4th Belarusian Antarctic Expedition completed

22 мая 2022
The 14th Belarusian Antarctic expedition is completed. The tasks of the state program were fully implemented and last night our polar explorers returned home. This trip was the longest the history of the Belarusian expeditions: 12 scientists spent 185 days on the southern continent. During this time, they carried out 10 scientific tasks, some of which were developed by institutes and organizations of the National Academy of Sciences.

Special attention should be paid to the joint program with the Ministry of Health to study the reserve human capacities under adverse weather conditions.

Two big international projects have been realized: a Belarusian-Turkish project to study the behavior of microplastics in the polar environment and a paleographic one together with German colleagues. Also, a number of engineering works were done to prepare the station for year-round stay of polar explorers: heated water supply system and new diesel power station were put into operation, system of Wi-Fi distribution (satellite Internet connection signal) was launched to all station units, several technical facilities were mounted.  

Alexei Gaidashov, head of the Belarusian Antarctic Expedition:

“For the first time in the history of conquering the continent, our specialists were continuously broadcasting the information from automatic weather station. It comes regularly. Now we will be able to know the climatic regimes and weather conditions all year round. This is a very big practical step forward.” 

According to Alexei Gaidashov, the next season will be a kind of dress rehearsal for wintering. All life support and security systems will be thoroughly tested. According to the state program the pilot year-round stay is to be implemented in 2023. Staff, scientific equipment and logistics are tested and ready for the wintering season in Antarctica.