Into the Wild: The History of Antarctica's Polar Stations. Polar station "Vostok", Antarctica: description, history, climate and visiting rules

The beginning of the station's work is not marked by the solemn moment of raising the Russian flag over the wardroom. Officially, the drifting station begins its work from the moment the first weather report is transmitted to the AARI, and from there to the global meteorological network. Since, as we know, “the Arctic is the kitchen of weather,” these data provide meteorologists with extremely valuable information. The study of baric (pressure, wind speed and direction at various altitudes) and temperature profiles of the atmosphere using probes up to an altitude of 30 km is used not only for weather prediction - this data can later be used for fundamental scientific purposes, such as refining models of atmospheric physics, and for applied ones - for example, supporting aircraft flights. Meteorologists and aerologists are responsible for all this data.

The work of a meteorologist may seem simple - it is taking meteorological data and sending it to Roshydromet. To do this, a set of sensors is located on a 10-meter weather mast that measures wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, visibility and pressure. All information, including from remote sensors (snow and ice temperature, intensity solar radiation), flocks to the weather station. Although data is taken from the station remotely, it is not always possible to carry out measurements without going to the weather site. “The cups of the anemometers and the radiation protection of the weather booth, where the temperature and humidity sensors are located, freeze over, they have to be cleared of frost (to access the top of the mast, the latter is made ‘breakable’), explains SP-36 meteorologist engineer Ilya Bobkov.- A during the melting period, the guy wires have to be constantly fixed so that the mast is stable. In addition, the station is not designed to work in such severe frosts, below - 40 ° C, so we installed a heating device there - a regular 40-watt incandescent lamp. Of course, there are stations. , designed for such low temperatures, but they are less accurate.”

You can see everything from above

At SP-36, for the first time in the history of Arctic research, a lightweight 5-kg UAV from the Kazan company Enix with a wingspan of 140 cm and a range of 15 km was tested (the same device will be on duty at SP-37). True, it was used primarily not for scientific purposes, but to ensure the life and safety of the station - reconnaissance of ice conditions in the immediate environment. In particular, the device very clearly recorded those cracks that passed along the ice floe SP-36 on April 12 - they were clearly visible in the photographs. The methodology for using UAVs is still being developed; one of the companies in St. Petersburg is collaborating with AARI in the field of processing and linking images transmitted from the UAV. Over time, it is planned to equip the UAV with various sensors for collecting scientific information (the station has already experimented with installing aerological sensors).

Above 10 m is the area of ​​work for aerologists. “We study the upper layers of the atmosphere using aerological probes,” explains SP-36 leading aerological engineer Sergei Ovchinnikov. - The probe is a box weighing 140 g, it is attached to a balloon - a ball with a volume of about 1.5 m³, filled with hydrogen, which is produced chemically in a high-pressure gas generator - from ferrosilicon powder, caustic soda and water. The probe has a built-in GPS receiver, a telemetry transmitter, as well as temperature, pressure and humidity sensors. Every two seconds, the probe transmits information along with its coordinates to a ground receiving station.” The coordinates of the probe make it possible to calculate its movement, wind speed and direction at various altitudes (altitude is determined by barometric method). The probe's electronics are powered by a water-filled battery, which is first kept in water for several minutes (life jackets with emergency beacons are equipped with similar power sources).

“The probes are launched every day at 0 and 12 o’clock GMT, if weather conditions permit; in strong winds, the probe simply “nails” to the ground. “In less than a year, 640 releases took place,” says Sergei Ovchinnikov. “The average ascent height was 28,770 m, the maximum was 32,400 m. The probe’s ascent speed was about 300 m per minute, so it reached its maximum height in about an hour and a half, the balloon as the lift swells, and then bursts, and the probe falls to the ground. True, it is almost impossible to find it, so the device is disposable, albeit expensive.”

Water

“The main emphasis in our work is on measuring current parameters, as well as temperature, electrical conductivity, and water density,” says SP-36 oceanologist Sergei Kuzmin. recent years The fleet of instruments has been significantly updated, and now we can obtain results with high accuracy that correspond to the world level. We now use profiling instruments that allow us to measure flow velocity using the transverse Doppler effect in several layers.

