The research and expedition vessel (REV) "Ivan Frolov" of project 23680 will receive a modern Arctic weather monitoring system.
The monitoring equipment, developed by the "Rosel" holding, will receive and process hydrometeorological and geophysical information from spacecraft. Artificial intelligence is used to analyze data from the past 20 years. The equipment will help calculate the temperature of the land and sea surface, cloud height, type and intensity of precipitation, as well as soil moisture.
Currently, the forecast accuracy reaches 80%. This is a very good result. By pressing a few buttons, a meteorologist on the ship or ashore can understand what the weather will be like outside in the coming hours, whether to expect a storm, and what is the probability of encountering an iceberg on the route.
The system will operate in extreme conditions at temperatures down to -60 °C and wind speeds up to 50 m/s.
The contract for the construction of the "Ivan Frolov" was signed in 2023, and the vessel was laid down in October 2024. It is planned to be launched in 2027 and sent on its first voyage to Antarctica in 2029.
Compared to the previous vessel "Academician Fedorov", the "Ivan Frolov" has significantly increased in size: the length has increased from 141.2 m to 164.8 m, the width from 23.5 m to 26 m, and the displacement from 16,200 tons to 25,308 tons. This has allowed the research complex to be expanded to 20 laboratories. A helicopter pad and hangar for Ka-32, Mi-8, and Mi-38 helicopters are also provided on board.
The vessel belongs to the ice class Arc7, which allows it to overcome one-year Arctic ice up to 1.4 m thick in winter-spring navigation and up to 1.7 m in summer-autumn. Accompanied by an icebreaker, it will be able to pass through ice up to 2.0 m and 3.2 m thick, respectively.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that USC "Zvezdochka" is developing a thruster for the vessel "Ivan Frolov".
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Russian positions in the polar regions will be strengthened thanks to the vessel "Ivan Frolov"
