New facilities opened at a Russian base in Antarctica

Tuesday, December 3rd 2024 - 20:07 UTC

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Over 60 scientists set sail on an Antarctica expedition aboard the Russian icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov

Russia's Vostok Base in Antarctica has opened a new winter complex, the Institute of Arctic and Antarctic Studies (AARI) said in a statement: ”A new winter complex has been put into operation at the Vostok station in Central Antarctica (...) The new polar house will be used for the first time by the participants of the 70th Russian Antarctic expedition of the Institute of Arctic and Antarctic Studies,” the document mentioned.

The new facilities were launched in their pilot phase in January 2024 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin through a videoconference alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

The complex consists of five modules: two service and living buildings, a maintenance building with diesel generators and a water purification and storage system, a warehouse with a backup diesel generator, and a garage.

It measures 140 meters long by 13.5 meters wide and has a maximum height of 17.5 meters, covering an area of more than 1,911 m². The wall insulation is 80 centimeters thick. The base is supported by 36 three-meter-high piles, which should keep it snow-free for years.

Up to 35 seasonal specialists and up to 15 winter visitors can live and work at Vostok.

Last week, Russia's AARI set sail on a joint scientific expedition around Antarctica “from the Brazilian Port of Rio Grande,” according to the agency's website. Over 60 scientists from Argentina, Brazil, China, Chile, India, Peru, and Russia began the voyage aboard the Russian icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov. During the two-month expedition, the scientists “will work together to study the natural environment” and the continent's ice cover.

AARI Director Alexandr S. Makarov explained that the expedition aims to “complement the already created picture of the current state of Antarctica with new data to determine how it has changed over the past 10,000 years.”

Last July, Makarov did not rule out the possibility that Russia and Brazil could also carry out a similar project in the Arctic on the Russian self-propelled North Pole platform, which serves the functions of a scientific research center.

(Source: Sputnik)