Mikhail Somov icebreaker leaves for expedition to White, Barents seas

ARKHANGELSK, July 8. /TASS/. The Mikhail Somov icebreaker left Arkhangelsk for an expedition to the White and Barents seas. The scientific-expedition vessel will deliver cargo to northern hydro-meteorology stations and will bring new personnel to change shifts there, the Northern Department of the Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring Service (Sevhydromet) told TASS. "On July 6, the Mikhail Somov scientific-expedition vessel left Arkhangelsk to deliver supplies to polar stations in the Arctic," the authority’s press service said. "The vessel will take cargo to polar stations in the White and Barents seas. To hard-to-reach stations it will bring new shifts — 27 people, including eleven young specialists — recent graduates." The Mikhail Somov carries 780 tonnes of fuel, 150 tonnes of food, and also aerology materials, medicines, construction materials, kitchen appliances and furniture for hard-to-reach stations. The ship will call on 38 destinations, four of which are automatic meteorology stations. To nine hard-to-reach stations, the ship will bring new diesel generators. At the 21st weather station specialists will install new automatic complexes and weight precipitation sensors. At a few stations, experts will install sensors for meteorological visibility and sensors for the sunshine duration, sensors for the height of the lower cloud boundary and sensors for soil temperatures at various depths. To three polar stations — Shoina, Dikson and Malyye Karmakuly — the expedition will deliver new equipment: the Polyus-M radiosonde station, which will be used as a backup in addition to the main radar systems. New Raduga — Internet satellite communication complexes will be installed at a number of stations for better communication and access to the Internet. The stations’ upgrade will continue for three years to make sure they give more accurate meteorology information for the Arctic territories and the Northern Sea Route. The Mikhail Somov is expected to return to Arkhangelsk in late August. Read more