Ukrainian Expedition Arrives to Antarctica After Facing Travel Difficulties

20 April 2020 19:07

Ukrainian scientists during their educational meeting at the Low-Frequenct Observatory of the Department of Geocosmic Radiophysics of the Radio Astronomy Institute of the NAS of Ukraine in the village of Martove, Kharkiv region on March 5.Yuliia Davydova / htv_prod_adminadske

For over a year, Ukrainian researchers and scientists have been stationed at the Vernadsky Research Base in Antarctica – the 24th such expedition. But because of the coronavirus, they have not been able to go home, as their replacements – the 25th expedition – have had a much more roundabout journey to the Antarctic station because of closed borders and cancelled flights.

On April 21, the new group has finally made it to the coldest continent. We spoke with them before their departure from Ukraine to find out how they've prepared themselves for their year in Antarctica, what they’ll do there, and taken a look at how the 24th expedition has celebrated Orthodox Easter in the world’s only coronavirus-unaffected continent.

What to do at the Edge of the World

The 25th Ukrainian expedition to Antarctica, where 12 people, including 7 scientists, will spend a year surrounded by ice and penguins, started with a week of training at a specialized base in the village of Martove, in Ukraine’s northwest Kharkiv region. There, near a pine forest, is the Low-Frequency Observatory of the Radio Astronomy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, on the banks of the Pecheneg reservoir.

The observatory plays host to a magnetometric complex, which is used to study magnetic storms and thunderstorms by measuring magnetic activity. A similar complex is located at the Vernadsky Research Base.

The Low-Frequency Observatory of the Department of Geocosmic Radiophysics of the Radio Astronomy Institute of the NAS of Ukraine in the village of Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

The observatory contains a magnetometric complex, used for studying magnetic storms and thunderstorms. Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

“Thunderstorms around the world are tied to the climate. When it changes, the humidity of the air and the intensity of thunderstorms also change. And at the end of the last century, an American scientist published an article which suggested using these signals as indicators of temperature changes. When Ukraine got this base, it obtained the ability to constantly measure [these signals.] Why is this so important? Because Antarctica lacks any anthropogenic impact or man-made obstacles. And the electro-magnetic climate there is very favorable for taking these measurements,” explained radio physicist Oleksandr Koloskov as he entered the training base. Koloskov has already been to Antarctica four times, and is now training future polar explorers.

Radio physicist Oleksandr Koloskov has been to Antarctica four times, and now trains future polar explorers. Martove, Kharkiv region, March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

We meet Svitlana Krakovska nearby – one of the first Ukrainian women to study Antarctica in the late 1990s, along with the men. At the time, she considered the decision to allow her to travel to the Vernadsky Research Base as rather progressive, but she comments that not everyone took her seriously.

“The first management of the Antarctic Center was oriented on those stations where at that time women were already equal. But we broke through that glass ceiling. In Antarctica, what’s important was our professional knowledge and our personal character: not men or women, but people and specialists,” notes Svitlana.

Svitlana Krakovska – one of the first Ukrainian women who left for Antarctica to study it. Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

Krakovska took part in the second Ukrainian expedition, but all the challenges they faced were new – the previous team had not returned back from the winter, and didn’t manage to share their experiences.

“We formed up, relying on our life experiences, bought everything ourselves, and this was very difficult. It took two months to travel there, 13 months there and another two to get back. The sky is low there, providing a unique gamut of colors – especially during dawn and dusk. But in our year, we only have 27 really sunny days. You learn to value every single sunny day in a place like that. People in Ukraine don’t really understand that. When I returned, after my lessons in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia – ed.) and saw that people were walking around with frowns on their faces on a sunny day, I just couldn’t understand it,” recalls the scientist.

Photographs taken at the Vernadsky Research Base in Antarctica decorate the walls of the observatory in Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

Svitlana is now a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She had trained future polar explorers on their scientific missions, and told them about the standards of the World Meteorological Organization.

One of her students was Kharkiv resident Anna Soyna, one of the two female scientists in the current 25th expedition. This will be Soyna’s first trip to the coldest continent, but for her, this trip is the fulfillment of a childhood dream. She used to read books about Antarctica, and it was her university thesis topic. Her role in the team during the Antarctic winter will be ozonometry.

“The ozone constantly needs to be kept track of in order to understand whether the [ozone] hole is growing or shrinking. Seeing as variations in the ozone layer affect human lives, and on the ecosystem, it needs to be constantly tracked. This is for the country’s prestige, and for future investment in science,” explains Soyna.

Kharkiv resident Anna Soyna is heading to Antarctica for the first time, Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

All the knowledge that scientists need to master during their year-long sojourn in Antarctica has been grouped and systemized by geophysicist Andriy Zalyzovskiy. He’s the creator of the training program, and the head of acquisitions. He’s been to the white continent four times.

“Aside from the fact that they’re scientists and they’re doing their own works, their task is [also] life support. One of the particularities of life there is the fact that you have no telephones. No 101, 102, 103 (Ukrainian emergency numbers – ed.) We don’t have any mountain rescue teams there. You have a collective of twelve people, and everything counts on them,” says Andriy.

Andriy Zalyzovskiy – the creator of the training program, and the head of acquisitions. He’s been to the white continent four times. Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

He recalls spending his free time – when not engaged in scientific duties – by learning the terrain around the base.

