Ukraine will continue research in the Antarctic: the government has made a decision
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine continues its Antarctic research program until 2025
The government has extended the state targeted scientific and technical research program in the Antarctic for two years, the National Antarctic Research Center reported , UNN writes.
Details
"Ukraine will continue to conduct research in the Antarctic, ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the Akademik Vernadsky station and the Noosphere icebreaker. To this end, the government has adopted a resolution extending the term of the state targeted scientific and technical program of research in the Antarctic until 2025 (inclusive)," the statement said.
This decision will reportedly make it possible to conduct and finance Ukrainian Antarctic expeditions over the next two years.
"Even in a full-scale war, we have no right to stop our Antarctic program. First of all, this will negate all the investments that Ukraine has already made in Antarctic research over the past 28 years, and then we will need many times more money to restore it than we are currently spending to support the work of expeditions. Secondly, our presence in the Antarctic is our opportunity to join global research projects, to do global science on a par with the world's leading countries. We are involved in many international initiatives, and this is a matter of both Ukraine's prestige on the world stage and the motivation of our scientists to stay in Ukraine rather than emigrate," explained Yevhen Dykyi, Director of the National Antarctic Research Center.
He also noted that Ukraine has been conducting its own research in the Antarctic since February 1996. "This data is invaluable, and it is thanks to it that we can now see how the climate is changing on the planet, how the Antarctic is warming, what is the dynamics of the ozone hole, etc. This is a huge contribution of Ukrainian scientists to the whole of humanity. And we should be proud of this and support it even in the most difficult times," said the head of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Sciences pointed out that recently Ukrainian scientists, in cooperation with foreign colleagues, have discovered the cause of local glacial melting in Antarctica and of the temperature record in the Vernadsky area.
