The first team "Nelson" has already returned from the expedition, while the second team "Mendel" will stay in Antarctica until March. Expedition leader Pavel Kapler describes how the research is progressing, the problems the team faced, and the potential for scientific collaboration with colleagues from Chile.
"It was an expedition we had envisioned a bit differently," says Pavel Kapler, manager for coordination and administration of the Czech Antarctic Research Programme based at the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science, MUNI. "On January 16, eight of us were supposed to fly from Chile to Antarctica, but only six of us set off, and we returned with four, as two colleagues stayed on King George Island and will continue to the Ukrainian station Akademik Vernadsky. Our Nelson expedition operated at the CZ*ECO Nelson refuge/field camp on Nelson Island, South Shetlands. We continued long-term climate change monitoring research and its impact on local ecosystems, and we also focused on examining material washed ashore from the sea or the diversity of microscopic fungi. And because last winter damaged part of the roof of a storage facility, we spent part of our stay on temporary repairs. But next year we have to solve it more properly. After two weeks of fieldwork, we were transferred by boats of the Chilean Antarctic Institute INACH to King George Island, where we were accommodated at the Chinese Great Wall Station. Here, we waited for suitable weather conditions to fly across the Drake Passage towards Chile and home, or to the Ukrainian station Akademik Vernadsky," Kapler describes.
Scientists are studying climate change and its impact on local ecosystems in the peripheral zones of Antarctica. "Thanks to the CZ*ECO Nelson field camp on Nelson Island and the J. G. Mendel Czech Antarctic Station on James Ross Island, we have a unique opportunity to study different climatic conditions in contrasting locations of the margins of Antarctica. In some areas, due to the melting, there is more fresh water now, but if the temperature rise continues, it may soon disappear altogether," Kapler states. "You can even see the warming with your naked eye: in just a few years (Masaryk University has been working on Nelson Island since 2018), a large part of the local glacier has melted, so this year our expedition was able to access a previously unreachable peninsula by land, which could only be accessed via an unstable glacier or during low tide times," Kapler concludes.
A new aspect of this year's research was the study of the spread of the feared HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) virus in Antarctica, in collaboration with Spanish colleagues, for whom our expedition took samples. "We expected to find piles of dead bodies on Nelson Island, but fortunately, avian flu did not occur in the area we studied at that time. However on the neighbouring King George Island, just a few kilometres away, it unfortunately did," Kapler states.
The expedition's tent camp on Nelson Island was nearly every night covered by snow showers. Photo: expedition participants, Czech Antarctic Research Programme, MUNI
The Nelson expedition group was also very warmly received by Lt. Col. Petra Da Costa, the head of the Artigas station of the Uruguayan Antarctic Institute. After a tour of the station's technical systems, there was an exchange of experiences, observations, and ideas for cooperation during a workshop with present scientific staff, as well as a check on the condition of the automatic microclimatological station installed for monitoring the active layer of permafrost (Filip Hrbáček’s GAČR JuniorSTAR project) and the nearby glacio-meteorological station belonging to Kamil Láska´s research team.
Expedition leader Pavel Kapler also talks about the importance of international cooperation: "Upon arrival, our ambassador Pavel Bechný was there to greet us in Chile. For a long time he is following our activities. With his support, we would like both countries to create a call for the joint Czech-Chilean scientific projects." The shared research areas include the study of climate and the impact of global warming on the White Continent, especially in the Antarctic Peninsula region. Additionally, there is a promising field of research into the response of diatoms, archaea, and bacteria to climate warming, as well as the effects of this warming on photosynthesis and the production of selected representatives of Antarctic vegetation.
"Our team also participated in the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Chilean scientific station Escudero on King George Island, where we had a detailed discussion about this opportunity with Gino Casassa, the new director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute INACH. Other countries are also showing their interest in scientific collaboration with us; apart from Uruguay and Chile, we had the opportunity to speak at a workshop about possible cooperation with China and Thailand, who have a well-equipped shared laboratory at the Great Wall Station," Kapler describes.
"Thanks to the international cooperation, we were also able to successfully carry out the logistics of this part of the expedition – seats on the planes and boats were provided to us by the national programs of Chile, Portugal, and Spain, and we thank China's program for providing accommodation while we were waiting for departure from King George Island. If the whole World would collaborate like the national programs in Antarctica, humanity would be much better off," Kapler adds.
The second major part of this year's expedition, consisting of fourteen people, is still at the J. G. Mendel Czech Antarctic Station on James Ross Island, on the leeward side of the Antarctic Peninsula and further south, while the first group explored islands on the windward side. The joint output will be a comparison of conditions at different locations in Antarctica. The larger part of the expedition, led by Peter Váczi from the Department of Geography and the Department of Experimental Biology of the Faculty of Science, MUNI, includes scientists of Israeli, Italian, and Slovak nationality, not only from Masaryk University but also from the Czech Technical University in Prague or the University of Haifa in Israel. Additionally, there is a medical doctor and three technicians ensuring the functioning of the infrastructure of this unique university facility. Recent reports from James Ross Island indicate that the scientists have embarked on a field stay under tents to reach more remote locations, and at least for a few days experience the extreme conditions that are a regular routine on Nelson Island.
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