Khibiny Station
Konyaev Sergey K.
Head of the Station
Contact information
Murmansk Region, Kirovsk, Zheleznodorozhnaya str., 10
Phone: +7 815-315-71-14
E-mail:
History
Founded in 1948 by Professor G.K. Tushinsky, who was its scientific supervisor until 1979, At first, the station was situated in Yuksporyok-2 settlement, 4 km to the north-east of the town of Kirovsk. In 1984, it was moved to Yuksporyok-1 settlement.
Teaching Activities
field training of students aimed at the study of natural features of mountain territories as well as a wide range of natural processes associated with snow cover. Till the end of the 1960s, the station hosted the general geographical training of the first-year students as well as field training courses for geography students from Tartu, Vilnus, and Yaroslavl universities. Since the mid-80s, students from the departments of the Faculty of Geography, such as Physical Geography of the World and Geoecology, Geomorphology and Paleogeography, Cartography and Geoinformatics, Meteorology and Climatology, and Nature Management, have had their special field training there.
Research Activities
Include studying the stratigraphy of snow cover and the physical mechanical processes of avalanche formation, the thermal and moisture regime in soils, permafrost processes and forms of relief, the elaboration of methods to assess the potential influence of avalanches and mudflows within the territories of future economic development, and the mapping and phototheodolite monitoring of processes and phenomena in natural landscapes and on technogenous slopes.
Accomplished Research
The principal methods of risk assessment for the territories of future economic development have been elaborated, and engineering measures to protect them against snow avalanches and mudflows are suggested. The whole complex of natural features of the Khibin Mountains has been described in detail, with the results being used in several Ph.D. and D.Sc. theses.
Future research activities include landscape ecological studies and the elaboration of methods of operational forecasting for mudflows. Scientific and academic contacts with the Kola department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Avalanche Control Service of the Apatity enterprise, the Regional Hydrometeorological Department in Murmansk, the Polar-Alpine Arboretum, and other institutions of the region, as well as numerous higher schools and universities in Russia.
International contacts — with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. During the last 8 years, the base has hosted geography students from Halle and Gottingen universities (Germany), Helsinki University (Finland), Plymouth University (United Kingdom), and Montana University (USA).
