The composition of the 27th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition wintering team, which will go to Akademik Vernadsky station in March and work over a year, has been decided.
This team will have more scientists than usual, 3 women and one of the youngest participants for all years.
“During the Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions, the number of winterers varied from 10 to 15, but in recent years exactly 12 members have been selected – five from the station life support team and seven scientists. This time we decided to strengthen the scientific part of the team, so there will be 14 participants in the 27th UAE: 9 scientists, 3 in each research field – geophysics, meteorology, biology, and traditionally a doctor, cook, diesel engineer, mechanic and system administrator,” – said the NASC director Evgen Dykyi.
He explained that increasing the number of scientists will allow Ukraine to develop research in Antarctica, which is now particularly relevant for the whole world. In recent years, research capabilities at the station have been significantly enhanced: the biological laboratory has been modernized, and a number of new devices for meteorological and geospace measurements have been installed. These new opportunities necessitated the expansion of the scientific group.
In particular, one of the tasks of meteorologists of the 27th UAE is to participate in a major international project, the Year of Polar Prediction.
Another task of the expedition is to expand the program of ozone layer observations, since the last year turned out to be anomalous and the “ozone hole” behaved unpredictably (we will write about this separately).
Also, the decision to increase the number of winterers had also been affected by climatic changes, because now spring at Vernadsky begins earlier than the summer seasonal team of scientists can get there, so the burden on wintering biologists increases significantly.
The 27th UAE will be headed by one of the most experienced Ukrainian polar explorers – geophysicist Yurii Otruba. He has already spent 6 winters at Vernadsky and in the previous, 25th UAE, not only conducted research, but was also a base commander – the leader of the expedition.
Among the 14 participants, there are 11 men and three women – two meteorologists and one biologist. Since in 2018 after a break of almost 20 years the NASC resumed the opportunity for women to participate in annual expeditions, this will be the largest number of wintering female participants. Prior to that, two women had worked in the 24th UAE – a scientist and a doctor, and the 25th and 26th UAE had one female scientist each – in the field of geophysics and biology, respectively.
The average age of 27 UAE members is 36 years: the oldest is 50, and the youngest is 21. Currently, he is one of the youngest participants of all Ukrainian Antarctic Expeditions (before there was only one polar explorer who went to the station at the age of 21). Six of the 14 future winterers have already worked in annual expeditions at Vernadsky station, and for 8 winterers this will be the first such experience.
Members of the 27th UAE:
Scientists
Geophysicists
Yurii Otruba (Head of the Expedition)
Date of birth: 1986, Kyiv, NASC
Seventh wintering
Andrii Sopin
Date of birth: 1982, Kharkiv, Institute of Radio Astronomy, NAS of Ukraine
Third wintering
Oleksandr Bogomaz
Date of birth: 1985, Kharkiv, Institute of Ionosphere, NAS and MES of Ukraine
First wintering
Meteorologists
Serhii Razumnyi
Date of birth: 1988, Vyshgorod (Kyiv region), Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory
Third wintering
Anzhelika Hanchuk
Date of birth: 1994, Kyiv, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center
First wintering
Oksana Ivaniha
Date of birth: 1994, Kyiv, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
First wintering
Biologists
Serhii Hlotov
Date of birth: 1986, L’viv, State Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine
First wintering
Marta Dzyndra
Date of birth: 1982, L’viv, LLC “Technolab”
First wintering
Sergii Gogol
Date of birth: 1972, Kyiv, RE Kavetsky Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology, NAS of Ukraine
First wintering
Life Support Team
Doctor
Vasyl Matkovskyi
Date of birth: 1991, Kyiv
First wintering
Cook
Oleg Kurus
Date of birth: 1980, Mizoch (Rivno region)
Second wintering
Diesel Engineer
Yurii Lyshenko
Date of birth: 1973, Kharkiv
Fourth wintering
System Mechanic
Maksym Bilous
Date of birth: 1982, Shepetivka (Khmelnytsky region)
Second wintering
System Administrator
Volodymyr Khomko
Date of birth: 2000, L’viv
First wintering