2015 Interdisciplinary Arctic Expedition

July 2015 saw the start of the complex arctic expedition, organized by the Polar Expedition Gallery project in collaboration with the LMSU Marine Research Center. It is a unique cultural, educational and research project aimed at promoting the Arctic and establishing international and interregional ties via photography and relevant research.

Science and culture have first teamed up for the sustainable development of the Arctic. A group of landscape photographers together with a team of the LMSU Marine Research Center experts started the expedition in Murmansk and continued the route via Naryan-Mar – Vaygach Island – Novaya Zemlya archipelago – Yamal Peninsula – the Gulf of Ob on board the research vessel Kartesh. The photographers have carried out shootings of the Arctic landscapes. as well as set up a few exhibitions in hard-to-reach populated areas of the Far North. The participants erected a memorial in an abandoned settlement of Rynda (Kola Peninsula) to commemorate the Sedov and Brusilov expeditions' 100th return anniversary.

Meanwhile, the LMSU Marine Research Center, the Marine Mammal Council and the WWF research teams conducted multidimensional research: they monitored marine and coastal ecosystems, studied the Arctic marine mammals (the Atlantic walrus) and researched into the West Arctic biodiversity. Geophysical research, ornithological research and marine mammal migration research have been carried out as well.

 

The expedition successfully finished in Murmansk on October 15, 2015.