MEPhI suggests ways to do the Arctic research

MEPhI suggests ways to do the Arctic research

MEPhI hosted a meeting between the university faculty and representatives of the Kartesh Polar Expedition. The participants in the roundtable discussion exchanged proposals on cooperation in studying the Arctic. In late December 2016, MEPhI employees began considering the possibility of establishing a Center for Arctic Research at MEPhI. Our Arctic.ru correspondent attended the meeting to learn the ideas advanced by its participants.

In December 2016, MEPhI announced an in-house competition for MEPhI-Arctic research proposals. All entrants were to propose concepts for studying the Russian Arctic. The winners will take part in expeditions onboard the Kartesh and will be able to put their research projects into practice. Representatives from six university departments spoke during yesterday's meeting.

"Not a single Russian institute or university has a research vessel that can carry out this work at sea, let alone the Arctic, since it calls for separate and complex preparations of a vessel, its crew and a research team," Sergei Bedash, head of Kartesh Polar Project expedition, said. He proposes that in future years representatives from several universities take part in expeditions on board the Kartesh. Senior expedition executives listed 14 priority areas for Arctic research: atmosphere, water, ice, ocean bottom, shoreline and bioresources studies; Arctic medicine; engineering support of economic activity and others. In 2017 the research ship to be used for these projects will sail about 8,000 miles.

Russian Arctic research technology is at 1990s levels

Nikolai Shabalin, Executive Director of the Moscow State University Center for Marine Research, who has participated in the Kartesh expeditions on board the Kartesh, noted that Russia lacks its own production technologies and buying modern foreign equipment is not an option given the sanctions. The Russian-made equipment is at 1990s levels. "The MEPhI Engineering Center could bridge that gap," Shabalin said. "This requires a proper facility and the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute is one of the few universities that has it."

MEPhI proposals

Associate Professor Alexei Sysoyev, Department of Molecular Physics, proposed studying the mass spectrometry of isotopes in the Arctic. According to Sysoyev, studying the bone tissue and otoliths of the fish residing permanently in the same area may be quite promising for reconstructing human impact. Also, the department proposes studying the elemental composition of the environment and determine the origin of contamination using samples of water and ice followed by analysis at MEPhI.

МИФИ предложил способы исследования Арктики
Darya Zhuk. "MEPhI proposes ways to do the Arctic research

The Instrumentation and Equipment Design Department put forward an idea to ​​create a drone group to detect oil spills. The drones form a network to transmit information among themselves and then send it to an operator for prompt response. The researchers need about two years to develop such a network. However, the drones are unable to detect oil spills under or within the ice.

The Department of Physics and Material Science has come up with several specific ideas. The results of their work in developing materials for extreme conditions have been recognized during their cooperation with Gazprom. They proposed creating main pipelines with layered texture heterogeneity to reduce corrosion-based cracking and to develop materials with shape memory for repairing equipment in the Arctic conditions, rapidly quenched alloys and welds for permanent joints and repair, special steel with high corrosion wear resistance (which can be used for casing oil platform or drilling rig reactors).

The Department of Biomedical Photonics advanced an idea to ​​remotely monitor the Arctic seas using flash fluorescent video filming in the near infrared range. The researchers propose using a drone-mounted laser to stir up chlorophyll in phytoplankton in the Arctic seas. This method will make it possible to assess the state of a water body.

The Department of Laser Physics came up with a method to conduct absorption IR spectroscopy using the Fourier spectrometer. This kind of remote sensing would provide feedback on gases, such as CO, CO2, N2O, NO, NO2, SO2, and the Arctic atmosphere in real time.

No decisions on the proposed projects have been made yet. All of them will be discussed with the Kartesh Polar expedition directors. Perhaps, in the course of this year's expedition, some of the ideas will be implemented, which would contribute to expanding this promising area at the university.