A rotation of annual expeditions took place at the Ukrainian station "Akademik Vernadskyi". The team of the 28th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition left for home after a year of work on the icy continent, and the 29th UAE team is taking its place
This was reported by the National Antarctic Science Center.
On April 2, the official part of the shift transfer took place. The head of the 28th UAE, Bohdan Gavrylyuk, handed over the symbolic key to "Vernadskyi" to Yury Otruba, the head of the 29th, and they also signed the act of acceptance and transfer of the station. Then the blue-yellow flags changed on the flagpole.
And already on April 3, the participants of the 28th wintering party left the station. In the near future, the Ukrainian icebreaker "Noosphere" will deliver them, as well as the participants of the seasonal expedition to Chile. From there, polar explorers will reach Ukraine by plane and land transport.
There are 14 participants in the 28th UAE. For a whole year, they studied meteorology, biology and geophysics in the Antarctic, and also supported the stationʼs activities. In particular, they observed the Earthʼs magnetic field, the ionosphere, global thunderstorm activity, the ozone layer, weather indicators, the living world of the Antarctic, etc.
Thanks to the improvement of communication and logistics, as well as the use of drones, the expedition managed to significantly expand the geography of field research at sea and conduct more complete observations of birds and mammals.
The 29th UAE also has 14 participants. They will continue the work of their predecessors. Continuity is extremely important for most studies, because part of the data series at the Ukrainian station is the longest in the Antarctic.
Also, during the Antarctic summer, the station continued the work of a seasonal expedition, which had two parts: technical and scientific. Technical specialists managed to complete many works on the modernization of the station, which were started even before the full-scale war.
So, the main pier, built back in the British period, was completely replaced with a new one — safer and more convenient. The reconstruction of the second berth was also completed, the internal water supply system was replaced, and the grounding system of the main and auxiliary buildings was launched.