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'Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations' are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. An idea to use the drift ice for the exploration of nature in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean belongs to Fridtjof Nansen, who fulfilled it on ''Fram'' between 1893 and 1896. The first stations to use drift ice as means of scientific exploration of the Arctic, so-called drift ice stations, originated in the Soviet Union in 1937, when the first such station in the world, North Pole-1, started operations.

Contents

Overview

History

Past stations

See also

References

External links

Overview

Soviet and now Russian drifting ice stations are named "Severnyy polyus" (; ) and are abbreviated SP (; ). Each station is assigned an ordinal number.
"NP" stations carry out the program of complex year-round research in the fields of oceanology, ice studies, meteorology, aerology, geophysics, hydrochemistry, hydrophysics, as well as in the field of marine biology. On average, an "NP" station is the host for 600 to 650 ocean depth measurements, 3500 to 3900 complex meteorology measurements, 1200 to 1300 temperature measurements and sea water probes for chemical analysis, 600 to 650 research balloon launches. Magnetic, ionosphere, ice and other observations are also carried out there. Regular measurements of the ice floe coordinates provide the data on the direction and speed of its drift.
The modern "NP" drifting ice station resembles a small settlement with housing for polar explorers and special buildings for the scientific equipment. Usually an "NP" station begins operations in April and continues for two or three years until the ice floe reaches the Greenland Sea. Polar explorers are substituted yearly. Since 1937 some 800 people were drifting at "NP" stations.
There are two groups of "NP" stations:

★ stations, drifting on the pack ice (i.e. relatively thin and short-lived ice):"NP-1" through "NP-5", "NP-7" through "NP-17", "NP-20", "NP-21"

★ stations, drifting on ice islands (glacier fragments, that were split from the shore): "NP-6", "NP-18", "NP-19", "NP-22".
All "NP" stations are organized by the Russian (former Soviet) Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI).

History

The first scientific drifting ice station in the world, North Pole-1 was established on May 21 1937 some 20 km from the North Pole by the expedition into the high latitudes Sever-1, led by Otto Schmidt. "NP-1" operated for 9 months, during which the ice floe passed 2,850 kilometers. On February 19 1938, Soviet ice breakers ''Taimyr'' and ''Murman'' took off four polar explorers from the station, who immediately became famous in the USSR and were awarded titles Hero of the Soviet Union: hydrobiologist Pyotr Shirshov, geophysicist Evgeny Fedorov, radioman Ernst Krenkel and their leader Ivan Papanin.
Since 1954 Soviet "NP" stations worked continuosly, with one to three such stations operating simultaneously each year. Total distance drifted between 1937 and 1973 was more than 80,000 kilometers. North Pole-22 is particularly notable for its record drift, lasting nine years. The ice floe carrying North Pole-19 passed through the North Pole for the first time ever on June 28 1972.
During such long-term observations by "NP" stations, a lot of important discoveries in physical geography were made, valuable conclusions on regularities and the connection between processes in the polar region of the Earth's hydrosphere and atmosphere were obtained. Some of the most important discoveries were finding the deep-water Lomonosov Ridge, which crosses the Arctic Ocean, other large features of the ocean bottom's relief, the discovery of two systems of the drift (circular and "wash-out"), the fact of cyclones' active penetration into the Central Arctic.
The last Soviet "NP" station, North Pole-31, was closed in July 1991.
In the post-Soviet era, Russian exploration of the Arctic by drifting ice stations was suspended for twelve years. The year 2003 was notable for Russia's return into the Arctic. As of 2006, three "NP" stations had carried out scientific measurements and research since then: "NP-32" through "NP-34". The latter was closed on May 25 2006. "NP-35" is to start operations in 2007.

