Floating polar station won't survey Russia's Arctic waters: director

The floating Tara Polar Station, which will start surveying the Arctic next year, will not scan Russian waters due to the tense geopolitical situation, the director of the foundation behind the project told AFP Wednesday.

Described as a sort of polar "space station", the 110-tonne floating laboratory is designed to become trapped in the Arctic ice and then drift with the ice pack for between 350 and 500 days in order to study the still largely unexplored region.

The expedition, which will have 12 members in winter, six of them scientists, and 18 in summer, has received authorisation to navigate in Russian waters from August 25 to September 15 to reach its starting point above the Gakkel Ridge -- an underwater mountain range located between Siberia and Greenland.

However, while in Russian waters, scientists will refrain from conducting acoustic surveys of the ocean environment.

"Due to defence considerations, it's too complicated. We can't listen to what's happening underwater, otherwise, we can't pass," Romain Trouble, director of the Tara Ocean Foundation, told AFP during a stop in Oslo, after returning from testing in the far north.

"It's an unspoken rule, but it's what we are adhering to for the first time: there will be no active acoustic program on board the ship, no sonar" while in Russian waters, he explained.

The area through which Tara Polar Station will transit is near the Kola Peninsula, home to Russia's Northern Fleet, which includes submarines capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The polar station resembles an igloo placed on top of a large buoy.

Built in the French port of Cherbourg, it is made to withstand the pressure of sea ice and endure temperatures as low as -52 degrees Celsius.

Thirty research centres from 12 countries are involved in the first expedition, which will focus on biological research, climate change and pollution.

A total of 10 expeditions are planned in the Arctic between 2026 and 2045.