Moscow school students will continue doing research at the Barneo polar station next year; in addition, there will be the 11^th ski trip to the North Pole, said the famous explorer Dmitry Shparo at a news conference at Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.

"Now we are not only dreaming about the 11^th expedition to the North Pole but about the second research expedition. I think next year the second Big Arctic Expedition that will continue the amazing research our smart kids carried out at the drifting station," Dmitry Shparo said.

According to Shparo, April 2018 was the first time when 14 school students were in the Arctic at once. Two teams were sent there: skiers led by Merited Polar Explorer Matvei Shparo reached the North Pole on April 25 and another seven children carried out research at the Barneo station, near the Pole. The students were studying the current conditions of ice, sea water, and the weather, as well as monitoring Earth's magnetic pole and catching sea invertebrates."

The journey was part of a new educational project, the Big Arctic Expedition, which brought together over 800 Moscow school students. The project was organized by the Travel Laboratory and Moscow's Department of Education. School students were selected during the Road to the Arctic quiz, in which almost 10,000 Moscow school students took part.

Polar explorers Matvei Shparo and Boris Smolin initiated the Arctic expeditions for school students. They were the first to reach the North Pole on skis during the polar night in December 2007 — March 2008. In total, 63 teenagers from 42 Russian regions have visited the North Pole on skis in the nine expeditions held since 2008.