#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Researchers will supplement the Russian Arctic marine areas fauna data and the sea water state on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in the autumn-pre-winter period. The expedition set off on the Sevmorput nuclear-powered lighter carrier from St. Petersburg.
According to the goarctic.ru portal, zoologists will observe marine mammals and near-water birds. The majority of marine animals ship counts are carried out in summer and autumn, and it is in late September – early October that the mass migration of birds ends.
“Some of them stay for the winter, and pagophilic marine mammals, whose life completely or most of the time goes in the marine environment, change their coastal haulouts to ice ones.
According to forecasts, already in the second ten days of October, the Vilkitsky and Long straits, where the rookeries of the rarest and smallest Laptev subspecies of walrus, listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, are located”, said the leading specialist of the Ecology Department of the Marine Research Center of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosova Olga Adishcheva.
Scientists will also receive information about the hydrophysical parameters of each of the seas – autonomous Star-Oddi sensors will be installed in the outboard water intake system on the Northern Sea Route, which will continuously measure the sea surface layer temperature in the vessel’s movement direction.
After processing the data, scientists from the RAS Oceanology Institute after P.P. Shirshov will be able to continue mapping the water masses distribution on the shelf of the seas, primarily plumes (desalinated water mass formed in the sea as a result of mixing of river runoff and salty sea waters) of large Siberian rivers – the Ob, Yenisey and Lena.
“These studies will allow us to assess the impact of the growing intensity of shipping and other anthropogenic factors on the ecological state of the seas of the Russian Arctic, as well as to understand their role in ongoing climate change”, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, leading researcher at the Ocean and Land Waters Interaction and Anthropogenic Processes Laboratory of the RAS Oceanology Institute after P.P. Shirshov Alexander Osadchiev explained.
The Northern Sea Route underwater environmental safety and surface comprehensive research has been carried out by the Marine Research Center of Moscow State University by order of the Rosatom state corporation since 2021.
Earlier, the ice-resistant floating platform North Pole began to study the Arctic, and the Nornickel company helped scientists to count the Arctic Ocean inhabitants. This Is Taimyr also reported that the Arctic seismic station will help navigation on the NSR.
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Text: Angelica Stepanova, Photos: Olga Polyanskaya and Olga Alexandrova
