«The Arctic Odyssey – 2017» expedition is working in Vorkuta and Salekhard. Within the frames of the project the staff and the students of the Geographical faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University are studying the formation of the «heat islands» around the major cities of the Russian Arctic.
The urban «heat islands» are warmer than the environment of the zone in the city, which differs in its environmental characteristics. The air temperature there is higher than about due to urban industry, construction, transport and other reasons.
In addition to the fundamental scientific interest, the study of urban climate is useful from the practical point of view. The «heat islands» studying in the polar cities can help the municipal budgets save money by optimizing the heating costs, and to serve as a basis for developing of the methods of increasing the comfort of the population living in the major cities of the Komi Republic and Yamal-Nenetskiy Autonomous District.
The expedition is not only scientific, but also pedagogical. Within the frames of the project the students-geographers are being taught the art of field meteorological research under the guidance of senior lecturer of the Faculty of geography of the Moscow State University Pavel Konstantinov.
We should remind you that for the recent years there have been conducted microclimate extensive studies in Murmansk, Norilsk, Apatity, Nadym and Vorkuta by the scientists of «the Arctic Odisseya».
Besides the Geographical faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University , the Department of Science and Innovation of the Yamalo-Nenetskiy Autonomous District and the Scientific Center of the Arctic Study (Salekhard) are supporting the expedition. The project is financed through the private donations.