State Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research

State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute - AARI (institute building) belongs to the Russian Federal Service on hydrometeorology and environmental protection. AARI is the oldest and the largest Russian research institution in the field of comprehensive studies of the Polar Regions.

The history of the Institute begins since 1920, when the Northern Research and Trade Expedition was organized. In 1925 the Northern Research and Trade Expedition was reorganized into the Institute for Northern Studies. Since 1930 the Institute was named as the Arctic Research Institute. In 1958 according to the Resolution of the Government the organization and coordination of national Antarctic exploration were laid on the Institute and it has become the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI). Further changes brought the AARI in 1963 under the Main Administration of the Hydrometeorological Service (now the Federal Service of Russia for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Environment). In 1994 the AARI has obtained the status of State Research Center of Russia. From 1992 to the present Dr.Ivan Frolov is the director of the AARI.

In the AARI there are 17 Scientific Departments and Arctic and Antarctic Museum. Besides the Scientific Departments and Laboratories, the AARI has the Center of Ice and Hydrometeorological Information, World Data Center-B on sea ice, Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE), scientific research and experimental base: the station in the Arctic and Antarctic, "Ladozhskaya" and "Gorkovskaya" Stations (near St.Petersburg), research vessels including the unique vessel of icebreaker type "Academic Fedorov", specific ice tank, experimental producing complex for the development and production of research devices.

The AARI performs the complex investigations in the Arctic and Antarctic in the field of oceanography, physics of ice, ocean, and in- land water, meteorology, ocean/air interaction, geophysics, sea ice studies, glaciology, polar geography, hydrochemistry, hydrology of river mounts and water resources, ecology, interaction of the ship's hull and other engineering constructions with ice, polar medicine.