North Pole-36 chief Yuri Katrayev hoisted the Russian national flag and three other flags of Petersburg, the Arctic-Antarctic Research Institute and the International Polar Year.

Eighteen Polar explorers will be making very important research for a year. They will be drifting in central high-latitude Arctic regions, which they will explore to make more accurate evaluations of global climate changes.

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orologists, aerologists, oceanologists, hydrographers and ice researchers will work on the drifting ice block. They are mainly Petersburg residents, one of them is from Kabardino-Balkaria and another one is from the Tula region. The oldest explorer is 60 years old, the youngest one is 22 years old. Several people, who are mainly younger than 30 years, joined the Polar expedition on the drifting station for the first time in their life.

Yuri Katrayev is engaged in Polar research for 34 years from his 56 years. He participated in four winter missions in the Arctic and in three missions in the Antarctic.

The landing of the Russian drifting station North Pole-36 was one of the major tasks of the Arctic-2008 expedition. The Academician Fyodorov research vessel, which was carrying the expedition crew, set out from Arkhangelsk in the middle of August.

On Sunday evening, the research vessel undocked from the ice block and started drifting. The Academician Fyodorov is scheduled to continue its voyage at 8 a.m. on Monday.

ARCTIC OCEAN, September 8 (Itar-Tass)