Maxim Chervyakov, a scientist of the Saratov National Research State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky, who won the competition for participation in the expedition Arctic Floating University – 2022: Changing Arctic, will meet spring for the second time, and even in the Arctic.
PhotofromMaksimChervyakov’sarchive
Maxim Chervyakov, Chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology of SSU, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, considers the upcoming trip around the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean to be a gift of fate. Moreover, last year he was already a member of a similar research expedition, which took place in a different geographical area.
Fifty-five scientists, teachers and students of Russian scientific and educational organizations of Russia will be on the flight for 21 days (from June 24 to July 15). Russian Russian Arctic Expedition will take place on the research vessel "Professor Molchanov" and will take place on the Arkhangelsk - Novaya Zemlya route with a visit to the Malye Karmakuly polar station, the territory of the Russian Arctic National Park (Russian Harbor, Oran Islands, Cape of Desire, Ice Harbor), Kolguev and Vaigach Islands.
Russia's centuries-old interest in the Arctic is determined by its geographical location and geopolitical objectives. As well as the promotion of the Russian scientific, historical, cultural and natural heritage associated with the northern polar region of the planet. Any research by domestic scientists has always been closely linked to the trends set by the state. Most modern research problems are focused on climate change and obtaining new knowledge about the state of ecosystems of the coastal Arctic territories. The training of young specialists in Arctic specialties, including hydrometeorology, is also included in the circle of interests of Maxim Yuryevich Chervyakov, with whom we met on the eve of sailing on a large expedition.
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive (from The Arctic photo display)
Competition into the floating university
Every year, the Arctic Floating University holds a competition among young scientists: at the same time, the first block of the proposed application is purely scientific, the second is educational. The organizers plan the route, and the contestants plan the research that they will be able to conduct on the expedition. Last year, one of the topics proposed by M.Y. Chervyakov was devoted to the study of atmospheric aerosol in the Arctic (his tasks included the assessment and registration of small particles that are in the atmosphere along the route of the vessel); the second is the assessment of cloud–radiation connections, that is, the study of cloud cover in the Arctic (how exactly it affects the arrival and consumption of solar energy). Actually, the study of solar radiation from satellites is part of his scientific interests at Saratov University.
The second stage of the competition, educational, involves the preparation of a course of popular science lectures aimed at researchers of various profiles - oceanologists, biologists and, of course, meteorologists. The young scientist plans to give three lectures on the expedition.
This year is an anniversary year for the floating university (the project is 10 years old), so there were especially many people who wanted to take part in the expedition. The organizers received 130 applications from 61 organizations from all over the country, the competition is like a prestigious training area: more than three people per place. According to the quota of the Russian Geographical Society, the application of the SSU employee received a positive response.
Where is Saratov, and where is the Arctic…
ДYes, Saratov is not an Arctic city, but the Arctic has always made itself felt. When Maxim Yurievich was a student, he went to the Arctic practice in Yamal. When I was a graduate student, I became a participant in the forum, which brought together many interesting specialists – meteorologists, oceanologists, ecologists, geologists dealing with Arctic issues. The organizers of the meeting tried to recreate the Arctic observatory in the Tver region, as if the participants were right at the North Pole. We lived in tents, in winter, in conditions close to real. Ice observations were carried out on Lake Seliger, and prominent polar researchers came to visit. There, a young scientist from Saratov University won a grant and began to popularize Arctic disciplines among students of various educational fields.
Then they began to invite polar explorers to Saratov, it turned out that they have many common interests with our specialists. We held a research competition "Arctic for schoolchildren". Today, a whole "caste" of students has already formed, who, after school, thanks to this competition, came to our university.
Then Maxim Yurievich began to think, why not extrapolate the results of satellite research that he conducts in our region to the Arctic region? I started looking for various schools and conferences on similar topics. This became a new direction of the main scientific topic – "Satellite methods of radiation balance", which he once developed under the guidance of his supervisor, Professor Yuri Andreevich Sklyarov.
The geography department of SSU began to organize meetings with polar explorers (one of the polar researchers even turned out to be a graduate of our university), lectures, festivals, exhibitions. Recently, for example, an exhibition of M.Y. Chervyakov's photographs about the Arctic was held in the 10th building, it aroused keen interest and response from colleagues and students.
Today Maxim Yurievich is glad of any opportunity to popularize the Arctic theme. He also enthusiastically accepted the proposal to open a memorial plaque to the Norwegian researcher Fridtjof Nansen in Saratov, although the Nobel laureate visited Saratov not as a polar explorer, but as a humanist and public figure who saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents of the Volga region, fought hard against hunger, attracting foreign partners, involving the governments of many states in a campaign to help our country.
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive (from The Arctic photo display)
Able-bodied
It is assumed that physically every participant of the expedition should be ready for hard work. To do this, you need to pass a medical examination and get a certificate of admission to work in the Arctic latitudes on a ship. The organizers are making significant efforts to avoid the need for emergency medical care on the ship. Evacuation by helicopter can endanger the entire expedition – for this, you will first need to take the patient to the polar station.
