The participants completed the rotation of year-long expeditions at Akademik Vernadsky station. This is already the second rotation of Ukrainian winterers since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
“Despite the great war and all the attempts of the enemy to destroy us, we are moving on and firmly holding the Antarctic “front”. During these 408 days, none of our basic measurements and research, most of which have been going on for decades and are very valuable to global science, have been stopped for a single minute. This season, we have managed to initiate several new researches in collaboration with international partners and to complete urgent work on the modernization of the station. Now we have made a planned rotation of year-long expeditions and continue to carry out the Antarctic mission,” said Evgen Dykyi, Director of the National Antarctic Scientific Center.
Today, April 7, 2023, polar explorers of the 27th UAE, who worked for a year in Antarctica, are heading home. Together with them, the members of the seasonal team, who performed technical and scientific tasks for several months, are coming back home.
Instead, the 28th UAE began its work at Vernadsky. In the coming year, this team will conduct geophysical, meteorological and biological research, as well as ensure the life support of the station.
For the second year running, rotation of Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions is provided by our own ship – the research icebreaker Noosfera. In March, she delivered the 28th UAE from Chile to Vernadsky, and now with the 27th UAE and a seasonal team on board is heading to the Republic of South Africa. On the way, on King George Island, the ship will also pick up the Polish expedition from their Arctowski station. From Cape Town, the polar explorers will reach Poland by plane, and after that they will return to Ukraine by ground transport.
Noosfera has also delivered to Vernadsky a year’s supply of food, fuel and other necessary items. From the station, the ship took away a large amount of garbage. Since Antarctica is an ecological reserve, a person cannot leave anything behind. During the winter, all garbage is sorted and stored on a special site. Part of the plastic is crushed and melted down for souvenirs.
We wish the 28th UAE a successful wintering, and the 27th UAE – an easy way home. We are waiting for you in an invincible Ukraine.
Photo by Serhii Hlotov and Serhii Sallo