The scientist explained the reason for the freezing of the Gulf of Finland for the first time in 15 years

The difficult ice situation in the Gulf of Finland last winter was caused by two main factors: westerly winds heading towards the coast and abnormally low air temperatures. This was announced on May 8 by the head of the Center for Ice Hydrometeorological Information at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Anastasia Ilyina.

A specialist told RIA Novosti that at the end of January, a steady westerly wind direction was recorded in St. Petersburg against the background of severe frosts. This combination of weather conditions accelerated the process of ice build—up and contributed to the formation of a solder, a fixed ice sheet that is attached along the coastline, Ilyina explained.

The scientist recalled that ice appears in the bay area every year. However, in this case, we are talking about moving it to the western part of the water area, where it should be destroyed. Ilyina clarified: when the so-called pressing winds prevail (blowing towards the land), the drifting ice remains inside the bay and does not go into the Baltic Sea, which seriously hinders navigation.

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Alexander Kolesov, chief weather forecaster of St. Petersburg, said on February 13 that the Gulf of Finland could be completely covered with ice for the first time in the last 15 years. He noted that such a volume of ice has not been observed in recent relatively warm winters. The eastern part of the bay was completely frozen, but the ice did not leave to the west due to the higher temperatures.

Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev later announced that the Sibir nuclear icebreaker had gone to the Gulf of Finland to provide the necessary icebreaking facilities. He noted that due to the extreme frosts that have been in Europe and the European part of Russia for several weeks, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation asked to send an icebreaker because of the threat to navigation.