#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The expedition Clean Arctic – Vostok-77 started on August 15 from the Murmansk seaport. During the year, scientists from 20 institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and several universities will have to travel more than 12 thousand kilometers through the little-explored northern regions and carry out scientific work on state assignments.
The expedition will pass through the continental part of the Arctic along seven routes, TASS reports. Its tasks include studying the tundra and permafrost state, compiling maps of the USSR industrial heritage and modern transport infrastructure, studying microplastics in northern water bodies and places of future carbon landfills, as well as sociological research. It is planned to create an inter-academic database of Arctic research.
During the year, more than 700 members of the expedition will conduct about 200 studies, breaking 11 time zones. The scientific program includes research in the field of not only ecology, but also sociology, as well as anthropology of indigenous peoples and residents of the northern villages of the country.
Scientists expect real geographical discoveries. According to Boris Kochurov, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geography Institute, more than 100 natural objects that should become tourist centers will receive projects for their environmentally friendly improvement and development of the road network after the expedition.
“These objects are to become Russian eco- and ethno-tourism centers in the 21st century. It is possible that when examining approaches to new objects, names will be given to new valleys and passes through which paths and roads to the discovered locations will pass”, the scientist noted.
Correspondents and photographers from TASS, which is the general information partner of the expedition, will work together with the scientists.
Previously, experts noted that the accumulation of microplastics in the aquatic environment can reduce the ability of marine systems and biota to accumulate greenhouse gases, this will accelerate the rise in temperatures in the Arctic and the melting of Arctic ice. A slick is growing in the Barents sea, which is 70 percent plastic. Garbage sorting will help rid the Arctic of harmful plastic waste.
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Text: Marina Horoshevskaya, Photo: Olga Polyanskaya and Denis Kozhevnikov
