Russia gives 35 mill EUR to Arctic research missions

The scientific research vessel “Akademik Fedorov” has been on an expedition to study the shelf since the end of July, RIA Novosti reports. The main purpose of the expedition is to get a relief of the sea bottom.

Russia plans to submit a new application to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. If Russia can prove that the underwater Arctic ridges Lomonosov and Mendeleyev are geological continuations of the Russian continental shelf, the country will get the right to exploit the enormous oil and gas fields in the triangle Chukotka-Murmansk-North Pole.

Director of the Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research Ivan Frolov has said that this is the largest Russian expedition to the Arctic in ten years time, as BarentsObserver reported. The vessel, which is accompanied by the nuclear icebreaker “Yamal”, will return to the main land in the end of October.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov Russia plans another expedition to study the outer borders of the shelf next year. 1.5 billion rubles (app. 35 million EUR) have been allocated to these two events.

Last Saturday the nuclear icebreaker “Rossiya” left Murmansk to sail the Northeast Passage to Wrangler Island, where the search for a suitable ice floe for the drifting scientific station North Pole 38 will begin. This expedition aboard “Rossiya” is led by State Duma deputy and Presidential Adviser on Arctic Issues, Artur Chilingarov, RIA Novosti reports.

North Pole 38 will consist of 15 polar researchers who will staying on the ice floe for nearly a year, using modern technology to measure depths and collect other indications of the sea bottom relief.