Offshore staff
MOSCOW – The Kara-Winter-2014 Expedition team has departed Murmansk onboard the icebreaker vessel Yamalfor a 55-day exploratory program offshore northern Russia.
TheArctic Research and Design Center (a joint venture of Rosneft and ExxonMobil) and Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Federal State Budget Institution have organized the campaign.
According to Rosneft, it will be the largest ice expedition in terms of sea area coverage and duration since the days of the USSR. The campaign will study ice conditions of the Laptev, Kara, and East-Siberian seas.
The studies will determine ice phases, morphometric parameters of the ice cover, physical and chemical properties of the ice, ice ridges, weather, and water mass conditions. For the first time, Rosneft says, buoys will be placed on icebergs to measure drift.
Other facilities to be deployed will include satellites, an unmanned air drone, and an underwater camera.
The expedition route runs along some of the least explored sea areas of theArctic Ocean. Following interpretation of the data, the joint venture will build 3D models of ice formations to support future offshore exploration and subsequent oil and gas field facility design.
04/09/2014
