ST. PETERSBURG, July 13. /TASS/. The crew rotation on the world's first self-propelled ice-resistant platform - the North Pole - which is on the maiden voyage now, is due in August. The rotation will be served by the Akademik Tryoshnikov research/survey vessel, press service of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg) told reporters on Wednesday.

"The Akademik Tryoshnikov's route will begin in Murmansk, from where the vessel will depart in early August towards Franz Josef Land," the press service said. "The ship will sail to the North Pole-41 drifting station after the 10th of August, and in another two weeks she will return to the St. Petersburg port."

The North Pole platform, serving the North Pole-41 scientific expedition, has been drifting in ice for nine months. From the starting point near the New Siberian Islands, the expedition has drifted more than 2,500 km. According to the plan, after the expedition enters ice-free waters of the Greenland Sea, the North Pole self-propelled ice-resistant platform will sail to Murmansk.

"The North Pole-41 pole station's drift continues relatively quickly, but we assume the expedition would be able to continue working in the ice for a few more months," AARI's Director Alexander Makarov told reporters. "Thus, our decision is to supply additional equipment and to have a wider scientific program."

"The ice-resistant platform's crew will be replaced, but the main team of scientists will continue working," he added.

In addition to the North Pole crew's rotation, the Akademik Tryoshnikov will deliver to Franz Josef Land a group of scientists to survey the perennially frozen ground on the archipelago's islands.

About expedition

The North Pole-41 expedition continues the program of complex drifting research in the high latitudes of the Arctic, founded by Soviet scientists. The world's first polar research drifting station in the Arctic - North Pole (North Pole-1) - began working on May 21, 1937. The country has organized 40 expeditions.

In 2013, a team of scientists from the North Pole-40 drifting station was evacuated, and the program was suspended for almost ten years. In 2022, Russia resumed the program of drifting Arctic stations at a new technological level - the expedition is supported by the North Pole ice-resistant platform.

The world's first self-propelled ice-resistant platform North Pole is designed for year-round expeditions in the northern latitudes of the Arctic Ocean. It does not require an icebreaker to sail to the destination, to drift in the water area for up to two years and to return to port. The vessel takes 14 crew and 34 scientific personnel. The platform is equipped with an onboard scientific complex of 15 laboratories, a mobile field camp for accommodation on ice floes.