Maria Klenova
Encyclopedia
Maria Vasilyevna Klenova (1898 – 1976) was a Russia
n and Soviet
marine geologist
and one of the founders of Russian marine science.
Klenova studied to become a professor and later on worked as a member of the Council for Antarctic Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences. During that time she spent nearly thirty years researching in the Polar Regions and become the first woman scientist to do research in Antarctica, specifically at the ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) station at Macquarie Island
.
research vessel Persey, attached to the Floating Marine Research Institute in the Barents Sea
and the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya
, Spitsbergen
, and Franz Josef Land
. In 1933 Klenova produced the first complete seabed map of the Barents Sea.
In 1949 Klenova became a senior research associate at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Her work included analyses of seabed geology in the Atlantic Ocean
and the Antarctic
, and in the Caspian
, Barents
and White Sea
s. In the austral summer of 1956 she traveled with a Soviet oceanographic team to map uncharted areas of the Antarctic coast.
The Klenova Valley (84°36′N 55°00′W), an oceanographic valley discovered in 1981–1983 by the USSR Northern Fleet Hydrographic Expedition is named after her. Klenova crater on Venus is also named in her honor.
s Ob and Lena. Her group took oceanographic measurements in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. Along with Klenova there were seven other women on board the Ob. At that time women were rarely allowed to venture on land and had to rely on their male colleagues to collect and bring back data samples. In between these two voyages she worked at Mirny, a Russian base on the Queen Mary Coast
(which is shared by Australian and Polish
Research Stations). On the way home Klenova went to Macquarie Island where she became the first female scientist ever to go ashore.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
marine geologist
Marine geology
Marine geology or geological oceanography involves geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal margins...
and one of the founders of Russian marine science.
Klenova studied to become a professor and later on worked as a member of the Council for Antarctic Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences. During that time she spent nearly thirty years researching in the Polar Regions and become the first woman scientist to do research in Antarctica, specifically at the ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) station at Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...
.
Career
Klenova began her marine geology career in 1925 as a researcher aboard the SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
research vessel Persey, attached to the Floating Marine Research Institute in the Barents Sea
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...
and the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya , also known in Dutch as Nova Zembla and in Norwegian as , is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the northern island...
, Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
, and Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
. In 1933 Klenova produced the first complete seabed map of the Barents Sea.
In 1949 Klenova became a senior research associate at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in Moscow, is the largest institute for ocean and earth science research, in Russia, established in 1946.- Fleet :* RV Akademik Ioffe...
of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Her work included analyses of seabed geology in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and the Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
, and in the Caspian
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
, Barents
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...
and White Sea
White Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
s. In the austral summer of 1956 she traveled with a Soviet oceanographic team to map uncharted areas of the Antarctic coast.
The Klenova Valley (84°36′N 55°00′W), an oceanographic valley discovered in 1981–1983 by the USSR Northern Fleet Hydrographic Expedition is named after her. Klenova crater on Venus is also named in her honor.
Contributions
Her contributions helped to create the first Antarctic atlas, a groundbreaking four-volume work published in the Soviet Union. Dr. Klenova spent most of her time making observations on board the Russian icebreakerIcebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
s Ob and Lena. Her group took oceanographic measurements in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. Along with Klenova there were seven other women on board the Ob. At that time women were rarely allowed to venture on land and had to rely on their male colleagues to collect and bring back data samples. In between these two voyages she worked at Mirny, a Russian base on the Queen Mary Coast
Queen Mary Coast
Queen Mary Land or the Queen Mary Coast is that portion of the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory lying between Cape Filchner, in 91° 54' E, and Cape Hordern, at 100° 30' E. It was discovered in February 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under the leadership of Douglas...
(which is shared by Australian and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Research Stations). On the way home Klenova went to Macquarie Island where she became the first female scientist ever to go ashore.
Further reading
- Klenova M.V. and Jastrebova L.A. (1938) Chlorophyll in sediments as an indication of the gas phase of the water. Trans. Inst. Mar. Fisheries, U.S.S.R. 5, 65-70.
- Klenova, M.V. (1939) "Toward the Study of the Nature of the North Caspian Shore Line (Observations from an Airplane)." Nature no. 1 pp. 72-73 (in Russian).
- Klenova, M.V. Geology of the Sea (Moscow, 1948), p. 424. (In Russian)
- Geology of the Volga delta (1951, co-author)
- Geology of the Barents Sea (Moscow, 1960) (In Russian)
- Geological structure of the continental slope Caspian Sea (1962, co-author)
- Precipitation of the Arctic basin based on drift l / s G. Sedov (1962)
- Geology of the Atlantic Ocean (Moscow, 1975) (In Russian)