Arktika 2007
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
performed the first ever crewed descent to the ocean bottom at the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
, as part of research related to the 2001 Russian territorial claim, one of many territorial claims in the Arctic
Territorial claims in the Arctic
Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark , are limited to an exclusive economic zone of adjacent to their coasts.Upon ratification...
, made possible, in part, because of Arctic shrinkage
Arctic shrinkage
Ongoing changes in the climate of the Arctic include rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Projections of sea ice loss suggest that the Arctic ocean will likely be free of summer sea ice sometime between 2060 and 2080, while another estimate puts this date at...
. As well as dropping a titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
tube containing the Russian flag
Flag of Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896...
, the submersibles collected specimens of Arctic flora and fauna and apparently recorded video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
of the dives. The "North Pole-35" (abbreviated as "NP-35") manned drifting ice station
Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations
Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and...
was established.
On January 10, 2008 three of expedition members who performed the descent to the ocean bottom at the North Pole, Anatoly Sagalevich
Anatoly Sagalevich
Anatoly Mikhailovich Sagalevich is a Russian explorer, who works at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1965....
, Yevgeny Chernyaev and Artur Chilingarov
Artur Chilingarov
Artur Nikolayevich Chilingarov is a Russian polar explorer. He is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1986 and the title Hero of the Russian Federation in 2008. Chilingarov is also a member of State Duma from Nenets...
were awarded titles Hero of the Russian Federation
Hero of the Russian Federation
Hero of the Russian Federation is a Russian decoration and the highest honorary title that can be bestowed on a citizen by the Russian Federation. The President of the Russian Federation is the main conferring authority of the medal, which is bestowed on those committing actions or deeds that...
"for courage and heroism showed in extremal conditions and successful completion of High-Latitude Arctic Deep-Water Expedition."
Program
The expedition, part of the Russian program for the 2007–2008 International Polar YearInternational Polar Year
The International Polar Year is a collaborative, international effort researching the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor, but died before it first occurred in 1882-1883. Fifty years later a second IPY occurred...
, used the Akademik Fedorov research ship, with both MIR submersibles
MIR (submersible)
Mir is a self-propelled Deep Submergence Vehicle. The project was initially developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Design Bureau Lazurith. Later two vehicles were ordered from Finland...
on board and the nuclear icebreaker
Nuclear powered icebreaker
A nuclear powered icebreaker is a purpose-built ship for use in waters continuously covered with ice. Icebreakers are ships capable of cruising on ice-covered water by breaking through the ice with their strong, heavy, steel bows...
Rossiya (Russia) led it through the Arctic ice. The ships had two Mi-8
Mil Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
s and geological probe devices, and Il-18
Ilyushin Il-18
The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...
aircraft with gravimetric devices
Gravimetry
Gravimetry is the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field. Gravimetry may be used when either the magnitude of gravitational field or the properties of matter responsible for its creation are of interest...
. Its aim was to investigate the structure and evolution of the Earth's crust
Crust (geology)
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet or natural satellite, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle...
in the Arctic regions neighbouring Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
, such as the regions of Mendeleev Ridge
Mendeleev Ridge
The Mendeleev Ridge is a broad ridge in the Arctic Ocean from the East Siberian Sea area of the Siberian Shelf to the central areas of the ocean. It is attached to the Alpha Ridge of the Amerasian Basin. It is named after Dmitri Mendeleyev.The Ridge was discovered in 1948 by Soviet high latitude...
, Alpha Ridge
Alpha Ridge
The Alpha Ridge is a major volcanic ridge under the Arctic Ocean between the Canada Basin and the Lomonosov Ridge. It was active during the formation of the Amerasian Basin. It was discovered in 1963. The highest elevation is about 2.7 km over the ocean floor. It is 200 to 450 km wide...
and Lomonosov Ridge
Lomonosov Ridge
The Lomonosov Ridge is an unusual underwater ridge of continental crust in the Arctic Ocean. It spans 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands, as it is part of Eurasia, over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The width of the Lomonosov Ridge varies...
, to discover whether they are linked with the Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n shelf.
Expedition
The Akademik Fedorov left Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
on July 10, 2007 for the expedition. Off Baltiysk
Baltiysk
Baltiysk , prior to 1945 known by its German name Pillau , is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Bay from the Gdańsk Bay. Baltiysk...
