The 29th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition left for Akademik Vernadsky station. The departure took place today, March 11, 2024, from Kyiv.
This team must replace the winterers from the 28th UAE, who have worked at Vernadsky station for almost a year. A long journey awaits the new expedition: by bus to Poland, by plane to Chile, and from the port of Punta Arenas onboard the ice-class research vessel Noosfera to Antarctica.
“This is already the third rotation of winterers that we have conducted during the full-scale war. Finding professionals for annual expeditions is becoming increasingly difficult, because many polar explorers or ideal candidates are at the front. We already have several cases when, during the selection process, potential winterers became military personnel. But despite all the difficulties, we cannot stop the Antarctic program.
We have no such right neither before the past generations, who have invested a lot of effort and money to make Ukraine an Antarctic state, nor before the current one, for whom Antarctica is a window into the world of global science, and even less so before the future ones, because our presence on the icy continent has extraordinary prospects,” noted NASC Director Evgen Dykyi.
There are 14 participants in the 29th UAE, selected at an open competition. Among them are 9 scientists (biologists, meteorologists and geophysicists – 3 persons of each speciality) and 5 representatives of the life support team (doctor, cook, system administrator, system mechanic, diesel engineer-electrician).
For the first time for the last 27 years, 4 women will work in the expedition (previously there were so many female polar explorers only in the second UAE (1997-1998).It is noteworthy that one of the participants, geophysicist Anna Soina, went for her second wintering (previously she was in the 25th UAE 2020-2021).
Biologist Tetiana Bahlai, meteorologist Valentyna Harbarchuk, and doctor Ivanna Koturbash are going for their first expedition.
The 29th UAE team can be viewed on the link.
Most of the team are newcomers (ten people), but they will be led by one of the most experienced polar explorers in Ukraine, geophysicist Yurii Otruba. This will be his eighth wintering.
