This season seven scientists from the oldest technical university of our country will go to the White Continent.
On Thursday, 9 November at the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University a working meeting was held between the rector Vladimir Litvinenko and the participants of the glacioburrowing team, who are going to the scientific station Vostok next week. It is located at the Pole of Cold - in 1983, the lowest temperature on Earth in the history of meteorological observations was recorded there - minus 89.2 degrees centigrade.
This, by the way, is not the only problem people face on the lifeless white plateau about three and a half kilometres above sea level. Strong winds reaching speeds of 27 metres per second, low pressure and lack of oxygen causing asphyxia - all these factors make working in the East a serious challenge for any, even the toughest man.
However, this year only experienced specialists will go to Antarctica; all seven people who came to the meeting with the rector have already participated in the expedition at least once. Most of them have three or more seasons spent on the Sixth Continent. As the polar explorers themselves explained, annual trips reduce the acclimatisation period and make adaptation to the extremely unfavourable environment less painful.
Vladimir Litvinenko emphasised that the extraction of relict ice cores from the borehole above Lake Vostok, drilled by the staff of the Mining University, is an important but not the most important task. After all, laboratory studies of these "cylinders" cannot give mankind any new fundamental knowledge, but only allow to clarify the data and facts known to science. The point is that cores from all horizons located above the subglacial reservoir, which lies at a depth of 3769 metres, have already been obtained earlier, during its opening in 2012 and 2015.
"We should consider our current activities in Antarctica as preparation for research related to the study of Lake Vostok itself, as well as deep processes occurring in the massif of the continent's bedrock. It is for this purpose that we are currently conducting drilling operations there. These research objects are extremely interesting because they are separated from the biosphere by an ice shell and have not been in contact with it for millions of years. That is, they store exclusive information that can shed light on many pressing issues facing our civilisation. Including those related to the climate change process, around which there has been a lot of speculation in recent years," the Rector emphasised.
He also urged the polar explorers to use an interdisciplinary approach in their work, involving not only drillers and geophysicists, but also other specialists. After all, the measurement of Antarctica's deep heat fluxes will require special equipment capable of providing continuous monitoring taking into account possible signal distortions and gradual reduction of the battery charge level, which can also adversely affect the accuracy of digital data and their interpretation.
Alexey Bolshunov, Head of the scientific party of the St. Petersburg Mining University in Antarctica, demonstrated to Vladimir Litvinenko a conceptual programme of research work at Vostok station and other locations of the continent up to 2034. This is not yet an approved document, but it is aimed at solving the tasks set by the Rector.
"Of course, the geological studies that we will introduce in the foreseeable future in Antarctica should be of a fundamental nature. And aim to study endogenous processes (i.e. those occurring without external influence - ed.). This is important, for example, to verify (confirm - ed.) the origin of modern tectonic structures and reconstruct the history of their development", - said Alexei Bolshunov.
He also said that in case of favourable development of events it will be possible to start deep drilling in the East to solve the above tasks in 2027. Among other points where it is planned to monitor deep phenomena for the purpose of comparative analysis, he named Russian coastal research stations Progress and Russkaya, which is now in the mode of de-conservation, as well as the Gamburtsev subglacial mountain system.
Vladimir Litvinenko, summarising the results of the meeting, stated that the university is ready to allocate additional funds from extra-budgetary sources to attract new specialists in demand for Antarctic projects and to create technologies that are necessary for further fundamental research. In particular, for the construction of a special scientific centre with cryogenic chambers and drilling rigs at one of the testing grounds of the Mining University in Sablino, where it would be possible to conduct research in a year-round mode.
In conclusion, he wished the polar explorers good luck, good health and a good journey. This season it will be a little less long than in recent years. The scientists of St. Petersburg University will first fly by plane to Cape Town, there they will board a ship to the Progress station, and then again by plane to the East.