, it took aboard the two MIR
MIR (submersible)
Mir is a self-propelled Deep Submergence Vehicle. The project was initially developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Design Bureau Lazurith. Later two vehicles were ordered from Finland...
Deep Submergence Vehicle
Deep Submergence Vehicle
A Deep Sea Submergence Vehicle is a deep diving manned submarine that is self-propelled. The term DSV is generally one used by the United States Navy, though several navies operate vehicles that can be accurately described as DSVs...
s from the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh
Akademik Mstislav Keldysh
The R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh is a 6,240 ton Russian scientific research vessel. It is best known as the support vessel of the Mir submersibles. The vessel has made over 50 voyages, is owned by the Moscow-based Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Science and is...
. On July 22 the vessel arrived at Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
, and sailed for the North Pole three days later, behind the nuclear icebreaker
Nuclear powered icebreaker
A nuclear powered icebreaker is a purpose-built ship for use in waters continuously covered with ice. Icebreakers are ships capable of cruising on ice-covered water by breaking through the ice with their strong, heavy, steel bows...
Russia. After five hours, the Akademik Fedorov began drifting in the Barents Sea
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...
because an electric motor controlling its propellor failed. The Russia, 20 hours ahead by that time, turned to help. Nine hours later the crew of Akademik Fedorov repaired the motor and the ship continued its voyage, staying close to the Russia. On July 27 The icebreaker landed a group of marine biologist
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
s on the Kheysa
Kheysa
Ernst Krenkel Observatory was a former Soviet rocket launching site located on Heiss Island, Franz Josef Land. It is named after a famous Arctic explorer Ernst Krenkel, a member of the crew of the North Pole-1 drift ice station and other notable Soviet polar expeditions.It served the MR-12 from...
island, the site of Russia's Krenkel observatory to conduct research for the International Polar Year
International Polar Year
The International Polar Year is a collaborative, international effort researching the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor, but died before it first occurred in 1882-1883. Fifty years later a second IPY occurred...
.
Test descent
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
. There, the submersibles, each with one person on board, performed test dives. Anatoly Sagalevich took the MIR-1 down at 9:36 Moscow Time
Moscow Time
Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the nine time zones of Russia. Moscow Time has been UTC+4 year-round since 27 March 2011....
and Yevgeny Chernyaev followed at the controls of MIR-2 at 10:00. At 10:32 MIR-1 reached the seabed at a depth of 1311 metres, and by 11:10 MIR-2 also was at the ocean bottom. Both surfaced at 14:20.
North Pole descent
Descents were carried out on August 2, 2007 in both MIRMIR (submersible)
Mir is a self-propelled Deep Submergence Vehicle. The project was initially developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Design Bureau Lazurith. Later two vehicles were ordered from Finland...
Deep Submergence Vehicle
Deep Submergence Vehicle
A Deep Sea Submergence Vehicle is a deep diving manned submarine that is self-propelled. The term DSV is generally one used by the United States Navy, though several navies operate vehicles that can be accurately described as DSVs...
s. The MIR-1's crew consisted of pilot Anatoly Sagalevich
Anatoly Sagalevich
Anatoly Mikhailovich Sagalevich is a Russian explorer, who works at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1965....
(head of the Oceanology Institute), Russian polar explorer Arthur Chilingarov and businessman Vladimir Gruzdev
Vladimir Gruzdev
Vladimir Sergeyevich Gruzdev is a Russian politician, the governor of Tula Oblast., businessman and explorer.Vladimir Gruzdev was born in 1967 in Bolshevo, Moscow oblast, to a military officer and a teacher...
. The MIR-2's crew comprised pilot Yevgeny Chernyaev of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n adventurer Mike McDowell, and Swede
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Frederik Paulsen Jr., head of Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company that specializes in the development and marketing of drugs for use in human medicine.It was founded by Frederik Paulsen Sr in Malmö, Sweden, in 1950, initially as the Nordiska Hormon Laboratoriet, renamed Ferring in 1954. A ferring in Frisian is a...
).
