ST. PETERSBURG, August 1 (RIA Novosti - Northwest, Anna Novak) - The Akademik Fyodorov research vessel will head to the Arctic in mid-August to help relocate the North Pole-33 drifting station, the head of Russia's Artic expedition said.
Vladimir Sokolov said the vessel, with a new expedition crew of 14, would leave Chukotka (in the Russian Far East) on August 15 and arrive at the polar station in early fall to relocate it on a new ice floe.
The research program at the drifting station will continue for another year.
"The drifting station has already covered over 2,100 kilometers," Sokolov said. "Specialists will carry out the planned research program."
The North Pole-33 crew will continue the Central Arctic research that the Soviet Union launched in 1937. Drifting stations provide information about environmental changes in the Arctic region and help explain the causes of climate change.
