There have been changes to the teams at Vernadsky: the female polar explorers from the 30th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition are heading home

This has been reported by the Telegram channel “Vernadsky 🇺🇦 Antarctica”.

The polar explorers of the 30th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition face a long journey home.

First, the vessel “Noosphere” will take the team to the port of Punta Arenas in Chile. From there, the expedition members will fly to Poland and then travel by coach to Ukraine.

The statement noted that the 30th expedition had been working at Vernadsky Station for a year.

Its members carried out research in three main areas: geophysics, meteorology and biology. The team also supported the station’s operations.

Above all, the expedition ensured the collection, processing and transmission of data, most of which constitute the longest time series in Antarctica.

It is noted that this data is used worldwide to track global processes affecting the planet.

In particular, thanks to observations of atmospheric ozone levels, which have been ongoing at the station since 1957, a positive trend was recorded last year regarding the ‘healing’ of the ozone hole over Antarctica.

The Telegram channel noted that it closed not only earlier than expected, but also earlier than at any time since 2019.

At the same time, another measurement confirmed the alarming trend of warming in Antarctica.

Last year, the sea water temperature in the area around the station never fell below freezing, and no stable ice cover formed around the island.

As a reminder, Anton Ptushkin’s documentary film ‘Antarctica’ is set for wide release on 4 September.