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Arctic expedition returns from Yakutia’s coldest districts

Two groups of researchers, reporters and bloggers from January 12 registered extremely low air temperatures in Yakutia’s Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon districts

© Svetlana Pavlova/TASS

YAKUTSK, January 23. /TASS/. The Cold Conquerors expedition registered January’s lowest air temperature in Yakutia - minus 54 degrees Celsius, the expedition’s leader Vyacheslav Ipatyev told TASS on Wednesday.

Two groups of researchers, reporters and bloggers from January 12 registered extremely low air temperatures in Yakutia’s Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon districts.

"Their preliminary reports say average temperatures in January are lower in the Oymyakon district, where the groups fixed the air temperature of minus 54 degrees," he said. "The nearby meteorology station also registered that temperature; and in the Verkhoyansk district the freezing fell to minus 50.5 degrees."

According to the expedition’s leader, all the data is preliminary and will be verified by the regional hydro-meteorology service. Final results will be announced at a news conference at the Russian Geographic Society on January 29. Results of the first experience will be used also to lay best routes for next groups.

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"The problem is that some parts of the route were across ice-frozen rivers and lakes, where certain areas were free from ice," the traveler continued. "The logistics is extremely complicated, and next year we shall update it accordingly."

The expedition’s another stage due in 2021 will continue for three weeks.

"We shall review methods of measuring temperatures, as digital equipment has proven to be unreliable," he added. "Most probably, we shall have to use regular alcohol thermometers."

The Cold Conquerors project is a unique experiment of volunteers. The project is supported by Yakutia’s Governor Aisen Nikolayev. The regional authorities hope the expedition will grow into an annual event, which will promote the tourism potential of Yakutia as the world’s coldest inhibited area. The expeditions will register the inhibited Earth’s areas with lowest temperatures. This information will be updated by official meteorology data.

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