COMPREHENSIVE MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND MONITORING OF ECOSYSTEMS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN AND ITS SEAS

Abstract

“Comprehensive multidisciplinary research and monitoring of ecosystems of the Arctic Ocean and its seas” is one of the projects organized within the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Science Program. One of the main goals of this program is to create an effective system for monitoring and forecasting the state of the marine environment, ensuring the accumulation and exchange of new knowledge about the nature, ecology and economy of the World Ocean for the sustainable development of economic activities and government decision-making. The research station “North Pole-41” based on the R/V “Severniy Polus” has been in the Arctic drift since the beginning of October 2022 in the waters of the Eurasian basin of the Arctic Ocean (AO). The scientific program of the expedition includes more than 50 types of research and observations, which are carried out on board the ship and in a scientific camp organized on the base ice field. The main goal of the work of the North Pole-41 station is to carry out complex interdisciplinary research in the “atmosphere–ice cover–ocean” system in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean in the annual cycle, aimed at identifying the patterns of action of the physical mechanisms responsible for the development of seasonal processes and the formation interannual changes in interacting geospheres. Thus, the North Pole-41 expedition is the main “springboard” for fulfilling the tasks of the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences Program in the Arctic Ocean. This article briefly summarizes information about the main research carried out during the expedition in 2022–2023.