Ukraine has supported the French project Antarctique 2.0°C to study climate change and the impact of human activities on Antarctic ecosystems. In particular, Akademik Vernadsky station has received two researchers from France – Niels Dutrievoz and Margot Legal, who will work together with Ukrainian polar explorers for the next six weeks.
Niels is a climatologist. Together with our meteorologists, he will study the phenomenon of atmospheric rivers as part of The International Research Initiative “Year Of Polar Prediction”
For your information, an atmospheric river is a narrow corridor of atmospheric moisture, which provides a rapid transfer of moisture from the tropics to the middle and high latitudes. It is usually several thousand kilometers long and only a few hundred kilometers wide. One such river can carry more water in the atmosphere than the largest and most full-flowing river on our planet – the Amazon River.
Through joint research, scientists will be able to find out whether atmospheric rivers are associated with precipitation in Vernadsky station area, as well as to determine whether one of them was the cause of the December record snowfall or will be the cause of future precipitation. Now is a very favorable time for such studies, because the mentioned phenomenon occurs most often during the Antarctic summer.
A joint team of scientists has already made the first visit to the glacier dome on our island, where a snow sampling site has been identified and fenced. The isotopic composition of these samples will then be analyzed in the laboratory, and through the information obtained, it will be possible to find out where the moisture, which turned into precipitation in the station area, “came from “.
Another French guest, Margot, will be engaged in comparative sociological research and will study the life and work of our scientists at Vernadsky.
In total, the Antarctic part of the Antarctique 2.0°C expedition consists of 6 participants conducting an interdisciplinary study of climate change and the ecological footprint of mankind. While Niels and Margot are working at our station, their colleagues will continue sampling in the Antarctic Peninsula area on a yacht. More information about the expedition can be found here.
We congratulate the French researchers in the most remote corner of Ukraine and wish fruitful work and further joint scientific publications!