The most active – the fourth Antarctic season of the Ukrainian RV Noosfera has ended. After almost five months of work, the vessel returned to the port of Cape Town (South Africa) yesterday, May 10, 2025.
During this time, the Noosfera team made a record 5 voyages to Antarctica, and crossed the world’s stormiest passage Drake Passage 10 (!) times. In total, the ship passed more than 20 thousand nautical miles (more than 37 thousand km), which is almost equal to the length of the Earth’s equator.
Our flagship has overcome this path to:
- to ensure the rotation of the annual 29th and 30th Ukrainian Antarctic Expeditions, as well as to deliver to Vernadsky and back the seasonal expedition that performed tasks at the station during the Antarctic summer;
- conduct joint voyages with expeditions of the Antarctic programs of Poland, the USA, Spain and the Czech Republic. These voyages were carried out at the expense of the mentioned states and gave Ukraine more opportunities to meet the needs of its own program, in particular, to deliver additional cargo and specialists to Vernadsky;
- perform a number of geological, oceanographic and meteorological studies. Thus, within the framework of the international project OCEAN: ICE, Ukrainian scientists launched 6 ARGO floats for the first time, which are already actively collecting information about currents in the Southern Ocean. Our scientists also conducted simultaneous radio sounding of the atmosphere from Vernadsky and the Noosfera for the first time to learn more about the processes of cloud formation and precipitation in our area and their impact on the ocean, sea ice and glacier melt.
“We are proud that even in the conditions of a full-scale Russian invasion, we not only remain part of world science and continue research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, but also, due to increased international cooperation, we have added new areas of research and received additional opportunities. So, this season has become a record-breaking not only in terms of the number of voyages, but also in terms of collaborations with foreign partners,” noted NASC director Evgen Dykyi.
At the same time, due to Russian aggression, the Noosfera cannot yet return to its home port, Odessa. Therefore, it will currently be located in a port temporary of deployment, Cape Town (South Africa).
The eventful fourth season was led by two Ukrainian captains from the Odessa region: Pavlo Panasyuk and Andriy Starish. Pavlo has been successfully leading the Noosfera since its first Antarctic mission in 2022. For Andriy, this was his first season as a captain, but before that he had successfully established himself as a Chief Officer.
We are sincerely grateful to our captains for their thoughtful voyage planning, navigation in difficult conditions, ability to avoid storms, and innovative approach to implementing the scientific program.
We offer you to feel the vibe of the fourth season thanks to incredible photos taken, in particular, from aboard the Noosfera.
We remind you that from January 2022 to May 2025, the Noosfera successfully completed four Antarctic seasons. You can read more about this here.