Mainly investigated Atlantic currents, the upper boundary of which is at a depth of 180−220 m, and the core is 270−400 m." In addition to studying currents, a daily study of the water column was provided using a probe that measured electrical conductivity and temperature; every six days, studies were carried out at a depth of up to 1000 m to “capture” the Atlantic waters, and once a week the probe was lowered to the entire maximum length of the cable - 3400 m to study the deep sea layers. “In some areas,” explains Sergei Kuzmin, “a geothermal effect can be observed in deep layers.”

Houses on an ice floe

The drifting station consists of several houses placed on an ice floe. The houses, called PDKO (Polar House of Kanaki-Ovchinnikov), are assembled from panels - layers of bakelite plywood, between which is laid as insulation thick layer polystyrene foam The panels are connected to each other with special locks, insulation (felt) is stuffed into the cracks, and the house becomes quite suitable for habitation. Of course, subject to the presence of heating - either electric (oil heaters and fan heaters), or special stoves using kerosene or diesel fuel.
The lives of people at the station literally depend on fuel - diesel fuel for diesel power plants (DPP). Therefore, they take fuel in reserve - almost a thousand barrels (about 180 tons, about 110 tons were consumed in a year). The barrels are distributed among fuel depots - ice floes are placed in different places in case some of the fuel is lost when cracks occur. Energy is provided by two 30 kW diesel diesel power plants, which operate alternately for 500 engine hours (before changing the oil), another diesel engine is in standby mode. In addition to diesel fuel for diesel power plants and tractors, the station has a small supply of gasoline, which snowmobiles run on, and aviation kerosene - this makes it possible to refuel airplanes arriving at the station in the spring and summer.

The task of oceanologists on SP-36 also included collecting samples for subsequent analysis by hydrochemists. “Three times during the winter - in spring, summer and autumn - we took an ice core, which was then melted at room temperature, the resulting water was passed through a filter, and then frozen again,” says Sergei. “Both the filter and the ice were specially packaged for subsequent analysis. Snow samples and subglacial water were collected in the same way. Air samples were also taken using an aspirator, which pumped air through several filters that retained the smallest particles. Previously, in this way it was possible, for example, to detect pollen of some plant species that flies to the polar regions from Canada and the Russian taiga.”

They try to install the meteorological mast away from the “residential area” and especially from the diesel power plant, in order to exclude the influence of extraneous factors on the readings of sensitive sensors.

Why study currents? “By comparison with data accumulated over previous years, climate trends can be determined,” Sergei replies. - Such an analysis will make it possible to understand, for example, the behavior of ice in the Arctic Ocean, which is extremely important not only from a fundamental point of view, but also from a purely applied point of view - for example, when developing natural resources Arctic".

Snow

The program of special meteorological research included several sections. The structure of the snow and ice cover, its thermophysical and radiation properties were studied - that is, how it reflects and absorbs solar radiation. “The fact is that snow has a high reflectivity, and according to this characteristic, for example in satellite images, it very much resembles a cloud layer,” explains meteorologist Sergei Shutilin. — Especially in winter, when the temperature in both places is several tens of degrees below zero. I studied the thermophysical properties of snow depending on temperature, wind, cloudiness and solar radiation.” The penetration of solar radiation (of course, during the polar day) through snow and ice to various depths (including into water) was also measured. The morphology of snow and its thermophysical properties were also studied—temperature at various depths, density, porosity, and fractional composition of crystals in various layers. These data, together with radiation characteristics, will help clarify the description of snow and ice cover in models various levels- both in global climate and regional ones.

Left: weather data is taken from the weather station remotely, but meteorologists rarely get to sit in the warmth - the mast often freezes over, anemometers stop rotating and they have to be cleared of frost. Right: Ice thickness is measured using measuring rods, which are lowered into holes drilled with a motorized drill at a special ice test site.

