Arctic drift station North Pole-40 kicked off operations on Monday and is expected to be a key component of Russia’s scientific exploration of the vast northern region.
“Russian scientists face a variety of unique scientific challenges and acknowledge our country’s important task in the high latitudes,” said Vladimir Sokolov, leader of the Arctic 2012 expedition, of which the station is part.
The station, symbolically named “Russia,” will hold a team of about 16 researchers during the upcoming winter.