ИСТИНА

The multidisciplinary expedition O2A2-2019 aboard R/V Professor Molchanov (16.08–18.09.2019) carried out for the first time a comprehensive survey of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago (SZA) coastal zone. Hydrobiology included water column profiling, sediment sampling for granulometry and organic carbon, sampling for plankton, zoobenthos, macroalgae, microphytobenthos. Divers conducted video recording and benthos sampling. In total, 55 stations were performed (34 shipboard, 13 coastal, 7 scuba-dives, 1 from a boat). Zoology included ship-based seabird and marine mammal surveys, land bird surveys, seabird colony counts, sampling for toxicology, genetics, parasitology. Freshwater & terrestrial studies: water and sediment sampling for chemistry, plankton, benthos, microbiota. In total, 13 objects were surveyed (5 lakes, 3 rivers, 3 streams), insects, vascular plants, mosses, lichens, macrofungi collected. Geomorphology & palaeogeography included geomorphological profiling, geodesic surveys, drone-based mapping, sampling for stable isotopes, geochronology, lithology, microfauna. In total, 160 km traversed at 21 land sites, over 200 samples collected. Our expedition provided a baseline data on biological and landscape diversity of SZA. The results obtained allowed to evaluate the SZA coastal zone as holistic ecosystem which can be rated as a high-Arctic core area with habitat and biodiversity, almost unaffected by human impact, and where Arctic biota undergoes natural evolution.