Heavy snowstorms might paralyze any place in any corner of the world. Russia is not exception. Yesterday’s blizzard caused many troubles in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on the Far Eastern Sakhalin island. Car accidents on roads, 2-meter snowdrifts on sidewalks, and kids allowed not to attend classes.
Russia's nuclear-powered icebreaking ship Rossiya
Today, Oct. 2, 2010, Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaking ship Rossiya set out on an Arctic expedition from the northern port of Murmansk.
A brass band played a march as the ship started out of the port.
The expedition, led by the president’s envoy to the Arctic and Antarctic, Artur Chilingarov, will deliver a drifting research station onto an ice floe to carry out a study on the Arctic’s water area and climate conditions.
RIA Novosti correspondent Alexander Stelliferovsky is taking part in the expedition. He runs his own expedition blog.
Russia and other countries with an Arctic coastline are laying claims to the region’s sea floor, said to contain one quarter of the world’s mineral resources. The untapped riches are becoming more accessible due to melting ice.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a recent international conference in Moscow that the Arctic would not become a battleground as potential territory disputes could be resolved through negotiation.
Resource: RIA Novosti
Sir David is filming for a BBC 1 series, Frozen Planet
Sir David Attenborough has realised a life-long ambition and reached the North Pole, the BBC has said.
The broadcaster, 84, is filming in the Arctic Circle for Frozen Planet, a BBC One series due to air in late 2011.
Sir David, who has also visited the South Pole for the series, said it was a “huge privilege” to reach both Poles.
The BBC said the seven-part series is the “ultimate polar expedition to the last great wilderness on the planet – before the regions change forever”.
Speaking from the Svalbard archipelago, 700 miles from the North Pole, Sir David said: “The Poles – North and South – look superficially very similar.
ColdUnited Flickr
Hoisted flags
Statistics since Dec. 21, 2009.