ARKHANGELSK, August 20. /TASS/. Scientists examined the Arctic fauna and soil on the Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land archipelagoes during an expedition on the Mekhanik Yartsev vessel, which has returned to Arkhangelsk, Director of the Russian Arctic National Park Alexander Kirilov told TASS.
"The expedition visited a few islands of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago and the northern point of Severny Island of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, where they monitored sea mammals and avifauna in the first place," he said. "On Hooker Island, they examined the condition of the aircraft hangar to decide what works could be done there. On Heiss Island they took samples of soil in the areas of recent cleanup to evaluate the concentrations of oil products."
The vessel brought materials for further restoration of the oldest Arctic wooden aircraft hangar to Hooker Island’s Tikhaya Bay. It was built in 1932 and abandoned in 1960. During the field season in 2019, specialists removed ice from the building and planned to continue works in 2020, but due to the pandemic the works, carried out jointly by the national park and the Arctic Museum and Exhibition Center (St. Petersburg), were delayed to 2021.
The center’s expert, Nikolai Frizin examined the hangar, as scientists feared the basement could be in poor condition. "The hangar has made it fine through the winter," the national park’s director said. "We were not sure about ventilation and wanted to see whether any ventilation would be necessary there at all, since in high Arctic wood does not rot."
In 2021, specialists plan to work on the hangar’s interior and the exposition.
Examining buildings and soils
On Heiss Island, the group examined all facilities of the former observatory near Lake Kosmicheskoye. The Ernst Krenkel Observatory (former name "Druzhnaya") was opened in 1957. It could accommodate about 200 people at a time. After the fire of 2001, the station was closed to be reopened in 2004. A new accommodation facility has been built there. Nowadays, the station’s staff is 5-6 people.
On Lake Kosmicheskoye premises there are still about a dozen buildings of the former observatory. The national park plans to set up a new base there. The Russian Arctic National Park presently has two bases on Franz Josef Land: a year-round facility on Alexandra Land and a summer base on Hooker Island. "The expedition members examined the buildings to see how they could be used for the national park’s another base on Franz Josef Land - this time on Heiss Island," the interlocutor said.
Under the Clean Arctic project, supported by Rosneft, scientists took samples of soil and ground on Heiss Island to see microorganisms and oil products there. They examined the areas exploited in the Soviet times. On Alexandra Land there used to be military facilities whereas Heiss Island used to feature a big meteorological observatory.
Cleaning on Franz Josef Land continued from 2012 to 2017, when more than 45,000 tonnes of waste was removed from the archipelago. Works have been practically complete on Alexandra Land, Hooker, Heiss and Graham Bell islands. Cleaning is yet to be conducted on Rudolf and Hofmann islands. After the cleanup, lands were revegetated, but certain areas still remain contaminated with oil products.
Cleaning on Heiss Island began in 2014, when specialists used drones to make pictures of the cleaned areas. "During this year’s expedition, we made fresh pictures and will compare them with the earlier ones," Kirilov said. "Before the year-end we expect results of the soil tests."
Bears featured by movie about Arctic
The expedition delivered equipment and materials to Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya’s Severny Island to provide ecology paths and a visitor center there. "We have been working on the territory to prepare it for big groups of tourists," the national park’s director said, adding that all tourist trips in the 2020 season had been postponed to 2021.
Cameraman Maxim Pervakov will stay on the island till the end of the current field season. The Russian Geographical Society provided a grant to finance works on the Bear Corner movie about the national park. The crew has caught Atlantic walruses and a few meetings with polar bears on camera. "We’ve made a beautiful recording of a bear from a drone," the director said. "The animal is not worried, it lies, peacefully licking the paw, and pays no attention to the drone."
The field season on the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago will be complete in late September, the national park’s director said.
The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia’s northernmost and biggest nature reserve, which has an area of 8.8 million hectares. It was established on June 15, 2009. The park includes the northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago and the entire Franz Josef Land Archipelago.