Russians go against the floe

The research vessel was dwarfed by the massive iceberg

A Russian research vessel has towed a 200,000-tonne Arctic iceberg to a new location as part of a project to develop gas deposits in the Barents Sea.

Russian TV reports that staff from a St Petersburg institute embarked on the unusual operation to create space for the construction of offshore drilling rigs.

The workhorse for the operation in the Shtokman gas field was the Mikhail Somov, a research vessel less than one-tenth the iceberg's weight.

A team of scientists built a reinforced steel cable a kilometre long to tow the iceberg.

A remote-controlled machine, described by the TV as an underwater robot, was dispatched to drill through the iceberg so that the cable could be wrapped around it.

Abundance of icebergs

The data needed for the operation was collected in 2003, when researchers discovered that the area's ice floes were potentially large enough to crush any drilling rigs.

Polar bears were thrown scraps of food by the ship's crew

"We discovered more than 100 icebergs in the area of the Shtokman deposit," recalled Yuri Gudoshnikov, the scientist who led the expedition.

"We don't really understand this natural phenomenon, or why there are so many icebergs here," he added.

However, despite the project's apparent success, in future this type of operation is likely to be carried out not by research vessels, but by Arctic-class tugs, which are considered to be better suited to the task.

"This is an unusual undertaking for people involved in science," said the TV, "and it will probably be the only one of its kind."

One side effect of the project has been the disruption it has brought to the area's local residents.

However, they have at least received some sort of compensation.

"Polar bears were attracted by the smell of the ship's galley," the TV pointed out, "and so they had to be fed."

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