January 13, 2022 – 150 years ago, a weather service began to work in Russia. The team of the project “Legends of the Arctic” did not remain aloof from this event. Public service is relevant and in demand at all times. 

One of the founders of the weather service in Russia, a well-known meteorologist, academician Rykachev Mikhail Alexandrovich (1841-1919) – director of the Main Geophysical Observatory. In the 1870s, he was a member of the commission of the Geographical Society for the development of a plan for the study of the northern seas of Russia. It was in honor of Mikhail Alexandrovich that an island in the Kara Sea in the Middendorf Bay, Rykachev Island, was named. 

Rykachev Island is the goal of the sixth snowmobile expedition from the Legends of the Arctic cycle. For the Island Activation under the international program Islands on the Air (IOTA) and RR-06-100 under the Russian Robinson Club program , we received a special call sign R150WS Russia 150 Weather Service.

The start of the snowmobile expedition “Legends of the Arctic” to Rykachev Island is scheduled for March 3-4, 2022 from the village of Tazovsky, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. A team of six people will have to travel 1,400 km to Rykachev Island. The route was developed according to the algorithm familiar to us: the team from Yamal and the team from Norilsk meet at the sea hydrometeorological station Sopochnaya Karga. Then we go to the coast of the Kara Sea in the area of ​​the Pyasinsky Bay and go along the coast to the sea hydrometeorological coastal station Sterlegova. At Sterlegova, we have a reserve of fuel for the passage to Rykachev Island and back. We set up camp on the island, mount antennas and go on the air. Another of our mission is the installation of a commemorative plaque to Mikhail Aleksandrovich Rykachev. Traditionally, we fix sights, keep a diary, shoot photos and videos for a future documentary.