An Arctic oceanographic expedition to study the Arctic Ocean and Russian Arctic islands has been established as part of the Northern Fleet's hydrographic service, Capt. 2^nd Rank Andrei Luzik, acting head of the Northern Fleet's press service, told RIA Novosti.

The expedition, led by hydrographer and Capt. 2^nd Rank Andrei Sharomov, brings together military and civilian specialists, including geophysicists, hydrologists, topographers and other experts.

Arctic studies will be conducted in the course of expeditions aboard hydrographic vessels and as part of the Arctic cruises of Northern Fleet warships and support vessels. Plans for 2016 include studies on the islands of the Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya archipelagos, the New Siberian Islands, and in the Barents and Kara seas.

The new service is a successor to the northern hydrographic expedition that carried out research in the high-latitude areas of the Arctic Ocean for 87 years, from 1924 until 2011.

"The successful work of previous expedition members facilitated the drawing of navigation sea maps and the creation of aides and manuals for navigation in the Arctic seas," Luzik said. The expedition was also instrumental in creating the geomorphological image of the Arctic Ocean bed and its geophysical fields, with more than 150 geographical objects being discovered and described.

As a result of 29 high-latitude air and 24 underwater expeditions, almost 85 percent of the Arctic basin has been studied. The remaining portion of the basin will be explored by specialists of the new oceanographic expedition.

"Their priority will be to obtain the maximum amount of information related to the water area and environment for the purpose of ensuring Russia's maritime activity in the Arctic," Luzik said.