Crew change for the Russian North Pole drifting expedition

The expedition has been conducting research in the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean for around a year.

The research expedition vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov has arrived at the location of the Russian scientific expedition North Pole-42, which is currently working with the support of the ice-resistant vessel Severny Polyus (North Pole). “The polar explorers were delivered about 50 tons of cargo – fresh food, fuel, scientific equipment and parcels from home”, The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) reports on their website. The meeting point was reported as 87°16′ N, 144°15′ W. Since the North Pole-42 vessel has been drifting for a year, it was necessary to change the crew. “During this period, about 3,000 kilometers have been covered, the general drift from the starting point was 1,000 kilometers.

The station is currently located in the Western Hemisphere, in one of the most remote places in the Arctic, where full-scale scientific research has not been conducted for many years,” the Institute emphasises. “It is hard to imagine a more severe and at the same time more exciting working environment. Moving from vessel to vessel across drifting ice – this only happens at the North Pole,” United Shipbuilding Corporation, reports in VK. One of the scientific vessels’s missions is to observe the sea ice conditions. Ice conditions Based on satellite information observed from September 7 to 9, 2025, the AARI highlights that in the northern part of the Laptev Sea ice very dense with no open water in sight.

Ice formation has begun in some areas of the sea as well. The Institute reports that the areas in the central and southern parts of the sea, on the approaches to the Vilkitsky, Shokalsky, Krasnaya Armiya, Sannikov and Dmitry Laptev Straits remain clear from ice. Ice formation has also been observed at the beginning of the East Siberian Sea. Earlier in September, researchers aboard the Norwegian research vessel Kronprins Haakon witnessed an unusually low level of sea ice after arriving at the North Pole. “There was still sea ice, of course, but our vessel had little trouble navigating through it, thanks to open leads and channels.

That’s what struck me most: the ease of access through what used to be a far more ice-covered region,” expedition leader Jochen Knies told the Barents Observer.