Barneo 2015 / NP-41

[Jim Hunt]

If my understanding of Google Translate's version of the original Russian is correct then preparations for this year's "ice camp" near the North Pole are already well underway.

There's no English language news on the Barneo Facebook page as yet, but that may be because it seems this year things will work differently to 2014:

We used to have to "drifting platform at the North Pole" (in brief "Barneo") mainly inhabited by tourists, and this year the base will operate primarily scientists (seasonal drifting research station "North Pole 2015") and military ( international ice base with a symbolic name "Dome").

According to the expedition's live tracking map 2 Mi-8 helicopters have already reached Severnaya Zemlya, en route to the pole:

[Jim Hunt]

A minor technical hitch has delayed deployment of the NPEO webcams!

[Jim Hunt]

According to the Barneo Live Journal:

American science, led by Jimmy Morrison (who says he does not know how to play the guitar) and Andy Heiberg finally got to the ice floes. From today, they begin work, which will be attended by a representative of Russia Sergey Pisarev.

In addition, here's a picture of the camp itself:



the drift of the camp thus far:



and some ice near the North Pole:

[Siffy]

and some ice near the North Pole:

Is there a set of coordinates for where this picture was taken from? how close to the pole was it? Past the 85 parallel or further south?

[Jim Hunt]

Is there a set of coordinates for where this picture was taken from? how close to the pole was it? Past the 85 parallel or further south?

No coordinates for that picture I'm afraid. My assumption is that it was taken on the same flight as the picture of Barneo itself, but that is only an assumption. For ground level pictures guaranteed to be close to the Pole you could take a look at the Head North blog:

[cats]

Also for those who are interested, NPEO has reports on how the installation of their equipment is going - http://psc.apl.washington.edu/research/npeo-2015-field-reports/

[Jim Hunt]

A few more Arctic adventurers are now out on the ice near the North Pole:



Eric Philips says his team has been "swimming":

[Jim Hunt]

Diving at the North Pole:



More at: http://www.challenge100.com/challenge/north-pole/

[Jim Hunt]

Eric Philips reports "negotiating some gnarly terrain"



Meanwhile Barneo has drifted south to 89° 30' N:

[Jim Hunt]

Although there's no obvious mention of it on his website the latest dispatch from Barneo reveals that Thomas Ulrich is setting off on a solo (and unsupplied) journey from the North Pole to Ward Hunt Island.

A bit of Googling revealed a recent interview with ExplorersWeb:

[Jim Hunt]

Eric Philips' team have reached the North Pole, but the weather there isn't very good at the moment:

Just as we thought our final day would be a pushover another blizzard struck overnight, the fiercest I've seen here in 13 years of North Pole expeditions. The wind gusted at over 40kn and the air was filled with drift snow.

They are now waiting on clearer weather, so a helicopter can reach them from Barneo.

[Jim Hunt]

The snowstorm has stopped:



A bear has found Barneo:



Thomas Ulrich has returned to base and abandoned his solo trek to Canada:

[Jim Hunt]

The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute now has a web page up for what I guessed might be called NP-41. It seems the official English language name is "Seasonal Research drifting station North Pole - 2015", or AARI NP-2015 for short:

http://www.aari.ru/resources/d0014/np2015/default.asp?lang=0

[Jim Hunt]

Some scientists from the "North Pole 2015" ice camp:



caught on NPEO webcam 2:



shortly before being evacuated by the icebreaker "Kapitan Dranitsyn":

http://barentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2015/08/russian-arctic-scientists-be-evacuated-ice-floe-05-08

Thanks to favorable climatic conditions, the floating research station has been able to work twice as long as it was planned to do. “North Pole-2015” officially stared operations on April 19.

Russia has had floating research stations in the Arctic since 1937. Normally a station was established on an ice floe in September-October, and some two dozens of scientists would spend the winter there, measuring climate and weather conditions. The stations have had numbers from North Pole-1 to North Pole-40, so this year’s station, North Pole-2015, is the first to break this tradition.

During the last couple of years, it has become more and more difficult to find ice floes solid enough to hold a station, and last year The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute recommended stopping using manned stations on ice floes because of the high risks.

Here's an archive picture of Kapitan Dranitsyn leaving Tara to get iced in north of the Laptev Sea in 2006, in order to follow in the footsteps of Nansen's Fram:



Here's a bird's eye view of the camp on July 31st 2015:

[Xyrus]

Don't eat yellow snow.

[Gonzo]

Jim Hunt:

Here's a bird's eye view of the camp on July 31st 2015:

These are so cool. Thanks for posting!

[Gonzo]

Here's a bird's eye view of the camp on July 31st 2015:

Does anyone know where the drifting station was when they were picked up by the icebreaker?

[plinius]

http://imb.erdc.dren.mil/newdata.htm

2015D