13 May 2025

Expedition to the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago

From April 14 to May 8, specialists from the Central Institute of the Russian State Research Center “All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography” (VNIRO) and its Polar Branch A.V. Labutin and N.N. Lukin took part in the third comprehensive expedition to the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago.

Comprehensive studies of the marine ecosystems of this Arctic region have been conducted since 2024 as part of cooperation between VNIRO and the Russian Geographical Society with the comprehensive support of the management and specialists of the Russian Arctic National Park.

The goal of the VNIRO specialists’ work in April 2025 was to obtain up-to-date data on the plankton and sublittoral communities of the coastal part of Alexandra Land Island.

The expedition included the following tasks:

On the state of the habitat of aquatic organisms (including the temperature and salinity of sea waters, the thickness of the ice and snow cover);
samples of phyto and zooplankton were collected;
video materials were obtained on the biotopic structure of bottom communities, on the nature of the distribution of mesoplankton and benthopelagic riverine organisms associated with the lower edge of the ice cover, on the features of the distribution of aquatic vegetation during the sub-ice period.

The data obtained will be used for long-term monitoring of ongoing climate changes in the Arctic and for assessing the role of coastal communities of the Arctic archipelagos in the reproduction of aquatic biological resources and providing them with a food base.

Press service of VNIRO

ЗФИ апрель 2025

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