The rotation of expedition teams began at Vernadsky station. On the night of March 20 to 21 (Ukrainian time), the RV Noosfera delivered to the station the 29th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition, which will replace colleagues from the 28th UAE.
Unloading of the icebreaker will continue in the coming days. Polar explorers have to transport ashore 50 tons of cargo and 140 tons of fuel necessary for the next year of wintering. Since Noosfera cannot approach the station’s berths because of the bottom topography, all the stuff will be transported by motor boats from the Penola Strait, where the ship stopped, to Galindez Island, where Vernadsky is located.
Also, scientists and specialists of the 28th UAE will refer cases to the 29th UAE team
While Noosfera was sailing from Chile to the station, members of the seasonal expedition had already begun conducting planned research in biology, geology and geophysics. In particular, the first phytoplankton samples were collected for the international project to study the possible distribution of silicones in Antarctica. The work of the seasonal expedition will continue during the rotation of annual expeditions, as well as when the ship goes back to Chile. We will tell you about the most interesting results separately.
In the meantime, we wish our polar explorers a successful rotation and good weather.
We remind you that Noosfera with the 29th UAE on board left the port of Punta Arenas for Antarctica on March 15. The ship reached the icy continent in less than a week. This time, the world’s most stormy Drake Passage was very favorable to our flagship and behaved surprisingly calmly. Polar explorers even joked that they passed the Drake as if it were an autobahn:)
Photo: Serhii Hlotov, Oleksandr Matsibura, Anna Torgonenko
