Polar Expedition Kartesh project carries out comprehensive arctic expedition in Barents, White and Kara Seas

 

In June 2016 the R/V Kartesh starts in Murmans to begin a unique arctic expedition, organized by the Polar Expedition Kartesh project in collaboration with the Marine Research Center. The goals of the expedition are to promote the Arctic and establish international and interregional ties via photography and relevant research work.

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Several research groups, a group of landscape photographers and a camera crew head for Novaya Zemlya on board the research vessel Kartesh. A range of comprehensive research activities in the Barents, Kara and White Seas is to be implemented as part of the expedition. The researchers will carry out such R&D tasks as marine and coastal ecosystem monitoring, West Arctic biodiversity research, Atlantic walrus research and other tasks.

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Meanwhile, photographers are to carry out professional photography shootings of the Arctic and organize photography exhibitions on distant and hard-to-reach territories of the Far North, namely lighthouses, polar stations, villages and settlements. We are to film several documentaries as part of the expedition; they will reflect the expedition routine, the life in the Arctic and other significant topics. The documentaries will be available on the internet and broadcast on the central and cable TV channels.

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This year, the ultimate goal of the project is to reach Novaya Zemlya, drop a group of researchers and photographers in this unexplored corner of Russia and organize a temporary research center. Sergey Bedash, Polar Expedition Kartesh Project Head: "Novaya Zemlya is terra incognita. This is our nature, our seas, animals, inhabiting these areas. It is 21st century already, and we know so little about them."