During the polar day, measurements of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface were carried out, and during the polar night, gas analyzers were used to study the concentrations of carbon dioxide, ground-level ozone and methane, emissions of which in the Arctic are apparently associated with geological processes. Using a special gas analyzer, it was also possible to obtain, according to Sergei Shutilin, unique data on the flow of carbon dioxide and water vapor through the surface of snow and ice: “Previously, there was a model according to which melt water from the coast they fell into the ocean, the ocean became covered with ice, and anaerobic processes took place underneath it. And after the surface was freed from ice, a flow of carbon dioxide entered the atmosphere. We found that the flow goes to reverse side: when there is no ice, then into the ocean, and when there is, into the atmosphere! However, this may also depend on the area - for example, measurements on SP-35, which drifted closer to the south and to the shelf seas in the eastern hemisphere, are consistent with the above hypothesis. So more research is needed."

Fortunately, the crack that ran along the ice floe bypassed the station camp. Such cracks are one of the most serious dangers for people at a drifting station.

Ice

Ice is now receiving the closest attention, because it is a clear indicator of the processes taking place in the Arctic. Therefore, its study is extremely important. First of all, this is an assessment of the ice mass balance. It melts in the summer and grows in the winter, so regular measurements of its thickness using measuring rods at a designated site make it possible to estimate the rate of melting or growth of the ice floe, and this data can then be used to clarify various models education multi-year ice. “At SP-36, the landfill occupied an area of ​​80x100 m, and from October to May 8,400 tons of ice grew on it,” says Vladimir Churun. “You can imagine how much ice has grown on the entire ice floe measuring 5x6 km!”

“We also took several cores of young and old ice, which will be examined at the AARI,” chemical composition, mechanical properties, morphology,” says SP-36 ice researcher Nikita Kuznetsov. “This information can be used to refine various climate models, and also, for example, for engineering purposes, including for the construction of icebreakers.”

The Mirny polar station was founded in Antarctica on the shores of the Davis Sea as part of the First Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1955-1957). It became the main base for our country’s exploration of the continent, from where all other stations were controlled.

The name “Mirny” is taken from the legendary sloop, one of the ships of the expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev, which discovered Antarctica in January 1820. The second ship, Vostok, also gave its name to a Soviet and then Russian polar station.

In its best years, the Mirny station was home to 150-200 polar explorers, but in lately her team numbers 15-20 researchers. And the function of managing all Russian bases in Antarctica has been transferred to the more modern Progress station.

Vostok: the most famous Soviet station

The Vostok-1 station was founded on May 18, 1957 in the interior of Antarctica, 620 kilometers from the Mirny base. But already on December 1, the facility was closed, and the equipment was transported even deeper into the continent, to a place that eventually became known as the Vostok station (its date of birth was December 16, 1957).

Vostok became the most famous Soviet and Russian Antarctic station thanks to the record low temperature recorded there in 1983 - minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. It was “beaten” only thirty years later - in December 2013 at the Japanese Fuji Dome station, where a temperature of minus 91.2 degrees was observed.

Aero-meteorological, geophysical, glaciological and medical research has been and is being carried out at the Vostok station; “ozone holes” and the properties of materials at low temperatures are being studied there. And at a depth of three kilometers, it was under this station that the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica was discovered, which received the same name - Vostok.

The place where “Vostok” is located is one of the most severe from a weather point of view. The events of Vladimir Sanin’s heroic books “72 degrees below zero”, “Newcomer in Antarctica” and “Trapped” take place at the station. Popular feature films were made based on these works in Soviet times.

Pole of inaccessibility - the most distant station

The Pole of Inaccessibility station, which existed for just under two weeks in December 1958, went down in history for two reasons. Firstly, it is located at the point of the same name in Antarctica, the farthest from the coast of the continent. The discovery of an object in this place was the response of Soviet polar explorers to the appearance of the American Amundsen-Scott base at the South Pole.

Secondly, the “Pole of Inaccessibility” was decorated with a bust of Lenin installed on the top of the pyramid that crowned the station building. This figure still towers over the icy plains of Antarctica, even when the structure itself is covered with snow.

