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The 10th anniversary conference "Relief and Quaternary Formations of the Arctic, Subarctic and Northwestern Russia" was held in St. Petersburg from December 14 to 15, 2023. The conference was traditionally organized by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institutes and VNIIOkeangeologiya.

More than 50 scientific reports on the results of field work in the Arctic, Subarctic and Northwestern Russia over the past year were presented at the conference. Scientists from leading Russian geological institutes from Moscow and St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Syktyvkar, Vladivostok, Magadan, Tiksi, Apatity, summed up the results of the expedition research from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka. Most of the presentations were devoted to Arctic and Subarctic research, including work carried out in the waters of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, the continental shelf and coastal territories.

November 24, 2023 All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean named after Academician I.S. Gramberg (FGBI "VNIIOkeangeologiya") celebrated its 75th anniversary. On this day, the traditional noon shot of the Naryshkin signal gun of the Peter and Paul Fortress bastion sounded in honor of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "VNIIOkeangeologiya". Dmitry Tetenkin, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Petrovevgeny Petrov, Head of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use, Boris Shumsky, Director General of VNIIOKEANGEOLOGY, and heads of subordinate organizations of Rosnedra took part in the ceremony of the solemn shot. A scientific and practical meeting dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the NIIGA - VNIIOkeangeologiya "World Ocean, continental shelf, Arctic and Antarctic: the state of geological knowledge and prospects for further research" was held in the main building of the Institute.

Specialists of the VNIIOkeangeologiya have developed software for short-term earthquake forecasting based on the technology of forecasting dangerous geological conditions. An earthquake is a release of accumulated stress inside the earth's crust, as a result of which rock layers are destroyed and abruptly displaced. The amplification of the natural vibrations of the rock mass indicates the accumulation and movement of energy in it. The accumulated energy of elastic recoil and increased vibrations of the array provoke micro-earthquakes, which are harbingers of remote earthquakes.

Since 2004, the Institute has been developing a technology for short-term earthquake forecasting, which involves monitoring "living" faults using stations receiving seismological signals (elastic waves). A "living" fault is a zone in which there is an increased concentration of cracks compared to the host rocks. This zone is capable of accumulating energy from internal and external sources and releasing it with the formation of resonant waves and other elastic vibrations.

The last field testing of the technology of short-term earthquake prediction was successfully conducted by VNIIOkeangeologiya specialists in August 2023 in Kamchatka, and on October 17, 2023, the institute received a patent for the Palamar_01 software.

The authors of the invention are Palamarchuk V.K., Demina I.M., Glinskaya N.V. and Burdakova E.V.

Employees of the FSBI "VNIIOkeangeologiya" took part in a scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean on board the first Chinese–built polar icebreaker "Xue Long – 2" ("Snow Dragon – 2", "Xue Long - 2").
A group of researchers, which included employees of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "VNIIOKEANGEOLOGY", Ilya Yakovenko, a leading engineer of the Department of System Geological and Geophysical Research, and Svetlana Tabyrtsa, a leading engineer of the Department of marine seismic Exploration, performed a series of works in the Arctic region in the field of geology and geophysics of the mid-Ocean ridge. In addition, the expedition studied the properties of atmospheric sea ice, marine and subsurface environment, as well as biomes and pollutants.

The purpose of the conference was to familiarize with new research results of young scientists and specialists in the fields of geology, geophysics, geochemistry, geomorphology, paleogeography, geotectonics, metallogeny, geoecology of the Polar regions of the Earth and the World Ocean, as well as geoinformation processing using a geoinformation system and special-purpose software.
The conference brought together young specialists from St. Petersburg State University, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Karpinsky Institute, etc.

In the period from September 20 to 23, 2023, the VIII International Symposium "Polar Science and Exploration" was held at the Jilin University of Changchun (People's Republic of China), which was attended by specialists of the FSBI "VNIIOkeangeologiya" headed by Deputy Director General – Head of the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources of Antarctica, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Herman Leonidovich Leichenkov.

On September 10, Valery Kaminsky, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, turned 76.
The staff of the FSBI «VNIIOkeangeologiya» congratulates Valery Kaminsky, beloved by all of us, on his birthday and wishes him good health, constant optimism and success in all his endeavors!

Within the framework of the 2nd International Scientific and Practical Conference «Breakthrough Technologies in the Exploration, Development and Production of Hydrocarbon Resources», which was held in St. Petersburg on June 7-9, 2023, Deputy Director General - Head of the GMRA Department German Leichenkov presented a report at the Mining University «Joint Russian-Chinese ice drilling project with core sampling a lodge in the northwestern part of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica».

On December 7, 2022, a delegation of the Council for Geosciences of the Republic of South Africa, headed by General Director, Mr. M. Mabuza, visited VNIIOkeangeologia. The meeting was held as part of the program of visits to the subordinate institutions of Rosnedra (St. Petersburg, Moscow).

FSBI "VNIIOkeangeologia" provides training for specialists in the exploration of solid minerals in the World Ocean as part of the fulfillment of obligations under a contract between the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the Ministry of Natural Resources.