Russia: Arctic Research Vessel ‘Mikhail Somov’ Arrives in Arkhangelsk

The first research vessel laden with waste materials carried from the Russian Arctic polar stations has arrived in Arkhangelsk, the regional Arkhangelsk government said.

The ice-class research and expedition vessel Mikhail Somov of North Territorial Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (HEMD) completed the 102-day expedition to the Arctic region, the longest voyage in recent years. The ship supplied to the polar stations and islands over 2,000 tons of fuel, 300 tons of food, 250 tons of construction materials, automatic and semi-automatic equipment. The vessel took on board 1350 crashed barrels and 500 suitable for further use. The total mass of scrap metal was about 30 tons.

“The waste materials from the Arctic pose no threat to humans,” says the head of the expedition Alexander Oboimov. “We are watching over this very closely. The last year expedition had taken all the necessary tests and carefully studied them, and only after that we began hauling the waste.”

During the voyage a team of researchers of the Institute of Arctic and Antarctic, of the North HEMD and the Institute of Applied Geophysics was implementing the federal target programs “World Ocean” and “Geophysics”. The expedition crew renovated offices and living quarters of the polar stations Wiese, Beliy Nos, Kolba and installed geophysical antennas.

According to the program of modernization and re-equipment of the Federal Hydrometeorological and Environmental Monitoring Service, the RV delivered to the polar stations and installed 20 semiautomatic and stand-alone meteorological systems.

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Source: PortNews, November 1, 2011