The participants in the tenth expedition of the Arctic Floating University, which will be held in the summer of 2018, will study the New Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Besides, there are being planned scientific research in the White and Kara Seas, landing on the islands of Vaigach, Matveyev and Kolguev.
«The Arctic floating university» - is an educational project, in the course of which the young scientists gain knowledge and skills in the real conditions of the northern seas. For the duration of the project, the vessel «Professor Molchanov» becomes a floating university - a ship that combines a laboratory for scientific research and a practical base for the training of researchers. The first voyage of the Arctic Floating University took place in 2012. The project is carried out with the grant support of the Russian Geographical Society, thanks to the joint efforts of the Northern Arctic Federal University named after M.V.Lomonosov (SAFU), the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Rosgidromet) and the Arkhangelsk Branch of the Russian Geographical Society.
«The expedition will be held from 10 to 29 July. The route is the following: we plan to work in the White Sea, then New Earth, which will be the main place of work, starting from the north-west coast, and then along the eastern coast of the archipelago with marine work in the Kara Sea», - the head of the expedition, the director of the Arctic Center for Strategic Studies of the Northern Arctic Federal University Konstantin Zaykov told.
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The expeditions of the Arctic Floating University have never yet explored the eastern part of Novaya Zemlya. «The eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya has not been studied enough from the point of view of many processes and phenomena, it is the unknown frontier of the Russian Arctic,» - Zaykov emphasized.
In the Kara Sea, there will be continued work on the study of anomalies in the circulation of Atlantic water masses. We should remind you that during the previous expeditions between the New Earth and Franz Josef Land, the scientists recorded a warm jet of the fractal branch of the Gulf Stream and another warm jet, the origin of which is yet to be clarified.
«This discovery is of great importance. In that area there lies the Northern Sea Route and the transportation of goods to Franz Josef Land, for navigation it is very important to understand the ice situation, and for this it is necessary to take into account the presence of warm currents and their behavior», - the head of the expedition explained.
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Traditionally, the Arctic researchers will be monitoring animals and birds. So, in the last flight on Franz Josef Land, specialists recorded a black-browed albatross that had not previously met in the area and had been entered into the red book.
The members of the expedition will be scientists and students. Among them there are representatives of the national park «The Russian Arctic», Moscow State University, as well as partners from three Swiss universities - The Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Lausanne University and the University of Geneva.