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Ines Duclairoir
February 2022
Vernadsky station

To get to the Argentine Islands where the Ukrainian Vernadsky base is located, we have to defy the icebergs and pack ice which block certain accesses.




In this world that one could believe in black and white, the ice takes on a multitude of shades of blue and white.

After pushing the pack ice and icebergs to make our way through, we are greeted by an Adelie penguin

Vernadsky's scientific base belonged to the English who sold him for a symbolic 1 pound to the most promising scientific team. It was Ukraine that was selected and its teams occupy the place throughout the year

This is where the southernmost sea bass in the world is located.

As elsewhere, scientists share their daily lives with penguins in summer

We meet French ENS students on a research project, praising the user-friendliness of the base, which we unfortunately could not appreciate due to Covid.

Here we moor on the pack ice which serves as a pontoon.


A leopard seal relaxing on a piece of ice floe

In this anchorage, we rub shoulders with more or less large icebergs that we try somehow to repel.

When it's not the icebergs, it's the pack ice that rubs against the hull






There are a few birds in Antarctica including the Kelp Gull




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