Participation in the expedition requires special endurance, because during the landing it will be necessary to move along the route at a good pace for 8 or more hours. Seasickness can also knock you out of a rut, from which no one is immune. Last year, the ship was large, and it didn't chatter very much, it took a day to, as the sailors say, "pump up." This year the ship will be smaller, and the pitching is promised to be more serious. Although it is the small dimensions that will allow you to get closer to the shores. M.Yu. Chervyakov already knows: there are no waves in the ice, everything is more or less comfortable here, but as soon as you go out to the open sea, especially in a storm, plans can change significantly.
When polar bears are not welcome
Researchers go out on land in groups, but first the territory is checked by inspectors for the presence of polar bears. "And here our interests diverge," Maxim Yurievich laughs, "it seems to be an ideal place for research, but the inspector does not allow us to land there precisely because of polar bears. But the group of biologists, of course, is delighted. But they study the behavior of the owners of the Arctic with the help of drones. Although we are glad to see the bears, we realize that the fewer of them, the more opportunities we have for research."
As for this year's expedition, the aerosol that Chervyakov studied last time cannot be fixed in this time frame, since the surface of the territory is still covered with snow, and small particles are too thin structures to catch them. Therefore, this year the researcher was offered to monitor "snowfields" (not to be confused with glaciers!). This is a stationary accumulation of snow that persists in places protected from wind and sun. Snowfields are quite sensitive to climatic changes and, like glaciers, can provide information about changes in the Arctic ecosystem. Their condition needs to be monitored to understand how an increase in temperature affects the volume of snow.
Most of the islands on which they will land are uninhabited. And any episodic study of specific snowfields is of great importance. It is planned to land at five points: on the Southern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago near the village of Karmakula; on the Northern island along the Barents Sea; then a visit to the Kara Sea, where research work is also provided on the islands of Kolguev and Vaigach.
Monitoring snow fields and solar radiation
What are you planning to do specifically? Make snow-measuring observations. There are such standard tools-snow meters that allow you to make pits in different thickness (from 1 to 10 meters) – vertical cuts inside the snowfield – and determine their condition at different depths, for example, density and moisture content. The scientist will be helped to fix all this by students who are also selected by competition and can join any scientific group. In this expedition, he was united in a hydrometeorological group with a colleague from the Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic. There is already satellite information about the snowfields, they will have to collect ground information.
The second block of research is the study of solar radiation by instruments, visual observation of clouds (shapes, types, points) and fixing these parameters in order to understand how clouds affect the arrival of solar radiation, that is, energy, at a sufficiently low position of the Sun. This is the uniqueness of the Arctic – the Sun is very low above the horizon. There are few stationary research points in the Arctic, so any new expedition allows you to accumulate an array of data about what is happening in these latitudes.
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive (from The Arctic photo display)
Spartan conditions
This project gives researchers a unique opportunity to collect materials in places where you just physically can't be in any other way besides the expedition. Well, the plane does not fly to Novaya Zemlya! Getting to this place is a very complex algorithm of actions. That is why psychologists, doctors, biologists, microbiologists, chemists, and journalists have such an increased interest: everyone wants to conduct their research in a protected and inaccessible, logistically difficult zone.
Everything comes together here when you combine your scientific activity, a traveler's hobby and the opportunity to communicate with a huge number of incredibly interesting people with completely different points of view, scientific views.
After each landing, the expedition participants are given a day to rest and primary analysis of the collected information. They make technical mini-reports on the ship, which allow you to adjust subsequent landings. After the expedition is completed, the researchers must prepare a general report and an article about the scientific result for publication in the collections of the Arctic Floating University.
"We were promised spartan conditions on the last flight, but, to be honest, they seemed comfortable to me," Maxim Yurievich believes. – Yes, the ship is not new, it got stuck in the ice in Antarctica, but these are normal, normal “field” conditions. Shower, bath, dining room, recreation areas – the conditions on the ship, in my opinion, are close to the sanatorium. You can play sports, stage theatrical productions, hold poetry evenings and film presentations. If we go three days before the next landing, there is always something to do. Even to work – there are laboratories here where we can do primary data processing."
The vessel as an attractor
The air temperature at this time in these latitudes is about zero degrees, but the sea wind can penetrate – you can feel the breath of the Arctic. It is always a polar day here, the sun does not go below the horizon. It is symbolic that Maxim Yurievich departs from Saratov on June 22 on the day of the summer solstice – the longest day of the year. On this topic, he jokes that the expedition will last only one day – polar!
Psychologically, it is not easy to rebuild, the rhythm of life gets lost, you do not notice the time, you can communicate until five in the morning, and at seven you are already up. Therefore, the night is solemnly declared between the members of the cabin. The porthole is covered with a curtain and they try to fall asleep. "We will see the sunset for the last time in Arkhangelsk, and even it is difficult to call it a sunset, since the sun will set over the horizon and come out in a very short time. As soon as we get into the waters of the White Sea, there will be no more sunsets."
