A round-the-world oceanographic expedition departed on the ships of the Hydrographic Service of the Russian Navy from Kronstadt on December 3RD. The expedition is conducted by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation together with the Russian Geographical Society. The voyage is timed to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica by Russian sailors Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, as well as the 250th birthday anniversary of Admiral Ivan Kruzenshtern.
The discovery of Antarctica belongs to the Russian sailors - members of the First Russian Antarctic expedition of 1819–1821 under the command of Thaddeus Bellingshausen (1778–1852) and Mikhail Lazarev (1788–1851). On July 16th, 1819 on the sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" they set sail from Kronstadt. The discovery of the coast of Antarctica occurred on January 28th, 1820. The voyage lasted 751 days, the length of the journey was almost 100 thousand km. The results of the round-the-world expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev became one of the most significant in the history of world geographical research.
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The expedition route largely follows the path of the ships of Bellingshausen and Lazarev. On the “Admiral Vladimirsky” oceanographic research vessel, the participants of the round-the-world expedition will pass through the Baltic and North Seas, the Atlantic Ocean and other waters of the World Ocean.
“The “Admiral Vladimirsky’s” path will pass through the Atlantic Ocean to Antarctica, and then back through the Southern and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. It will have to cover a distance of over 40 thousand miles. The expedition will visit the ports of foreign countries along the route. Among them - Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Messina, the port of Victoria and Limassol, and many others, "said Nikolai Evmenov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy.
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The voyage is planned in such a way that on January 28th, 2020 the ship will arrive at the Russian Antarctic station “Bellingshausen”. There, the crew will take part in the anniversary events dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica. The voyage will end on June 5th, 2020.
The expedition will be attended by a scientific group of Russian Geographical Society. It included specialists from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Roshydromet, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Rusgeology, which have passed the competitive selection. During the expedition, scientists will conduct hydrographic work in the Bellingshausen Sea and oceanographic and hydrometeorological studies in the seas surrounding Antarctica. They will also collect data that will allow to update the Russian navigational charts and reissue the Russian navigational chart INT9172, 1998 edition.
"In addition, it is planned to clarify the position of the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere, which, in the 1960s, moved from the mainland (Adélie Land), passed an ice shelf and is now in the D'Urville Sea," said the deputy director for scientific work of the E.K Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics (IPG) of Rushydromet, Vladimir Minligareev.
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The analysis of the information received will be carried out by the Navigation and Oceanography Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Navy Hydrographic Service, together with specialized scientific organizations.
“The Navy, on this expedition, interacts very closely with the Russian Geographical Society. This interaction has been very effective; it has been since the founding of the Russian Geographical Society. We work together on all projects related to enriching the tradition of the history of Russian navigation,” Nikolai Evmenov noted.
The hydrographic ship “Marshal Gelovani” and the oceanographic research ship “Yantar” will join “Admiral Vladimirsky” en-route.