MIR-1 began its dive at 9:28 Moscow Time
Moscow Time
Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the nine time zones of Russia. Moscow Time has been UTC+4 year-round since 27 March 2011....
and at 12:08 reached the seabed
Seabed
The seabed is the bottom of the ocean.- Ocean structure :Most of the oceans have a common structure, created by common physical phenomena, mainly from tectonic movement, and sediment from various sources...
4,261 metres (14,061 feet) below the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
. MIR-2 began its dive at 9:47 and at 12:35 reached the seabed 4,302 metres (14,196 feet) down. At 12:35 the bathyscaphe
Bathyscaphe
A bathyscaphe is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design....
s were 500 metres (1,650 feet) apart and MIR-1 moved near MIR-2. At 13:46 both submersibles began to ascend, with MIR-1 surfacing at 18:08 and MIR-2 at 19:15.
On the seabed, 4,261 metres below the Polar ice, MIR-1 planted a one metre tall titanium
Titanium alloy
Titanium alloys are metallic materials which contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. Such alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness , light weight, extraordinary corrosion resistance, and ability to withstand extreme temperatures...
Russian flag
Flag of Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896...
, made at Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
's "Fakel" 'design bureau.' It also left a time capsule
Time capsule
A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...
, containing a message for future generations and a flag of the pro-President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
United Russia
United Russia
United Russia is a centrist political party in Russia and the largest party in the country, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties...
party. Soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
and water samples
Sample (material)
In general, a sample is a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount of that thing. The things could be countable objects such as individual items available as units for sale, or a material not countable as individual items. Samples of countable...
of the seabed were taken during the mission.
Controversy over TV images
Russian state broadcaster RossiyaRussia TV Channel
Rossiya 1 is a state-owned Russian television channel founded in 1991. It belongs to the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company ....
had enhanced footage of the Arktika expedition with sequences taken by MIR submersibles for the 1997 film Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, as an illustration of the submarines in action, in which the Finnish-built bathyscaphes had explored the wrecked liner on the Atlantic seabed. The same images were rebroadcast by Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, which mistook them as actual footage of part of the expedition.
A Finnish 13-year-old, Waltteri Seretin, of Kemi
Kemi
Kemi is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio. It was founded in 1869 by royal decree, because of its proximity to a deep water harbour....
, 450 miles (724.2 km) north of Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, had recognized the submersibles used in the voyage to the bottom of the sea as appearing in sequences director James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
's Oscar-winning drama. International news agency Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
had on August 10 admitted it had wrongly captioned video it took from Russia’s Rossiya Television and which it had disseminated worldwide, London’s Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported.
The agency, the daily reported, had admitted: it had “mistakenly identified this file footage as originating from the Arctic, and not the North Atlantic where the footage was shot. This footage was taken during the search for the Titanic and copyright is held by Rossiya."
Finish of the first stage
On its way back to Franz Josef LandFranz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
to collect marine biologists, the Akademik Fedorov on August 4 met the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Tara expedition
Tara expedition
The Tara Expedition is a research expedition through the ice of the Arctic. The polar schooner Tara was to drift in the ice for approximately two years from its departure, late in August 2006. In the community of oceanography it is met with great interest especially in the context of the...
. The ship's MI-8 helicopter landed near the yacht, which had been drifting for eleven months, Rossiya
Russia TV Channel
Rossiya 1 is a state-owned Russian television channel founded in 1991. It belongs to the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company ....
's Vesti reported. The Russian expedition, led by Arthur Chilingarov, had supplied the Tara expedition with food Tara
Tara expedition
The Tara Expedition is a research expedition through the ice of the Arctic. The polar schooner Tara was to drift in the ice for approximately two years from its departure, late in August 2006. In the community of oceanography it is met with great interest especially in the context of the...
