Noosfera icebreaker arrives at Ukraine’s Vernadsky Antarctic Research Base

That’s according to the National Antarctic Research Center, Ukrinform reports.

This is the first arrival of the vessel to the Ukrainian base within the fourth Antarctic season, and several more are scheduled.

"On the way to the base, we managed to successfully evade all the cyclones, and even the ‘Drake’ was not too stormy this time, the maximum wave height was 3 to 4 meters," noted Pavlo Panasiuk, the icebreaker’s captain.

As noted by the National Antarctic Research Center, the vessel delivered a technical team to the Vernadsky base to carry out urgent work on modernizing the facility, which had been launched before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

This season, the sewage system and lamps are to be replaced, while the site for meteorological research is to be expanded.

According to polar explorers, the ship is currently being unloaded, after which it will depart for the Chilean port of Punta Arenas to continue her Antarctic mission.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, in mid-December, the Noosfera icebreaker set off for its fourth Antarctic season. Like all previous ones, it is being run in cooperation with the Polish Antarctic Program.

The National Antarctic Research Center emphasized that this season is the most international of all previous ones. It envisages collaborations with the United States and Spain, joint research with the Czech Republic, as well as the implementation of two European Union projects within the Horizon Europe program.

The Noosfera (until 2021, RRS James Clark Ross) is a Ukrainian research icebreaker, flagship of the Ukrainian research fleet. A former flagship of the British Antarctic Survey, she now belongs to the National Antarctic Research Center. Ukraine acquired the vessel in August 2021.