Twenty-two members (including seven women and fifteen men) are part of this year’s Masaryk University expedition to Antarctica. The main part of the expedition, which consists of fourteen people, set off on the New Year’s Day. From the airport in Vienna, the team travelled via Amsterdam to Buenos Aires, to the Mendel Polar Station on James Ross Island. The second part of the expedition, consisting of eight people, left on Saturday 11 January 2025 via Chile to the CZ*ECO-Nelson base on Nelson Island.
“Due to the different timing, geographical focus and chosen route, the two expeditions will probably not meet in Antarctica at all,” said Daniel Nývlt, head of the Czech Antarctic Research Programme based at the MU Faculty of Science.
The main group in Argentina will travel on board an Argentine Air Force Special via Marambio Base on Seymour Island to the polar station on James Ross Island. This part of the expedition, led by Peter Váczi from the Department of Geography and the Department of Experimental Biology at the MU Faculty of Science, includes Israeli, Italian and Slovak researchers from Masaryk University and the Czech Technical University in Prague, as well as a doctor and three technicians responsible for running the technical infrastructure of this unique southernmost university outpost.
The research objective of Expedition 2025 is to continue long-term climate monitoring and to comprehensively monitor the state of polar geological and ecological systems, in particular local glaciers, permafrost, the deglaciated area that allows non-vascular plants to grow, river and lake systems, and other geomorphological formations. This season will also see the continuation of Filip Hrbáček’s Czech Science Foundation JUNIOR STAR project, which focuses on the study of permafrost change on the Antarctic Peninsula.
“New this year is research into the spread of the dreaded bird flu in Antarctica in cooperation with Spanish colleagues, for which our expedition will collect samples, or research into marine and terrestrial algae led by a colleague from the University of Haifa in Israel,” says Daniel Nývlt.
The group heading to Nelson Island plans to continue research into climate change and its impact on local ecosystems and will also focus on studying material washed up from the sea and the diversity of microscopic fungi. The expedition, which includes colleagues from Ukraine, will use the logistics of several national programmes during its journey.
“We owe our support for this expedition to Chile, China, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay, in alphabetical order. In addition, after less than a month of working together, the group will split up and two colleagues will continue their work at Vernadsky Research Base, the Ukrainian Antarctic research station,” explained Pavel Kapler, manager of the Czech Antarctic Research Programme, who leads this part of the expedition.