's schooner Agnès B had set out a year earlier to drift with the Arctic ice for two years, measuring the retreat of the Polar ice cap, its log shows. The Russians had asked to 'visit...on their return from the Pole, we accepted their request', the log reads' 'A group of a dozen officials and journalists' brought 'gifts of fresh fruit and vegetables and a few bottles of wine...we found the meeting somewhat surreal'. The French expedition had 9 tonnes of food and was growing its own — ‘...salad...is what we have grown...most [to date]. Corn salad grows very well’, even at those latitudes [but] ‘...it seems a bit premature to consider [us] a self sufficient Arctic base food wise', the Agnès B's Bruno Vienne told hydroponics advisers Les Jardins Suspendus
The first stage of the Arktika 2007 expedition ended on August 7, 2007, when both MIR submersibles
MIR (submersible)
Mir is a self-propelled Deep Submergence Vehicle. The project was initially developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Design Bureau Lazurith. Later two vehicles were ordered from Finland...
were transferred from Akademik Fedorov aboard Akademik Mstislav Keldysh
Akademik Mstislav Keldysh
The R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh is a 6,240 ton Russian scientific research vessel. It is best known as the support vessel of the Mir submersibles. The vessel has made over 50 voyages, is owned by the Moscow-based Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Science and is...
, met in Nagurskaya Bay, which is situated in the Cambridge Channel of Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
.
Second stage: sailing eastwards
Akademik Fedorov then sailed towards the "Ice Base", a group of nine polar explorers led by A.A.Visnevsky landed on June 7, 2007 from the nuclear icebreaker Russia at the point 80°57′N 168°53′E The corresponding ice floe was a candidate for the "NP-35" establishment, but since then its area greatly reduced and became inappropriate for this. Sailing through the northern part of the Kara Sea Akademik Fedorov reached the northern part of Laptev SeaLaptev Sea
The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy...
, then returned, passed by Schmidt Island
Schmidt Island
Schmidt Island, Ostrov Shmidta in Russian, is part of the Severnaya Zemlya group in the Russian Arctic and was named after Soviet scientist and first head of the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, Otto Schmidt...
and sailed southwards towards Shokalsky Strait
Shokalsky Strait
Shokalsky Strait is a 50 km-wide strait in Russia. It separates Bolshevik Island from October Revolution Island, and connects the Laptev Sea in the west with the East Siberian Sea in the east. It is named after Russian oceanographer Yuly Shokalsky....
of Severnaya Zemlya
Severnaya Zemlya
Severnaya Zemlya is an archipelago in the Russian high Arctic at around . It is located off mainland Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula across the Vilkitsky Strait...
. 26 oceanographic stations were carried out and Mi-8
Mil Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
flights were performed from the research vessel to Schmidt Island for ornithology
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
research and to north-eastern islands of Franz Joseph Land for glaciology
Glaciology
Glaciology Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal): glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit...
, geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and ornithology research. Ornithology research was also conducted on Severnaya Zemlya islands. In particular, a significant part of the ivory gull
Ivory Gull
The Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea is a small gull, the only species in its genus. It breeds in the high arctic and has a circumpolar distribution through Greenland, northernmost North America, and Eurasia.-Taxonomy:...
range
Range (biology)
In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density.The term is often qualified:...
was observed and six new colonies
Colony (biology)
In biology, a colony reference to several individual organisms of the same species living closely together, usually for mutual benefit, such as stronger defense or the ability to attack bigger prey. Some insects live only in colonies...
of these birds found.
By August 17 Akademik Fedorov passed Shokalsky Strait and six days later collected the "Ice Base". On August 28 the research vessel anchored by the Tiksi
Tiksi
Tiksi is an urban locality and the administrative center of Bulunsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, situated on the Arctic Ocean coast. Population: It is one of the principal ports for accessing the Laptev Sea...
roadstead
Roadstead
A roadstead is a place outside a harbor where a ship can lie at anchor. It is an enclosed area with an opening to the sea, narrower than a bay or gulf. It has a surface that cannot be confused with an estuary. It can be created artificially by jetties or dikes...
to perform the rotation of expedition members and left for New Siberian Islands
New Siberian Islands
The New Siberian Islands are an archipelago, located to the North of the East Siberian coast between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea north of the Sakha Republic....
next day. Akademik Fedorov skirted them around from the north, carrying out oceanographic stations and a Mi-8 flight to Bennett Island
Bennett Island
Bennett Island is the largest of the islands of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. The area of this island is approximately 150 km² ...
was performed for geology probe and pollution probe.
On September 5 Akademik Fedorov met nuclear icebreaker Russia and started a search for an ice floe suitable for "NP-35" manned drifting ice station
Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations
Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and...
establishment, beginning the third stage of "Arktika 2007" expedition.
