Key points
- Ukraine has gained access to Arctic research for the first time through an agreement between the National Antarctic Scientific Center (NASC) and the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
- The document was signed on June 25 in Warsaw.
- The cooperation will last from 2026 to 2027.
- Research will be conducted at two stations: the Polish “Hornsund” (Svalbard) and the Ukrainian “Academician Vernadsky” in Antarctica.
- The goal is to create two synchronized laboratories to compare processes in the northern and southern hemispheres.
The National Antarctic Scientific Center (NASC) and the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences signed an agreement on joint polar research, which opens up access to the Arctic for Ukrainian scientists.
The document was signed on June 25 in Warsaw. It provides for joint geophysical research during 2026-2027 at the Polish polar station “Hornsund” named after Stanislaw Siedlecki on Svalbard and at the Ukrainian station “Academician Vernadsky” in Antarctica.
The goal is to create two synchronized laboratories in both polar regions.
For Ukraine, this is essentially a “window” into the Arctic, where it does not have its own base. The cooperation will provide access to the infrastructure and data of the Polish station, as well as the opportunity to exchange technologies and experience.
The program includes mutual calibration of equipment for magnetic measurements, point field measurements of the magnetic field, sampling of rock and sediment samples, study of soil and permafrost using georadar, seismological observations of glacier calving, and environmental monitoring in the context of climate change.
Comparing the same processes in two polar regions is the key to distinguishing global from local and understanding planetary processes. It seems that the Arctic is something like “Antarctica upside down”. Similar, but not identical. The next step, of course, after the victory, is our own station there.
– Yevhen Dykyi, Director of the National Antarctic Scientific Center.
At the end of the summer, two Ukrainian geophysicists – Yuriy Sumaruk and Anton Kushnir – will go to the Arctic. They will measure the components of the geomagnetic field and choose a place to install additional equipment – these data are needed to study the sun-earth connections and the structure of the earth’s crust.
During the Antarctic summer, when it is winter in Ukraine and the Arctic, Polish experts are expected at the “Vernadsky” station.
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