Life on a Russian North Pole Drifting Station
Of all Russian scientific programs in the Arctic, the North Pole Drifting Station program ranks among the most valuable to today's polar researchers. For many years, The program was the only source for meteorological, oceanographic, and atmospheric data from the central arctic basin. The first drifting station was established on ice near the North Pole in May 1937. In subsequent years, stations were generally constructed on multiyear ice floes less than 2 km in diameter and 3 m to 5 m thick. Usually, a starting location to the northeast of Wrangel Island (about 175 degrees West) was chosen for the station. Station personnel generally debarked on the ice in spring after being transported by air, but on occasion personnel were delivered to the site by icebreaker in autumn. Two and sometimes three stations were in operation at the same time. The last station, NP-31, was shut down in 1991.
What was life like on a Russian North Pole Drifting Station? Scientists from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, were kind enough to lend us photographs taken while on various stations. Select any one of the links above to take a tour of life on the stations.
Please acknowledge any use of these Gallery images by citing them as follows:
Photographs from the NSIDC Arctic Climatology and Meteorology Primer <http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/>, courtesy V. Radionov, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia.