Novolazarevskaya – polar station with a bathhouse

Having replaced the Lazarev station, which was closed in 1961, Novolazarevskaya thundered throughout Soviet Union became a legendary event when the doctor Leonid Rogozov performed a unique operation - he cut out his own inflamed appendicitis.

"While you're here in the tiled bathtub
Wash, bask, warm up, -
He's in the cold with his own scalpel
There he cuts out the appendix,” Vladimir Vysotsky sang about this human feat.

And in 2007, Novolazarevskaya again appeared on the front pages of Russian newspapers and news sites. The first and still only Russian bathhouse in Antarctica was opened there!

Bellingshausen – polar station with church

Bellingshausen is not just a Russian research station in the southern latitudes, it is the spiritual center of Russian Antarctica. After all, on its territory there is the Church of the Holy Trinity, brought there disassembled from Russia in 2004.

Since Bellingshausen is located in close proximity to the Chilean, Uruguayan, Korean, Brazilian, Argentine, Polish and Peruvian stations, employees of the latter regularly go to services in the Russian church - there are no others nearby.

Molodezhnaya - the former “capital” of Antarctica

For a long time, the Molodezhnaya station was considered the capital of Soviet Antarctica. After all, it was the largest object of its kind. There were about seventy buildings at the base, lined up into streets. Here were not only residential complexes and research laboratories, but also an oil depot and even an airfield capable of receiving such large aircraft as the IL-76.

The station has been operating since 1962. Up to 150 people could live and work on it at the same time. But in 1999, the Russian flag was lowered; the once year-round base was first completely mothballed, and in 2006 transferred to seasonal operation.

Progress is the center of Russian presence in Antarctica

Nowadays, Progress is considered the main Russian polar station. It was opened in 1989 as a seasonal one, but over time it “built up” its infrastructure and became permanent. In 2013, a new wintering complex was opened at Progress with a gym and sauna, sports equipment, modern hospital equipment, tennis and billiard tables, as well as living rooms, research laboratories and a galley.

In recent years, Progress has taken over most of the functions that were performed by those experiencing better times“Peaceful” and “Youth”. So now this is where the administrative, scientific and logistics center of Russian Antarctica is located.

No country in the world owns this continent, it has no government, president or king. And just 70 years ago, there was a fierce struggle for the possession of these lands among the leading powers of the world. It's about about the sixth continent - Antarctica, which has gone from a “useless land for humanity” to a “treasure box”.

ANT-ARCTOS

The ancient Greeks were the first to talk about the mysterious southern land. Arctos - this is what they called the icy land known to them in the northern hemisphere and believed that there should be a similar land in southern hemisphere, opposite the Arctic (literally Ant-Arctos) - Antarctica. This idea was actively supported by scientists of the Middle Ages. Since the 16th century, Ant-Arctos has been placed on maps in the area South Pole, and attempts to find this land were made by the Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias, Ferdinand Magellan and the Dutchman Abel Tasman.

COOK'S ATTEMPT

The first serious attempt to find Antarctica was made by James Cook (with the support of the Royal Society of London). The scientific interest of the expedition was related to the study of the passage of Venus through the disk of the Sun, but the main goal was the search for Antarctica. In August 1768, a ship with the telling name “Attempt” (“Endeavor”) set sail for the South.

Cook made three such expeditions, during which the South Sandwich Islands were discovered, but Antarctica remained out of reach. At 71 degrees south latitude, the Endeavor's path was blocked by impassable ice, and yet there were only 200 kilometers left to the cherished goal! However, for the first time in the history of studying the southern polar latitudes, a person managed to go beyond the Arctic Circle and dispel the myth about the existence of a huge Southern Earth, which medieval scientists mapped around the pole. In a book about his journey, Cook wrote:

"EAST" AND "PEACEFUL"

In the Russian Empire, however, they did not think so. Outstanding navigators of that time - Ivan Kruzenshtern and Vasily Golovin - persistently stated the need for a special expedition to Antarctic waters. It was thanks to the assistance of Ivan Kruzenshtern that a grandiose scientific expedition was organized, led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

On July 16, 1319, the wooden sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” left Kronstadt, and on January 28, 1820 they finally reached the icy continent. At the same time, two more expeditions were looking for Antarctica. The American Nathaniel Palmer and the British subject Edward Bransfield, independently of each other, announced that they had seen the mainland. But Bellingshausen was the first - ten months before Palmer and just three days before Bransfield. The Russian expedition lasted 751 days, 100 thousand kilometers were covered, a new mainland and 29 adjacent islands were discovered, named 8 in honor of battles Patriotic War 1812 (later renamed by the British). Besides geographical discoveries, was done large number important astronomical, oceanographic and synoptic observations.