Past stations

'Station name'	'Head of the first shift'	'Drift dates'		'Drift coordinates'		'Distance (km)'
		'Began'	'Ended'	'Start'	'Finish'
North Pole-1	I.D.Papanin	May 21 1937	February 19 1938			2,850
North Pole-2	M.M.Somov	April 2 1950	April 11 1951			2,600
North Pole-3	A.F.Trioshnikov	April 4 1954	April 20 1955			1,865
North Pole-4	E.I.Tolstikov	April 8 1954	April 19 1957			6,970
North Pole-5	N.A.Volkov	April 21 1955	October 8 1956			3,630
North Pole-6	K.A.Sychev	April 19 1956	September 14 1959			8,650
North Pole-7	V.A.Vedernikov	April 23 1957	April 11 1959			3,520
North Pole-8	V.M.Rogachyov	April 27 1959	March 19 1962			6,090
North Pole-9	V.A.Shamontyev	April 26 1960	March 28 1961			2,660
North Pole-10	N.A.Kornilov	October 17 1961	April 29 1964			3,960
North Pole-11	N.N.Bryazgin	April 16 1962	April 20 1963			2,400
North Pole-12	L.N.Belyakov	April 30 1963	April 25 1965			1,595
North Pole-13	A.Ya.Buzuyev	April 22 1964	April 20 1967			3,545
North Pole-14	Yu.B.Konstantinov	May 1 1965	February 12 1966			1,040
North Pole-15	V.V.Panov	April 15 1966	March 25 1968			2,330
North Pole-16	Yu.B.Konstantinov	April 10 1968	March 22 1972			5,850
North Pole-17	N.I.Blinov	April 18 1968	October 16 1969			1,750
North Pole-18	N.N.Ovchinnikov	October 9 1969	October 24 1971			5,240
North Pole-19	A.N.Chilingarov	November 7 1969	April 16 1973			6,705
North Pole-20	Yu.P.Tikhonov	April 22 1970	May 17 1972			3,780
North Pole-21	G.I.Kizino	April 30 1972	May 17 1974			3,605
North Pole-22	V.G.Moroz	September 13 1973	April 08 1982			17,069
North Pole-23	V.M.Piguzov	December 5 1975	November 1 1978			5,786
North Pole-24	I.K.Popov	June 23 1978	November 19 1980			5,652
North Pole-25	V.S.Sidorov	May 16 1981	April 20 1984			5,754
North Pole-26	V.S.Sidorov	May 21 1983	April 9 1986			5,380
North Pole-27	Yu.P.Tikhonov	June 2 1984	May 20 1987			5,655
North Pole-28	A.F.Chernyshov	May 21 1986	January 23 1989			7,634
North Pole-29	V.V.Lukin	June 10 1987	August 19 1988			2,686
North Pole-30	V.M.Piguzov	October 9 1987	April 4 1991			7,675
North Pole-31	V.S.Sidorov	October 22 1988	July 25 1991			5,475
North Pole-32	V.S.Koshelev	April 25 2003	March 6 2004			2,418
North Pole-33	A.A.Visnevsky	September 9 2004	October 5 2005			3,156
North Pole-34	T.V.Petrovsky	September 19 2005	May 25 2006			2,032

See also

★ Soviet Antarctic Expedition

References

★ North Pole Drifting Stations - for some information in the text

★ Great Soviet Encyclopedia - for some information in the text and in the table

★ "North Pole" scientific research stations drift characteristics at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute - for some information in the table

★ History of "North Pole" stations - for some milestones in the exploration

★ I.P. Romanov, Yu.B. Konstantinov, N.A. Kornilov. ''"North Pole" Drifting Stations (1937-1991)'', Saint Petersburg:Gidrometeoizdat, 1997, condensed English translation - for heads of "North Pole-23" through "North Pole-31" stations

External links

★ Daily Arctic Ocean Rawinsonde Data from Soviet Drifting Ice Stations (1954-1990) at NSIDC

★ "NP-2" to "NP-34" drift trajectories a Google Earth file from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, presenting trajectories of the drift of "NP-2" through "NP-34"