This is a unique opportunity to learn about the Project’s activities and discover their scientific work carried out in the far-flung corners of the Russian Arctic: the coastal areas and remote islands in the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea.

Topics include: Arctic biodiversity monitoring (plants, invertebrates, seabirds, marine mammals); mapping of coastal habitats; plastic debris survey; historical and memorial sites and monuments documentation and surveys; discovery of UK polar explorer Benjamin Leigh-Smith’s Eira shipwreck.

Set up in 2014, the Open Ocean Project has focused on scientific and practical expedition activities of the Association Maritime Heritage. In 2015-2019, the project carried out 13 multidisciplinary expeditions under the brand Open Ocean: Arctic Archipelagos (O2A2). The Project is also involved in outreach activities: these include photo exhibitions and public talks as well as presentations for students. The Open Ocean Project is collaborating with partners across Russia and internationally.

In 2017, the expedition O2A2-2017 discovered the Eira shipwreck in the Franz-Josef Land waters. Eira belonged to British polar explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith who made an important contribution to the discovery and early exploration of the archipelago in 1880–1882. During the 2018 expedition, some 40 artefacts from Eira were collected and brought to the surface. They now form part of the Museum of the World Ocean collection in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Further information about the speakers is available here:

https://www.arctic.ac.uk/news/towards-russian-arctic-archipelagose-open-ocean-project/

Image credit: Vladimir Melnik