CHUR. I AM FIRST!

After the expedition of Lazarev and Bellingshausen, a turmoil began around Antarctica, similar, in the apt comparison of one publicist, to “the hysteria of someone who missed the train.”

The British, French, Americans, Norwegians - everyone tried to get to southern continent. The American John Davis was the first to set foot on the Antarctic ice in February 1821. Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink became the first to spend a successful winter in Antarctica (1899-1900), using dog sleds to move across glaciers.

In 1911, an Antarctic race broke out between the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott for the right to be called the first person to reach the South Pole. The sad result of the unspoken confrontation: Amundsen won the championship, and Scott's expedition died tragically on the way back from cold, hunger and physical exhaustion.

HOT SPOT

In the 20th century, she also became interested in Antarctica: from 1901 to 1939, she sent as many as three expeditions there, the last two on the eve of two world wars.

Of course, it was not only the Germans who “studied” Antarctica in those days. The Stalinist government had already declared an official protest to the governments by January 1939, and due to the fact that their Antarctic expeditions

"...were engaged in an unjustified division into sectors of lands once discovered by Russian explorers and navigators...".

It is interesting that immediately after the victory of 1945, the Soviet Union won another, no less serious one - for Antarctica. After the end of the war, the US government organized a special squadron of 14 warships to study the nature of the southern continent. In response, the USSR sent the Slava whaling flotilla to Antarctica, which consisted of eight destroyers and submarines. After some time, the Americans urgently retreated and arrived at their native shores with great material and human losses, which is now almost never mentioned.

TREASURE BOX

Unofficial start research activities In Antarctica, the Borkhgrevnik expedition is considered to have spent the winter in 1899 at Cape Ader.

4 years later, the Argentine scientific station “Orcadas” was created on Lori Island, which has been operating without interruption to this day. The Australian station appeared a little later, in 1911, after which scientific activity calmed down on the mainland. Immediately after the end of World War II, the United States declared Antarctica a “treasure box,” and research activity resumed on a new scale. In 1956, the first Soviet observatory and research base was built - the village of Mirny. And a year later, the unique research station “Vostok-1” appeared - the only inland Antarctic research station currently used by Russia. Nowadays, there are more than 70 scientific stations on the mainland, but only a little more than forty operate all year round.

PLACE OF PEACE AND SCIENCE

After the International Geophysical Year (1957-1959), 65 countries sent research expeditions to the Antarctic lands. The ice continent itself was declared a place of peace and science. By coincidence, the convention on a “universal” Antarctica came into force in 1961, when huge reserves of uranium (and also coal, gold, silver, lead, iron) were officially announced in the bowels of Antarctica.

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent:
its area is about 14,107,000 km 2,
of which are shelf
glaciers - 930,000 km 2,
islands - 75,500 km 2.

Antarctica is divided into two parts - western and eastern. Western (6,475,000) includes an archipelago of mountain islands. Eastern (7,700,000 km2) is a high plateau covered with ice. Both parts of the continent are separated by a mountain range.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTARCTICA

- the least explored continent;

- the only continent without time zones: almost doubles in size in winter when ice covers the surrounding seas;

- is not a state, but has an unofficial currency - the Antarctic dollar. In 1996-2001 it was issued by the Antarctic Overseas Bank, founded by a group of enthusiasts. 1,2,5,10,20,50 and 100 dollars could be easily exchanged for American currency at face value, the proceeds were used to finance scientific research in Antarctica;

- the driest place on Earth: the average rainfall here is 10 cm per year.