But incredible round-the-clock landscapes will begin. When you walk on the sea, your own atmosphere begins to form around the ship. Birds arrive and accompany you throughout the journey. Ornithologists immediately arrange shifts, stand on deck for days, biologists monitor whales and pinnipeds. Nature itself comes to the ship.
There are no penguins in the Arctic, but there are kiras so similar to them that if they sit on drifting ice, there are almost no differences. Incredible color shades of ice – turquoise, azure – accompany you all the way. And there are also icebergs, bird bazaars. When the ship approaches the islands, it seems that the landscape does not change during parking, but different weather colors it with different colors. And although there is very little vegetation, flowers, polar poppies can still be found on Novaya Zemlya, mosses replace them to the north. Their color scheme is striking – orange, red, bluish, greenish. It seems to be a minimalistic landscape in general, but it is so rich in colors that once you see such beauties, you will never forget them.
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive (from The Arctic photo display)
In fact, the Arctic is a desert
Surprisingly, Maxim Yurievich, as a traveler, prefers deserts, their unrealistic landscapes. His last memories are associated with visiting deserts in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco. In Palestine, he walked through the biblical deserts to the Dead Sea.
And he also likes the Saratov steppe region. "Going to the remote Volga region, turning 360 degrees, you feel such a space, so much beauty," he shares his impressions. "It feels like I've climbed to the top!".
Today, he admits, he is inspired by deserted desert spaces. In fact, the Arctic is also a desert.
Although mountains are another favorite element. While doing mountaineering, he made ascents to many interesting peaks, but the most memorable is the highest point of Siberia, Belukha in the Altai. These are Roerich's places, and he loves this artist very much, who also painted Belukha. Altai, the Alps, the Caucasus, and the same volcanoes of Kamchatka are seemingly uncomplicated peaks from the point of view of mountaineering, but when you stand on the cliff of a crater, you see the mouth of a breathing volcano – emotions overwhelm. However, he gets the same pleasure from Kumysnaya Polyana in the vicinity of Saratov.
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive (from The Arctic photo display)
The climate is really changing
As a meteorologist, he loves to observe the weather, clouds, and various optical phenomena. Claims that there are enormous climate changes. For the second year, he has been conducting research on the frequent appearance of mesoscale convective storm cells in our region. If earlier it was individual clouds, thunderstorms, now it is large clusters, whole systems. They can appear only in places where there is a significant increase in air temperature, in which more moisture accumulates. Such a frequent recurrence of these phenomena has not been before. But for the last 5-7 years they can be observed, and in Saratov they take such phenomena and forms as, for example, four years ago, when a convective "plate" hung over the city, from where lightning struck. More and more often "vymoobraznye" clouds appear. If earlier it was quite a rare phenomenon, then this summer they have been observed three or four times.
Winters are getting warmer, average annual temperatures are decreasing, this can lead to changes in precipitation that falls. They become shorter and more intense. Not necessarily every summer will be hot, but statistics show that there are more and more fire-hazardous periods. The appearance of more squally winds, tornadoes, windstorms is recorded.
This topic will always remain relevant, since the weather and climate are of interest to everyone, at least at the household level. And if we talk about the professional aspect, then any plane or rocket that is launched into space requires detailed knowledge of weather conditions. The profession of meteorologist is unique and irreplaceable at the moment, Maxim Yurievich proudly states. The request from employers is off the scale: not only in Saratov, but also in other regions of the country, our graduates are expected.
Of course, he is interested in his students continuing to pursue science further. Now everything is changing so fast that it is necessary to study weather phenomena occurring against the background of climate change at the same rapid pace. The appearance of more showers, unusual heat waves and heatwaves requires additional research on how this manifests itself in the Earth's atmosphere. For example, now, in mid–June, a period of the appearance of silvery clouds has begun over Saratov - when after sunset they flash with bright colors. This is also a consequence of climate change. There is a lot of data to process all this, you need programming skills. The department even urgently adjusted the curricula, realizing that it was necessary to introduce more aspects related to information technology.
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive (from The Arctic photo display)
I try to inspire doing research
At the Department of Meteorology and Climatology of SSU, students have been involved in scientific conferences, expeditions, and youth science schools since the second year. They are trying to use all the opportunities that our university and the Russian Geographical Society provide. They send activists on internships, gatherings to Moscow, Baikal, Krasnoyarsk and even to Lapland, France, Serbia and Turkey, and win all kinds of grants. That's just the last event – ten meteorology students won the international competition "The future is in our hands". Many guys have repeatedly become prize-winners of other equally large competitions and Olympiads.
"If a School of oceanology opens in the Crimea or specialists are needed on the Kuril Islands who can conduct coastal observations, I try to send as many students as possible to practice, since the initial trajectory of development is laid there," Maxim Yurievich is sure. – It is very nice to see when graduates of the university, your students, achieve high results, and after all, everything once began with a scientific student society, with mini-expeditions to Kumysnaya Polyana. If possible, I “infect” everyone with science! I believe that many have their own Arctic yet to come!".
Photo from Maxim Chervyakov’s archive
Tamara Korneva
