Scientists are heading to Antarctica on Masaryk University’s 20th expedition

This year, the primary scientific goals of the expedition will be long-term climate monitoring and comprehensive monitoring of the state of polar geo- and ecosystems, i.e. local glaciers, long-term frozen soil, deglaciated territory allowing the growth of lower plants, river and lake systems and other geomorphological formations.

"The five-year JUNIOR STAR project, focused on the study of changes in long-term frozen soil on the Antarctic Peninsula, will continue, as will medical research on the effect of stress on the health of workers in polar regions, which is being carried out in cooperation with the Ostrava Faculty Hospital, Masaryk University (MU) Faculty of Sports Studies and the Czech Academy of Sciences", said expedition leader Peter Váczi from the Departments of Experimental Biology at the MU Faculty of Science. Scientists from the Department of Anthropology SCI MUNI will also be accompanying the expedition members as part of the A.D.A.P.T. project. Before their departure, anthropologists recorded information about the participants' body dimensions and they will take new scans upon their arrival. By comparing these records, they will determine whether and how participants changed during the expedition. Among other things, the data thus obtained could be used to optimize equipment and clothing being tested in Antarctica.

The main group will depart from Vienna Airport on Wednesday, January 24, where they will fly, via Madrid, to Chile. They will then cross the Drake Passage to Antarctica on board the ship Janequeo, and then to the J.G. Mendel Czech Antarctic Station on James Ross Island aboard the Republic of Chile Navy ship Sargento Aldea. Members of this part of the expedition include nine scientists, a doctor and four technicians. In addition, the group will be accompanied by two documentary film makers, the traveller and filmmaker Petr Horký, an experienced polar explorer who has, among other things, undertaken expeditions to three of the Earth's poles (North, South and Pole of Cold), and the cameraman Jan Šimánek. They will be preparing a documentary on the Czech Antarctic Research Program for Czech Television.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to show the general public how our research program has developed over the twenty years of its existence, and we are doing it in a truly attractive form, with a professionally produced documentary shot by the country’s most professional filmmakers”, said the head of the Czech Antarctic Research Program, Daniel Nývlt, from the MU Faculty of Science’s Department of Geography.

A second, smaller expedition group, numbering eight people, left the Czech Republic on December 27 and arrived safely at the CZ*ECO Nelson base in the first week of January. This expedition will last a total of six weeks, four of which will be spent working on King George Island and Nelson Island. When this part of the expedition ends, two of the participants will transfer to the Ukrainian Vernadsky station on Galindez Island, where they will continue to work on joint Czech-Ukrainian research, returning to Europe at the beginning of May.

"Foreign participants on our international expedition include two Slovak colleagues, who graduated at MU and are now employed there, and two scientists from Ukraine”, added Pavel Kapler, manager of the Czech Antarctic Research Program. “It is quite likely this expedition will face some complications”, added Kapler; "according to reports from the Council of Managers of Antarctic National Programs (COMNAP), the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) is heading toward the area, which will limit some of our planned activities and completely prevent the possibility of conducting animal research”.

During this year's expedition, as part of ongoing cooperation between the Czech Antarctic Research Program and the industrial/application sphere, testing will continue on auxiliary equipment for the COMET SYSTEM for automatic meteorological stations. In addition, the members will be testing optical fibre safety equipment manufactured by the company SCILIF (SUNFIBRE Wearable Active Lighting Technology), as well as outdoor socks from the company Northman (Bruntál), who are applying for a license to use the trademark Tested in Antarctica.

The J.G. Mendel Czech Science Station, owned and operated by Masaryk University, was completed on March 4, 2006. It was ceremonially opened and handed over to scientists for use on February 22, 2007. The second base, formerly known as Eco-Nelson, is located on Nelson Island in South Shetland archipelago and now serves as a technical-logistics refuge under the name CZ*ECO Nelson as part of the research programme’s infrastructure. The building was acquired from a private owner by the Czech Antarctic Foundation, which has made it available to Masaryk University on a 99-year lease since 2018.