Third stage: drifting ice station "NP-35" establishment
The search for appropriate ice floe for the establishment of the "North Pole-35" (abbreviated as "NP-35") manned drifting ice stationSoviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations
Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and...
lasted until September 18, when one with an area of 16 square kilometers was found. Some 300 tons of cargo was disembarked from the vessel to ensure long functioning of the station. "NP-35" started operations on September 21, 2007 at the point 81°26′N 103°30′E, when flags of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
were raised there. 22 scientists, led by A.A.Visnevsky are working on the ice floe. The station is believed to work for a year, drifting towards the Fram Strait
Fram Strait
The Fram Strait is a passage from the Arctic Ocean to the Greenland Sea and Norwegian Sea, between Greenland and Spitsbergen. It is named after the Norwegian ship Fram. The Fram Strait is the major connection between the Arctic Ocean and the world ocean....
.
On September 22 Akademik Fedorov left for Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
and reached its home port
Home port
A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...
, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, on October 3, finishing the high latitude Arctic expedition Arktika 2007. Arthur Chilingarov sent a government telegram to congratulate expedition members on behalf of State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
.
Reactions
There was concern in the other four countries bordering the Arctic (CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) that Russia might claim the Arctic based on its charting of the seabed.
Former Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP is a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for Central Nova and currently serves as Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet of Canada....
said: "This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory'." United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
spokesman Tom Casey
Tom Casey (diplomat)
Tom Casey is a U.S. diplomat. He was the Deputy Spokesman and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the United States Department of State, a position to which he was appointed on 3 July 2006. Immediately prior to this assignment, he served as Director of the Office of Press...
stated that planting the flag "doesn't have any legal standing or effect on this claim."
In reply, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is the Foreign Minister of Russia. Prior to that, Lavrov was a Soviet diplomat and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004. Lavrov speaks Russian, English, French and Sinhala....
told reporters: "The aim of this expedition is not to stake Russia's claim but to show that our shelf reaches to the North Pole." He also confirmed that Arctic territory issues "can be tackled solely on the basis of international law, the International Convention on the Law of the Sea
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea , which took place from 1973 through 1982...
and in the framework of the mechanisms that have in accordance with it been created for determining the borders of states which have a continental shelf." In another interview Sergey Lavrov said: "I was amazed by my Canadian counterpart’s statement that we are planting flags around. We’re not throwing flags around. We just do what other discoverers did. The purpose of the expedition is not to stake whatever rights of Russia, but to prove that our shelf extends to the North Pole".
Lindsay Parson, (head of the Law of the Sea Group at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
's National Oceanography Centre
National Oceanography Centre
- The National Oceanography Centre :The National Oceanography Centre is a marine science research and technology institution based on two sites in Southampton and Liverpool, United Kingdom...
in the UK) stated that Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
(via Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
) and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
would have equally good chances of claiming the territory on these grounds — which both nations have stated they will do — as the Lomonosov Ridge
Lomonosov Ridge
The Lomonosov Ridge is an unusual underwater ridge of continental crust in the Arctic Ocean. It spans 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands, as it is part of Eurasia, over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The width of the Lomonosov Ridge varies...
extends from Russia across the Arctic to Greenland and northern Canada. Denmark claimed that the 1500 kilometres (932.1 mi) Lomonosov Ridge
Lomonosov Ridge
The Lomonosov Ridge is an unusual underwater ridge of continental crust in the Arctic Ocean. It spans 1800 km from the New Siberian Islands, as it is part of Eurasia, over the central part of the ocean to Ellesmere Island of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The width of the Lomonosov Ridge varies...
was its property, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's World Service radio reported early on August 12. Danish science minister Helge Sander told reporters: "The preliminary investigations done so far are very promising. There are things suggesting that Denmark could be given the North Pole."
Analysis of expedition results
In mid-September 2007, Russia's Natural Resources Ministry issued a statement:See also
- Energy policy of RussiaEnergy policy of RussiaThe Energy policy of Russia is contained in an Energy Strategy document, which sets out policy for the period up to 2020. In 2000 the Russian government approved the main provisions of the Russian energy strategy to 2020, and in 2003 the new Russian energy strategy was confirmed by the government...
- Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stationsSoviet and Russian manned drifting ice stationsSoviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and...
- List of Russian explorers