Joint research of VNIRO and Russian Geographical Society on the Franz Josef Land

Abstract

In order to obtain information about the current state of the marine biota in the high-latitude part of the Arctic, including commercial and potentially commercial hydrobionts, and to continue the work on landscape mapping of the distribution of aquatic biological resources (ABR) in the coastal zone of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, joint expeditionary studies of the littoral and sublittoral zones of Alexandra Land were conducted in April and August 2025 with the Russian Geographical Society. During the work, standard hydrobiological methods and tools for collecting primary material were used, as well as the Chasing mini underwater drone. As a result of the research, instrumental data on the habitat of aquatic biological resources was collected, ichthyological surveys and collection of samples of marine invertebrates were carried out, and photos and videos of bottom communities were obtained. Novelty. For the first time, an underwater unmanned aerial ve- hicle was used in the research area, including for point- based collection of hydrological samples directly at the locations of the network orders.