In Antarctica there are:

— more than 140 subglacial lakes, the largest of them is Lake Vostok;

— points of the strongest and longest wind and the most powerful solar radiation;

- volcanoes - the most active of them is Erebus;

— more than 70 scientific stations, of which more than 40 are year-round;

- the cleanest sea in the world is the Weddell Sea: it is transparent, almost like distilled water;

- dry valleys that have not seen rain or snow for 2 million years.

In Antarctica:

— at the Russian Vostok station the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded - minus 89.2 °C;

— the clearest skies for space exploration;

— minus 60-75 °C in winter (June, July, August); minus 30-50 °C in summer (December, January, February);

— it’s not that cold on the coast: in winter from -8 to -35 °C, in summer - from 0 to +5 °C;

— over the years of research, about 200 thousand people visited;

— in 2007, the first passenger plane landed;

— you can find two flowering plants - the Quito colobanth (a distant relative of the carnation) and the Antarctic meadowsweet (from the Poat grass family);

— about 1,000 people live in winter, from 4,000 in summer;

- in 1978, the first person was born - Argentinean Emilio Marcos Palma;

— women researchers also work, most often in the summer months. An all-female wintering was organized only once - in 1990-1991, at the German Antarctic station "Georg von Mayer". Six months after it began, management sent male specialists to the station to bring the infrastructure facilities into normal technical condition.

THREE ANTARCTIDES

This is what Antarctica looks like without its ice shell. True, today you can see this only with the help of geolocation and your own imagination.

But 150 million years ago, when the current “ice” was just heading towards the South Pole and was part of the supercontinent Gondwana, there were subtropics here.

	ANTARCTICA 500 MILLION YEARS AGO. The Goidwana is formed from separate geological blocks, the East Antarctic Platform meets the Pacific Mobile Belt (it includes the modern Andes, Cordillera, island arcs Pacific Ocean, including the Antarctic Peninsula), at their junction the Transantarctic Mountains arise.
	ANTARCTICA 200-80 MILLION YEARS AGO. Africa is consistently leaving Antarctica.
	ANTARCTICA 35 MILLION YEARS AGO. Moves away, a cold southern circular current appears, and ice covers eastern Antarctica
	ANTARCTICA 14 MILLION YEARS AGO. Last to leave South America, in memory of her, the Antarctic Andes remain near the icy continent - part of a once single mountain range, the Drake Passage is formed. ice covers West Antarctica,

Not everything is ice, but a glacier. The Antarctic ice sheet is a multi-layered cake. The upper 100-150 meters are snow and firn (old grainy snow). Deeper the real ice begins. But it also differs in structure at different depths: from millimeter-sized crystals in the upper layers to huge two-meter single crystals at the base of the glacier.

The glacier is moving. Under its own pressure, it flows from the central regions where glaciation occurs to the periphery of the continent. This is how floating ice shelves are formed, from which icebergs break off. The largest ice shelves in Antarctica (and in the world) are the Ross Glacier and the Weddell Glacier, which completely cover the seas of the same name.

INTERESTING FACTS

— The volume of the Antarctic glacier is 30 million km 3 . This is 61% of all fresh water on Earth. If it melts, sea levels will rise by 70 meters.

- An ice sheet is a glacier with an area of ​​more than 50,000 km 2 and a thickness of more than 1000 m. The area of ​​the Antarctic ice sheet is 14 million km 2, and the thickness ranges from 1.1 km in West Antarctica to 4.8 km in East - on the Schmidt Plain .

— The glacier covers 98% of the continent's area, with the exception of a few open places in the Transantarctic Mountains. Its topography does not coincide with the topography of the land below it.

Antarctic Research Station "Vostok"

The network of polar hydrometeorological stations is the basis for monitoring (observation–assessment–forecast) of natural processes occurring in the ocean and Arctic region, knowledge of which needs to be improved. The creation of the network in the 30s of the last century is associated with the stage of formation of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, and its status at that time was determined by the need for information support for navigation on the routes of the national transport route of the Northern Sea Route and aviation flights in high latitudes.

The spatial coverage and number of observation platforms and points were very significant. Complexity of parameter measurements natural environment achieved due to the extensive system topology.

