site.btaTurkish Research Expedition Leaves for Antarctica with Bulgarian Member

The eighth Turkish Antarctic Expedition left Istanbul to conduct scientific research, Anadolu Agency reported on Monday. The expedition is under the auspices of the Turkish presidency together with the Ministry of Industry and Technology and in coordination with the Polar Research Institute of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkiye (TUBITAK).

The Turkish Polar Research Institute Director and coordinator of the expedition, Burcu Ozsoy said that the Turkish team consisted of 20 researchers and three high school students who won the competition for polar research projects held within the framework of Teknofest. As part of the competition, they designed outerwear for polar and space conditions. The expedition's programme included trials of these garments.

"Our team will be joined by one participant each from Bulgaria and the US, as well as two participants from Spain," said Ozsoy.

He pointed out that if the conditions are suitable, the Turkish team is expected to arrive in 2-3 days at the Antarctic base on King George Island.

The work of the expedition will last about 30-35 days. A total of 22 projects are included in the programme, related to research on the effects of melting ice, microplastic pollution, the effects of atmospheric changes in extreme conditions, geological studies, etc., as well as trials of modern technological developments on the Turkish side.

"The data we collect in Antarctica we bring to Turkiye and evaluate in the laboratory. Then we make our contribution to the world of science with scientific publications," added Ozsoy.

Since 2017, Turkiye has regularly sent expeditions to Antarctica for scientific research, which also feature foreign scientists, including from Bulgaria.

So far, a total of 116 Turkish scientists have participated in the Antarctic expeditions. The data collected has been included in a total of 252 scientific papers.