Participants of the Arctic Floating University expedition have obtained new data on the state of Arctic ecosystems

The press service of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute reported that the Arctic Floating University expedition has obtained new data on the state of Arctic ecosystems in the context of climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressure. Scientists will now need to process and analyze this data.

The expedition involved 25 students and graduate students from 17 scientific and educational institutions across the country. Scientists from the AANII introduced them to modern research methods being applied in the Arctic, which were conducted in the fields of oceanology, hydrobiology, geology, radioecology, ornithology, microbiology, soil science, biochemistry, and other disciplines.

The participants worked in the waters and islands of the Barents Sea. Under the guidance of Victor Merkulov, a researcher from the oceanology department of AANII, three oceanographic transects were conducted. In the first stage, young scientists researched the Barents Sea from the Admiralty Peninsula of Novaya Zemlya to the southern part of the Franz-Victoria trench; the second transect extended from the southern part of the trench to the island of West Northbrook, while the third went from East Northbrook on Franz Josef Land to Russian Harbor on Novaya Zemlya.

During the expedition, more than 1,200 samples of seawater and seabed sediments were processed, collected using a sampling complex and a grab sampler. The collected samples will allow researchers to determine the oxygen content and biogenic elements in the Barents Sea water, as well as the pH and alkalinity of the water.

The expedition participants also mastered techniques for recording bird and mammal counts on board, conducting observations in the eastern part of the Barents Sea along a route length of over 3,000 km. Together with the data from the oceanographic transects, information on the abundance of birds and mammals in the waters can be correlated with the environmental conditions of their habitats, identifying factors that influence their distribution.

Students also conducted ground research. They made several landings on the Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya archipelagos, as well as on Kolguev Island. There, ornithologists were introduced to methods of working at bird colonies.

The young specialists managed to catch 15 thick-billed murres and 44 kittiwakes, most of which were ringed. The expedition participants returned geolocators that had been installed a few years ago on the rings of kittiwakes. The information obtained from the geolocators is particularly valuable, as there has been a lack of data about the movements of birds nesting in the Russian part of the Barents Sea.