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Russia - Gym, swimming pool, 16 laboratories: a new expedition will be sent to the Arctic

Russia (bbabo.net), - The North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform was built at the Admiralty Shipyards. As Rossiyskaya Gazeta already wrote, in the next decade it will become the world's leading scientific platform for research in the Arctic. / i

In the Arctic Ocean, the platform will be frozen into ice. The camp is set up around it, where scientists will do their research. How all this will be organized, about the life of new polar explorers and dangerous encounters with polar bears, the director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Doctor of Geography Alexander Makarov told the reporter.

The North Pole-40 drifting station left the Central Arctic in 2013. She was the last one. Alexander Sergeevich, why is it so important for our country to return the drifting stations - albeit in the form of a platform?

Alexander Makarov : The future of world Arctic science is associated with a return to drifting research in high latitudes. This is a worldwide trend.

Satellite data is not enough to assess the state of the natural environment; information is needed in situ (on the ground) on the distribution of water masses, characteristics of ice, pollution. This can only be done during expeditions.

The most accurate data can be obtained by placing a station on drifting ice and tracking ice dynamics along with meteorological and oceanological indicators for at least one year.

At one time, the drifting stations were suspended for safety reasons.

Alexander Makarov: The program of drifting expeditions on ice had to be curtailed due to the consequences of climate change - unfavorable ice conditions. This prompted us to look for other ways.

Now we are talking about a completely new approach - a safe and reliable platform that can both freeze into the ice and, at the right time, continue to work afloat. The idea of ​​creating such a vessel was born within the walls of our institute. Its author was my mentor, scientist-oceanologist, polar explorer, at that time the director of our institute Ivan Evgenievich Frolov. He has been promoting this project for many years. And he passed away on the eve of launching the platform into the water.

We worked out the organization of work on the platform in 2019, during the expedition "Transarktika", organized by Roshydromet. The ship "Akademik Treshnikov" was frozen in.

And the technologies of camp deployment, ice work and evacuation have been successfully developed (see video - editor's note).

How many people are you planning to take on the flight?

Alexander Makarov : There will be 48 people on the platform: 14 - ship crew, 34 - expeditionary crew. In fact, 14 people is a small number for the crew of a ship of this class, but sufficient.

Drifting stations began with tents, in which they slept, and ate, and worked. Life was ascetic. Then modular houses appeared. What conditions will you offer to polar explorers on the platform?

Alexander Makarov : Compared to the first drifting stations - sanatoriums. Single comfortable cabins, gym, plunge pool, comfortable clothes.

The issue of providing high-quality Internet is being addressed (we will drift in high latitudes, where not all satellite communications work). Laboratories, in which it is pleasant to work.

But the complex of scientific observations will be deployed on the ice, next to the vessel. They will go from ship to ice to work. Unfavorable weather conditions are guaranteed. Romance is enough too. And what about the polar explorer without her?

Since the polar explorers have to leave the platform, then there is a high probability of meeting a polar bear?

Alexander Makarov : Of course. A special alarm and thermal imagers will definitely be set up around the ship to detect animals on the approaches. The groups will be accompanied by specially trained people.

I myself have met the white bear twice. Once he stomped past nearby. And the second time a hardened bear visited the tent where we were preparing food. And for the first time in my life I saw how panic is formed in people. Even experienced polar explorers.

I realized that until a person is in a critical situation, you cannot know how he will react. And you don't know about yourself. That case ended well: everyone remained intact, including the bear.

Will you take the dogs to the platform? Still, it's more comfortable with them.

Alexander Makarov : For comfort - slippers and a blanket. Dogs are taken for practical reasons. They sense bears from a distance, notify them in time, thereby helping to prevent unpleasant incidents and in time to drive away the harsh master of the Arctic. Killing bears is prohibited unless there is a direct threat to life.

Russia - Gym, swimming pool, 16 laboratories: a new expedition will be sent to the Arctic