Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute

The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, or AARI (Russian: Арктический и антарктический научно-исследовательский институт, romanized: Arkticheskiy i antarkticheskiy nauchno-issledovatelskiy institut, abbreviated as ААНИИ) is the oldest and largest Russian research institute in the field of comprehensive studies of Arctic and Antarctica. It is located in Saint Petersburg and is subordinated to the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring.

The AARI has numerous departments, such as those of oceanography, glaciology, meteorology, hydrology or Arctic river mouths and water resources, geophysics, polar geography, and others. It also has a computer center, ice research laboratory, experimental workshops, and a museum (the Arctic and Antarctic Museum).

Scientists, such as Alexander Karpinsky, Alexander Fersman, Yuly Shokalsky, Nikolai Knipovich, Lev Berg, Otto Schmidt, Rudolf Samoylovich, Vladimir Vize, Nikolai Zubov, Pyotr Shirshov, Nikolai Urvantsev, and Yakov Gakkel have all made contributions to the work of the AARI.

Throughout its history, the AARI has organized more than a thousand Arctic expeditions, including dozens of high-latitude aerial expeditions, which transported 34(?) crewed drifting ice stations Severniy Polyus ("Северный полюс", or North Pole) to Central Arctic. In 2019-2020 Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute joined a biggest in history Arctic expedition MOSAiC, where its scientists were primarily involved in measurements of sea ice mechanics and seismics.