After the necessary repairs and loading of supplies, today the icebreaker "Noosphere" will leave on its first voyage from Odessa to the Antarctic station "Akademik Vernadsky". In addition to the crew, six Ukrainian Antarctic researchers are on board, and another 28 domestic scientists will join them in the Chilean port of Punta Arenas. This was reported by the director of the National Antarctic Science Center (NASC) Yevgeny Dykiy.
The departure of the vessel "Noosphere" on the first voyage from Odessa to Antarctica is timed for January 28, not by chance - it was on this day that Antarctica was discovered.
"For the first flight, we plan to recreate and repeat three oceanographic, so-called, training grounds. And also areas where a number of measurements of the same type are carried out close enough to each other. We want to recreate the three training grounds that were conducted by Krenkel in the late 90s. And thus get a slice of how the oceanographic characteristics there have changed over a quarter of a century. The fact is that in the area where we will be, climate changes occur very quickly. It is in Antarctica that they occur much faster than in Europe. It's faster only in the Arctic," Yevgeny Dykiy said.
According to him, the icebreaker, which underwent technical maintenance at the Black Sea Shipyard, will also deliver various cargoes to the Akademik Vernadsky station: a year's supply of provisions, technological equipment and construction materials.
It will be recalled that the icebreaker "Noosphere" (formerly James Clark Ross) served as part of the British Antarctic Mission for 30 years. In August 2021, Ukraine bought an ego for the national station "Akademik Vernadsky". In 1996, it was this icebreaker that delivered the first Ukrainian mission to the station.
