Arctic Hydrology: History of Shaping, Development and Prospects

The article provides the history of the shaping, development and prospects of scientific division arctic hydrology of the State Scientific Centre of the Russian Federation «Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute» other scientific institutes and academic centers of Soviet Union and Russia. The history is divided to 6 stages: description of the lower reaches and mouths of the main rivers, the organization of polar stations in the Arctic (1930-1953); providing Arctic navigation with icing hydrological forecasts on the North Sea route and projects development for the fundamental improvement of navigable conditions in estuarine bars and river ledges (1953-1964); arctic hydrology's contribution in the International Hydrological Decade (1965-1974); hydrological researching to assess the effects of hydropower construction and spatial redistribution of Siberian rivers water resources (1975-1990); arctic hydrology as an abiotic component of Arctic aquatic ecosystems (1991 – 2008); elaboration of the system-wide integrated water management projects development for surface water bodies monitoring of the Arctic (2009 – 2020). Structural and functional analysis of the field studies and engineering, researching and methodological working on division of the arctic hydrology shows, firstly, the contribution of arctic hydrology to hydrological science in general; secondly, their interdependence from states historical stages; thirdly, the contribution of Soviet and Russian experts to the AMAP, IAH, UN and etc. Further development of arctic hydrology will undoubtedly be associated with the pooling of knowledge of social and natural sciences concerning water resources to meet the interests of society.