Biological data from the Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1955-1958)

The marine program of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition was carried out on board the diesel-turbine powered "Ob" (1955-1958) as part of the International Geophysical Year. Supplementary material was also provided by the Antarctic station "Mirnyi" and the whalers "Slava" and "Sovetskaya Ukraina". Biological occurrence data was digitised from the "Biological Reports of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1955-1958)" Volumes 1-3. The First Soviet Antarctic Expedition was led by Mikhail Somov; his scientific deputy was V. G. Kort. The expedition lasted from 30 November 1955 to 1957 and involved 127 expedition members and 75 crew members. Three diesel-electric ships were used to transport the expedition. They were RV "Ob" (flagship; captain I. A. Man), RV "Lena" (captain A. I. Vetrov) and the refrigerator ship No. 7 (captain M. A. Tsygankov). The final ship was used only for transporting perishables. Ob and Lena were icebreakers 130m long and displacing 12,600 tons. On the 30 November 1955 the first ship ("Ob") left port at Kaliningrad. The principal task of the expedition was to organise the main base, Mirny, and perform limited scientific observations. Other tasks were reconnaissance of sites for the inland bases Vostok and Sovetskaya; and oceanography of the Indian ocean. The Second Soviet Antarctic Expedition was led by Aleksei Treshnikov on the continent; the marine expedition on the "Ob" was led by I. V. Maksimov. The "Ob" left Kaliningrad on 7 November, 1956. The Third Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1957–59) was led by Yevgeny Tolstikov on the continent; the marine expedition on the Ob was led by I V Maksimov. Two diesel-electric ships were used to transport the expedition. RV Ob (flagship; captain I A Man) and Kooperatsiya (captain A S Yantselevich), used mainly as a transport vessel. The ships arrived in Antarctica in November – December 1957. Together with the ships crews the expedition consisted of 445 men, of whom 183 were scheduled for wintering. The tasks of the expedition included oceanographic work on the Ob in the southern oceans.