In 1985, 110 main ones were operating. Of these, aerological observations were carried out on 24, actinometric on 24, and sea (and river) hydrological observations on 80. 32 polar stations were correspondents of the World Meteorological Organization. In addition, in the Arctic, other observation platforms (drifting stations, expeditionary and transport ships, ice reconnaissance aircraft, etc.) were sources of information. The systematic nature of observations provided information needs government activities at that time.

The new economic environment that has formed over the past 15 years has presented different approaches to organizing economic activity. The Northern Sea Route actually ceased to exist, having lost its state status. Modern requirements for the information network are more closely related to the level of economic development of the polar regions, other content public services, as well as with differentiation of sources of financing for work in the field of hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring.

In the 90s of the last century, a massive reduction in the network was caused by a lack of funding for the Arctic Hydrometeorological Service Departments. Since 2000, there has been positive dynamics in the development of the network.

Currently, 52 polar stations of the Murmansk, Northern, Yakutsk and Hydrometeorological Service Directorates operate and transmit information to the automatic weather stations of Roshydromet, where standard meteorological (52 polar stations), marine hydrological (44 polar stations), actinometric (10 polar stations), aerological (7 polar stations) observations. 32 polar stations are difficult to access, 27 are reference stations, 23 are correspondents of the World Meteorological Organization.

There are serious problems with the network. The distance between meteorological points is 2–2.5 times, and between aerological points 3–4 times higher than permissible limits, and departmental density standards are not met. Due to the lack of observations in the high-latitude regions of the Novaya Zemlya archipelagos, the islands of Anjou, and De Long, the network configuration is unfavorable. In terms of climate monitoring criteria and long-term forecast weather conditions, even the minimum level of sufficiency is not achieved, which as a result special research determined in 63–68 polar stations.

Insufficient resolution of the observation system negatively affects the quality of hydrometeorological forecasts, often making forecasting activities ineffective.

The shortage of primary information has already led to the fact that meteorological forecasts often began to be based on data from foreign centers: the European Center for Medium-Range Forecasts (ECMF), the English Weather Center (Bracknell), etc., received through international exchange. The accuracy of ice forecasts has decreased due to a lack of information about ice thickness and the onset phases of critical ice processes.

Instrumental observations of sea level, ice drift, and waves have almost completely stopped. Actinometric observations are carried out mainly according to an abbreviated program.

The receipt of operational meteorological information in the automatic weather stations of Roshydromet (and the Sever center) on average for the Arctic is estimated at 70%, for aerology at 30%, for hydrology at 50%.
However, in recent years there has been an obvious stabilization of the network and 5 polar stations have been restored. They carried out the construction and renovation of office premises, provision of new energy equipment, satellite communications, and vehicles; The instrument park is being updated.

Completed initial stage implementation of ARO NOAA proposals for the organization of climate observatories in the Arctic. The Tiksi polar station was chosen as the first point of the base network.

While positively assessing the role of international cooperation in maintaining the observation system in the Arctic, one cannot fail to take into account the factor of possible adverse consequences of the intersection of the national interests of Russia, as well as the United States, in the Arctic region. The sovereignty of the Russian Federation over the Arctic straits and the status of some Arctic seas as internal territorial ones are disputed. A modern information center monitoring ice and hydrometeorological conditions in the western Arctic.

Existence of a problem international relations in the Arctic in terms of delimitation of the shelf zone and sea spaces is obvious, therefore the presence of a geopolitical factor should be taken into account when developing measures to ensure hydrometeorological security in the Arctic.

Cramped conditions due to a lack of funds and time determine the feasibility of directing the main efforts to maintaining, first of all, polar stations included in the global climate network, for which the following is necessary:

• reconstruction of basic infrastructure: major renovation residential, utility rooms and devices; installation of energy-saving equipment, replacement of heat and water supply systems, etc.;
• satisfactory provision of the network with standard meteorological instruments and auxiliary equipment;
• installation of satellite communications equipment such as APK-VIP “Gonets”, “Globalstar” “INMARSAT”.