site.btaBulgarian Antarctic Base Laboratory Almost Ready, 12 Scientific Projects Underway, Bulgarian Expedition Head Pimpirev Says

The largest group of the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition, which will end at the end of March, landed in Sofia on Wednesday. The laboratory at the St Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island is being built and it is almost finished. Several other projects are in the pipeline for further research and the expedition is ongoing and very successful, Head of the expedition and director of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and the Bulgarian National Centre for Polar Research Prof. Christo Pimpirev told BTA.

In the group, which returned on Wednesday, are Pimpirev, marine geologist Assoc. Dr. Raina Hristova, geologist Assoc.Prof Kalin Naydenov, electrical engineers Krassimir Krastev, Lyubov Kostova, journalists Maria Cherneva (Bulgarian National Television) and Marina Velikova (Bulgarian National Radio), cook Stanko Georgiev and the field assistants-alpinists Kiril Doskov and Assoc.Prof. Doychin Boyanov.

So far, excellent results have been achieved by the expedition and 12 scientific projects have been carried out, with the participation of many foreign colleagues - from Great Britain, from Portugal, we also had a scientist from Turkiye, Pimpirev said. He noted that the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) had also fulfilled its polar mission very well, but the expedition continues without the ship too. "As before, we have been without the ship for 30 expeditions, and this is the second expedition with the ship, but it has already left the base on February 9, and on the way back it had quite successful results. For example, in Komodoro Rivadavia, where we were welcomed by the Bulgarians, who are 2000. We signed cooperation agreements and made the first steps for this with Burgas and Commodoro Rivadavia, and with Sofia University and the University of Patagonia. More than 5000 people visited the ship and for three days there was only talk about Bulgaria", Pimpirev said.

He noted that the Bulgarian scientific team of geologists and mountaineers, conquerors of Everest, have managed to find remains of a crashed Argentine plane nearly half a century ago in a bay on Livingston island. It has been reported by Argentine media, and the remains are to be handed over to Mar del Plata, but there will be no ceremony, only a handover to the local authorities. An expert examination has to be carried out and then there will be a commemorative ceremony with the relatives of those who died, but they have already sent many letters of gratitude. The Defence Minister of Argentina expressed gratitude in a video address for what we have done with finding the Lockheed Neptune. It had 13 people on board, 12 logistical staff and one journalist, and he crash was 50 years ago, Pimpirev said.

The new scientific findings of the latest Bulgarian expedition will be seen when the samples are processed, but projects were worked on the ship itself and in the high mountain where the wreckage of the crashed plane was found, he said. He added that good results are expected related to global warming, which is obvious, but it will be supported by data from the ecological balance in the region, since the life of every living thing there depends on climate change. "We have also done very interesting biological research on fish diversity there, which is unique. Two fish are currently being transported to the aquarium in Plovdiv," said the head of the Bulgarian expeditions.

Pimpirev said that the samples collected in Antarctica will be studied and then the scientific results will come out.

The RSV 421 is expected to return to Bulgaria in early April. 

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During the 32nd Bulgarian expedition to Antarctica, which started on November 8, 2023, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is publishing interviews with Antarctic researchers. The Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log again provides coverage of the voyage of the Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii to Antarctica and back and its stay there, as it did during the 31st expedition between December 27, 2022 and May 2, 2023. Back then, only BTA had a correspondent, Daily News Editor Konstantin Karagyozov, who covered the 127-day expedition with text, video and photos during the entire voyage (including across the Atlantic in both directions) and throughout the stay in Antarctica. In June 2023, BTA published in Bulgarian and in English an issue of its LIK magazine "To Antarctica and Back under the Bulgarian Flag" dedicated to the historic expedition.

Again, all of BTA's information on the Bulgarian scientific research in Antarctica and the support provided by the Bulgarian naval research vessel, as well as on the other activities at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base, will be available to all media outlets in Bulgarian and in English on BTA's website in the Bulgaria - Antarctica: BTA's Log section.

BTA has a National Press Club on board the ship and is planning to open a National Press Club at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island.