A drifting ice station carrying more than 40 scientists and technicians will open in the Arctic next year.
The international Arctic drifting ice station will move from Siberia towards Greenland and Canada, and will be home to teams from Canada, Iceland, Monaco, Norway, Russia and the UK.
"The Russian Geographic Society will answer for logistics and technical support to the station," said project organiser Aleksander Orlov. "I believe that also the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, oceanographic institutes and other scientists will take part in this project."
Examining Arctic conditions is pressing, as temperatures across the region continue to rise. Arctic sea ice has decreased 14 percent since the 1970s and in 2013 hit a record annual low. In 2015, polar scientist Nicole Biebow told WIRED that the Arctic was the area in the world where "climate change is most visible and frightening to people". "There are also a lot of opportunities, especially in the Arctic, with opening seaways and access to resources," she said. Also it's so quick, what's going on there, we cannot wait much longer."
The new station, due to launch in April 2017, will carry out year-long research in a number of areas, including marine biology, physics and geology. Sponsorship is currently being sought to fund the mission.
It's not the first time Russia has developed a drifting ice station -- since 1937 there have been more than 40 such missions. The last fully functioning station, North Pole-40, operated for seven months before the ice floe it was stationed on broke apart. Another attempt in 2015, North Pole-2015, only operated for four months before it was evacuated.
As global temperatures rise, conducting research on ice floes will become increasingly difficult. The Arctic is warming faster than any other region of the world and by summer 2040 sea ice could be limited to the very northern costs of Greenland and Canada.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
