The Ukrainian research ice-class vessel Noosfera changed the polar explorer’s shifts at Atrctowski Polish Antarctic station instead of the Russian vessel. This took place tonight Kyiv time.
At the end of March, on the way from Chile to Akademik Vernadsky station, our icebreaker has already delivered a number of cargoes to Arctowski. And now, on the way back, the Noosfera has taken on board members of the Polish Antarctic expedition, who will be transported together with our polar explorers to the Chilean port of Punta Arenas.
“Just a week after the start of the war our Polish colleagues turned to us with a request whether our new icebreaker agree to serve their Antarctic station. Before that, they have chartered a Russian vessel, but after the treacherous Russian invasion of Ukraine, they no longer want to spend a penny on them. In other words, the Poles also told a Russian ship to “go to hell””, said Evgen Dykyi, NASC Director.
According to him, NASC accepted the proposal, because it will further enhance cooperation between Ukraine and Poland, and is very beneficial for us.
”Poland provides us with incredible support at this difficult time, in particular, it was the Polish Antarctic Program that helped us deliver the winterers of the 27th UAE to Vernadsky. And their Artctowski is located on the way from our Vernadsky to Chile, on King George Island, which is quite convenient. King George is usually a waypoint for ships to enter the world’s most turbulent Drake Passage,” explained the NASC Director.
While the Polish colleagues were loading onto the Noosfera, Ukrainian biologists, returning home from Vernadsky, took soil and plant samples on King George Island. Thus, we’ve got a valuable material for comparison with the material collected in the Vernadsky area. So, even in difficult wartime, the work of Ukrainian scientists and fruitful international cooperation continue.
We wish the Ukrainian and Polish polar explorers, as well as the international – now Ukrainian-British-Latvian-Chilean 🙂 crew of the Noosfera to have a good trip to Chile and a gentle Drake!
Reference: Artctowski Polish Antarctic station was established on 26 February, 1977. The station is named for Henryk Arctowski (1871-1959), a famous Polish geologist and geophysicist, Professor of Lviv University. Now the station is a year-round research center: its main research areas include marine biology, oceanography, geology, geomorphology, glaciology, meteorology, climatology, seismology, magnetism and ecology and is managed by the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Now the 46th expedition is working at Artstowski. Like the Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition, it has two teams: annual and seasonal. The annual team changes during the Antarctic spring (when we have autumn) and the season runs from the end of the Antarctic spring to the beginning of the Antarctic autumn. At the time, when for unknown reasons women were not allowed at Vernadsky, it was at Artctowski that one of the first Ukrainian polar scientists, PhD Iryna Kozeretska, now NASC Deputy Director for Science, worked.