Following the opening of the Bulgarian Antarctic base “St. Kliment Ohridski” on Livingston Island, the 34th scientific expedition began its work, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute (BAI) announced.
In the area of South Bay on Livingston Island, the international team of scientists, with the help of the expedition's logistics team, is collecting samples for several scientific projects. These include biologists from the USA, working in the field of ecophysiology of marine mammals - Dr. Emily Sparrow and doctoral student Ariel Leahy. They take samples from different species of seals, but the main object of their research is the leopard seal, about which very little is known worldwide.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Simona Georgieva from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER-BAS) collects samples from various vertebrate and invertebrate organisms to study the diversity of parasites in extreme habitats and to reveal their life cycles.
Dr. Borislava Margaritova from Sofia University studies the concentration and distribution of heavy metals in the tissues of Antarctic fish.
The Portuguese marine ecologists - Prof. Jose Xavier and chief assistant Dr. Jose Seco, investigate pollutants and pathogens, which cause diseases in Antarctic birds. Work continues on the ground and on processing the samples in the laboratory of the Bulgarian base.
At the end of December, scientists from the Bulgarian and international teams, who will work in various scientific fields, are expected to arrive with the Bulgarian research vessel “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” NIC 421, the BAI announced at the beginning of the month. It set sail for the Frozen Continent on November 7 from Varna.
As BTA wrote, the first group of the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic expedition departed for the Frozen Continent on November 6 with a flight from Sofia.
During the current polar expedition and the fourth voyage with the research vessel "St. St. Cyril and Methodius", we will also step on the Antarctic Peninsula, said Prof. Hristo Pimpirev in Varna on November 7 during the dispatch of NIC 421 on the new voyage.