An expedition organized by the Marine Heritage: Studying and Preserving Association set off from Murmansk on July 30. It was designed to conduct biodiversity and ecosystem research in various parts of the Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land archipelagoes. A team of five crewmembers and six researchers (ecologists, biologists and geographers) set off aboard the Alter Ego yacht from Rybny Berth. They prepared a special program to mark 100 years since the Krasin icebreaker's first Arctic voyage.