RUSSIA'S SP-33 ARCTIC STATION DRIFTS OVER 500 KILOMETRES

ST.PETERSBURG, November 26 (RIA Novosti) - Since when it began research work on September 9, the Russian drifting station North Pole-33 (SP-33) has covered 520 kilometres in the Arctic, said Vladimir Sokolov, head of the High-Latitude Arctic Expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute under the Russian Hydrometeorological Committee.

The average drifting speed was about three kilometres a day, he said. The maximal speed - 22 kilometres a day - was registered on November 17.

"The station has been wholly deployed and is ready for wintering. The programme of research, such as probing of the atmosphere, ice cover, ocean floor, is in full swing. Polar night is on and the auroras can be observed periodically. Unfortunately, there is no geophysical group here and they are not studied", Sokolov said.

The term of service of SP-33 is two years. In March 2005 the research programme will be broadened and the expedition increased to 24 members.

In August-September 2005 the expedition make-up will be relieved.

SP-33 was opened on September 9 and now has eleven members. Three dogs - Dixan, Nadya and Karat - are kept here to warn of the approach of Polar bears.

SP-33 continues years of research of the central Arctic region, begun in 1937 by the first-ever drifting station North Pole-1. Research data will broaden knowledge of the process going on in the natural environment of the central Arctic, help explain the global climatic changes and improve weather forecasts.