEA is an anabolic hormone, which is released simultaneously with cortisol and which helps in compensating for this stress.
In the course of the voyage, the expedition's participants will undergo studies of anxiety levels, concentration of voluntary attention, heart rate variability at rest and during orthostatic testing. Besides, it will be for the first time that the expedition's participants will keep daily sleep diaries. "This year, we are adding sleep testing. Daily monitoring is necessary. Since we're looking at hormones that have a circadian rhythm, and their levels change throughout the day. For example, low cortisol levels during slow-wave sleep create an anti-inflammatory window, which is necessary for cell activation and formation of immunological memory," she added.
It is typical for short Arctic voyages that their participants have irregular sleep, as at times ongoing research may continue for a day or even longer, and missions ashore islands may happen at night. The quality of sleep is also affected by the polar day. It is necessary to study all these features in order to develop preventive measures to increase adaptive reserves of participants in polar expeditions and of shift workers.
About the expedition
The 20th voyage of the Arctic Floating University scientific and educational expedition runs from July 1 to July 22, 2026 on board the Professor Molchanov scientific research vessel. The expedition organizers are: the Lomonosov Northern Arctic Federal University and the Northern Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Sevhydromet). The project's official sponsors and partners are: the Russian Federation's Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Russian Geographical Society, general sponsor - VTB, the Norilsk Nickel Company, and the Floating University Coordination Center based at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).