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Russia opens drifting arctic base Barneo-2013
April 3, 2013, 9:45 am

[Image courtesy of barneo.ru]

The Arctic adventure costs at least $20,000 for a three-day visit [barneo.ru]

The Barneo-2013 drifting polar base has been opened in the Arctic, 110 kilometres away from the North Pole.

All the preparatory works are expected to be finished by April 4, when scientists from the Arctic and Antarctic research institutes will arrive from Russia, France and the US.

Besides research tasks, Barneo will also serve as a transit hub for provisions of Russia’s drifting station North Pole – 40.

Barneo remains operational for a month annually and this year it is open until April 25.

Over 200 tourists are expected to visit the station before it closes.

The Arctic adventure costs at least $20,000 for a three-day visit.

The research station was created under the auspices of the Russian Geographic Society in 2000.

Barneo is now the centre of research, sports and tourism in the Arctic.

The base closes before the Arctic ice starts to melt.

Provisions, equipment and other supplies are delivered by Russian military-transport aircraft.

This year Borneo will also host the Arctic Council meeting that unites Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US.

The Council was established by the Ottawa Declaration of 1996 as a high level intergovernmental forum to provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States.

Daria Chernyshova