North Pole-36 was the 36th Russia

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 manned drifting station

Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations

Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations are important contributors to exploration of the Arctic. The stations are named North Pole Soviet and...

, primarily used for arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 research from September 2008 until August 2009.

History

The station was opened on September 7, 2008. The primary objective of the station was to improve the quality of weather forecasts and to study global processes of climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

. Work was carried out on environment monitoring, and research in the fields of meteorology

Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...

, oceanology, glaciology

Glaciology

Glaciology Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal): glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit...

, and aerology was carried out.

The expedition consisted of 18 polar explorers, several dogs, and more than 150 tons of cargo. The station-master was Jury Katraev. NP-36 station settled down on a piece of sea ice

Sea ice

Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....

 that was approximately 6 square kilometre across. At the moment of disembarkation the station was in so-called to "the Hollow of submariners" between Wrangel island

Wrangel Island

Wrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...

 and the North Pole

North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

. The vessel Akademik Fyodorov

Akademik Fyodorov

The R/V Akademik Fyodorov is a Russian scientific diesel-electric research vessel, the flagship of the Russian polar research fleet. It was built in Rauma, Finland for the Soviet Union and completed on September 8, 1987. It started operations on October 24, 1987 in the USSR...

carried out the delivery of the expedition to the ice.

The station was removed with the nuclear icebreaker NS Yamal

Yamal (icebreaker)

The NS Yamal is a Russian Arktika class nuclear powered icebreaker operated by the Murmansk Shipping Company. It is named after the Yamal Peninsula in Northwest Siberia; the name means End of the Land in Nenets....

 in the Arctic ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

 at the end of August 2009. The evacuation of the station from the drifting ice floe took three days of continuous work. The chief of high-latitude arctic expeditions Vladimir Sokolov supervised the work.