Yekaterina Kosmakova, a student at St Petersburg State University, took part in the 20th Arctic Floating University scientific and educational expedition, organised by the Northern (Arctic) Federal University. Over 22 days, the team covered around 3,000 nautical miles, roughly 5,560 kilometres, and carried out 48 sampling stations across four oceanographic sections.
As part of the marine hydrophysics team, Kosmakova studied the distribution of warm water of Atlantic origin in the north-eastern Barents Sea and how it changes. Using a profiler fitted with a CTD sensor, she measured temperature and salinity at different depths, working on the open deck whatever the weather.
The expedition also included fieldwork on land in Russkaya Gavan Bay, on Novaya Zemlya, and in the Franz Josef Land archipelago. The student singled out Hooker Island, where she saw blue icebergs, walruses and Arctic poppies and helped collect marine litter, including a mattress that a polar bear had dragged onto the beach.
Kosmakova is now preparing conference papers and scientific articles based on the data collected. She encourages other students to apply early for the programme’s winter school, which is open to students and early-career researchers from a range of natural science fields.