“There’s a bunch of interesting places right near the base – for example, a 50 meter tall glacier. The glacier turned out to have caves. We can still see with our own eyes how fauna is moving towards the pole. In 2007, Gentoo penguins settled near the base. This ended with us losing our fresh water lake, because they simply crapped in it,” Andriy tells us.

Vadym Zhukovskiy is heading to Antarctica for the second time. He’ll be engaged in meteorological, geophysical, and seismic research. His task this year is to place seismic sensor groups on the Galindez Island where the research base is located.

“It’s turned out that we know more about the cosmos than about our own Earth. In reality, we don’t really understand what exists beyond a depth of 12 kilometers. It’s a unique area. A lot of icebergs. They bang their giant masses against the top of the earth, and this is a seismic signal that travels deep into the planet, and is good for learning about the earth’s core. We believe that in a few years we’ll have gathered enough data in order to construct a 3D model of the core itself – this is about 40 kilometers. We didn’t do this previously. This is similar to taking an ultrasound of internal organs – only here aren’t ultrasound, but seismic waves,” the geophysicist explains.

Vadym Zhukovskiy will be engaged in meteorological, geophysical, and seismic research in Antarctica. Martove, Kharkiv region, March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

This is how scientists plan to use the sounds of nature to conduct passive seismic scans. Active scans are officially banned in Antarctica, seeing as they require artificial noise produced by conducting explosions in water. These explosions can kill plankton in a 600 meter radius from the boat tossing the explosives, and this negatively impacts the ecosystem as a whole, say scientists.

The expedition will also be mining for useful minerals and fossils.

Ukrainian scientists will be conducting passive seismic scans in Antarctica. Martove, Kharkiv region, March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

Diesel electrician Yuriy Lyshenko will, for the third time, maintain the diesel-electric generators at the base. For him, this isn’t just a routine duty.

“You don’t have monotonous work at the base, because every day is different from the last. This is connected to the fact that a lot of work is done at the base. There’s work in the water areas as well, overseen by our scientists,” Yuriy tells us.

His most memorable experience in the coldest continent happened on his first trip, when the scenery of his native town changed to the landscapes of Antarctica.

“Most of all, I was taken with the Antarctic nature. This is a completely different world. You can’t even compare it to the Arctic. At those latitudes where everything is violently blooming in the Arctic, there is nothing in the Antarctic. Our island is made out of volcanic cliffs, and there’s no soil. And the accumulation of cold creates a different climatic environment,” Yuriy explains.

For diesel electrician Yuriy Lyshenko, this will be his third trip to Antarctica. Martove, Kharkiv region. March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

In order to ensure that the researchers don’t feel isolated from their family and friends, and for them to be able to share their data with colleagues in Ukraine, they absolutely need telecom connections to the outer world. System administrator Evhenii Prokopchuk will handle that aspect on the 25th expedition.

“The internet is more or less okay at the Vernadsky Research Base now. There’s a satellite there. 30 gigabytes of data is given each month to the 12 people there. It’s equally split between all the expedition members – about 450 megabytes a week per person. It’s enough to write to their relatives and close ones daily, and to write emails for work,” says Evhenii.

System administrator Evhenii Prokopchuk is responsible for maintaining connections to the outside world. Martove, Kharkiv, March 5, 2020. Photo: Yuliia Davydova / hromadske

Andriy Zalizovksiy says that the government markedly increased funding this year – about $5 million was allocated for research at the Vernadsky Research Base. These changes were well-received at the National Antarctic Science Center.

“Every winter is a separate lifetime. This is a unique experience, which you can’t get anywhere else,” believes Andriy.

Coronavirus, Easter, and Delays

The 25th expedition was unfortunately delayed due to the spread of the coronavirus, leaving the 24th on duty for longer than expected. Due to the closure of national borders, the team – who had planned to be at the base prior to the start of the Antarctic winter in April – wasn’t able to make their scheduled departure date. The expedition, traveling from Ukraine to Turkey, and then to Chile through Columbia, was only two hours short of catching the last flight to the South American country before it closed its borders.

As a result, the team was stuck in Turkey for three days – and then, when returning to Ukraine, spent another week in quarantine before their COVID-19 tests came back negative. But the team was still determined to relieve their colleagues and start their own tour of service. By cooperating with diplomatic services in a number of countries, they managing to open up a route to the base, and, on March 30, arrived in Chile, where they’d take a Chilean naval vessel to Antarctica.

The 25th expedition was due to arrive on April 19 – meaning that they would arrive on Orthodox Easter Sunday. Their predecessors, the 24th expedition, ended up celebrating the holiday on their own at the Vernadsky Research Base.

Members of the 24th Ukrainian Antarctic expedition celebrate Easter. April 19, 2020. Photo: National Antarctic Science Center

Antarctica – the only continent unaffected by the coronavirus – also afforded them a privilege many in Ukraine did not have this year, due to quarantine: the chance to celebrate Easter at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s chapel at the base.

“The base church of Saint Volodymyr – is the only chapel of the Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church where a full personal celebratory service was held, and the faithful were able to celebrate together. This isn’t a quarantine violation – Antarctica is still the only continent on the planet where there is no coronavirus,” reads a message posted on the Facebook page of the National Antarctic Science Center.

But, just to be sure, the 25th expedition has taken an artificial ventilator with them to Antarctica.

/ By Yuliia Davydova, Adapted by Romeo Kokriatski