Five new islands have been discovered in the remote Arctic because of melting ice from glaciers, the Russian Navy has said.
They were found during a co-ordinated expedition of the Northern Fleet to the Franz Josef Land archipelago, scientists from the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) and the Russian Arctic National Park said.
The yet to be named islands were located in Vise Bay on the Kara coast of the island of the Northern Archipelago of Novaya Zemlya - and range in size from 900 to 54,500 square metres (0.2 - 13.5 acres).
The crew, travelling on a rescue towboat rather than an icebreaker, travelled more than 4,500 miles (7,242km) during the trip - which took place over 44 days between August and September, making it the longest Arctic expedition in 30 years.
Under the command of Vice Admiral Alexander Moiseev, the team chartered the islands and made more than 20 landings.
Drone footage from the Geographical Society showed polar bears and groups of walrus inhabiting the area.
