The North Pole-36 (SP-36), a manned floating weather station, has started operating in the Arctic Ocean, the hydrometeorology service's Arctic and Antarctic research institute said on Monday.

"The first weather report was sent by the floating station...at 19:00 Moscow time (15:00 GMT) Sunday," a spokeswoman for the institute said.

The station, which has a crew of 18 specialists, is based on 6 x 6 km (3.7 x 3.7 mile) drifting ice-floe between the North Pole and Vrangel Island and is expected to move towards the North Pole and onto the Canadian part of the Arctic.

The last floating station, the SP-35, which started work in September 2007, completed its operation in July this year after covering over 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles).

Russian floating stations, which are usually in operation for around a year, are designed to conduct meteorological, ice and oceanographic observations, as well as environmental monitoring.

Stations also research the effects of climatic change on the central Arctic and the impact on the region's ecosystems.