Under the auspices of the Presidency, under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Technology and under the coordination of the TÜBİTAK MAM Polar Research Institute, the 11-member scientific delegation, which carried out the 3rd National Arctic Scientific Research Expedition, returned to Turkey after completing their scientific activities after a month-long expedition that witnessed many firsts.
For the first time this year, Turkey invited international researchers on Arctic expeditions, increasing its influence in the region
The research team, consisting of TÜBİTAK, Turkish Naval Forces Command, General Directorate of Meteorology, Anadolu Agency, research institutes, universities and foreign scientists participating in the expedition within the scope of bilateral cooperation, reached the sea ice line located at 81 degrees north latitude with the 62-meter Norwegian flagged research vessel "PolarXplorer", which was their habitat for about a month.
This was the first collaboration within the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and TÜBİTAK in 2022.
Shedding Light on Climate Change
In July 2023, the month with the highest average temperature since scientific records began, our expedition team worked in the Arctic to better understand climate change.
The team completed all scientific studies by sampling and measuring at 28 points. Shedding light on the future of the world, the expedition team conducted scientific research for 14 different projects in the Barents Sea. While the scientific team's studies covered topics such as marine and life sciences, fish and sea creatures, ecosystems adapted to the Arctic Ocean, phytoplankton, determination of human-induced pollutants in the sea, monitoring of physical parameters of sea water, microplastics, atmospheric pollution observations in the marine area, meteorological observations, the effects of new trade routes on the environment and periodic examination, observation of sea ice and monitoring of marine mammals. The expedition team sailed approximately 5,500 kilometers, observing the sea ice that started at 81 degrees north latitude, the glaciers that disintegrated into the sea due to climate change, the Svalbard archipelago and humpback and Minke whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, polar bears and dozens of bird species in the Barents Sea.
With the 2204-D project, a student took part in the National Arctic Scientific Research Expedition for the first time
The student who won first place in the TÜBİTAK BİDEB 2204-D High School Students Climate Change Research Projects competition, which was also announced at TEKNOFEST, had the opportunity to test his project in the Arctic Ocean as part of the expedition. In the project, which ranked first in the "Water" category, a material that cleans the oil in the marine environment was developed by placing the fibers obtained from the Eastern sycamore fruit in pouches to produce a solution to the oil pollution spreading on the ocean surface. Prof. Dr. Burcu Özsoy, Coordinator of the 3rd National Arctic Scientific Research Expedition, who led the test studies for the project, said: "One of the biggest risks in maritime is oil pollution spreading on the sea surface. Although the technologies related to oil pollution are open to development and have been maintained for a long time, efficient technology and methods have still not been reached today. In this sense, our student's work is an important project for us." Özsoy stated that they carried out the tests of the project in the Arctic Ocean and said, "Although we do not intend to pollute the ocean extra, we have created the environment where our student will analyze, apply the test, and test the equipment, and we have tested together how it cleans this oil in sea water."
The 3rd National Arctic Scientific Research Expedition team visited the Polish Polar Research Station, the Russian research station in Barentsburg, the former Russian mining town of Pyramiden and the Korean base in Ny Alesund.
The scientific team was also briefed by the authorities of the Barentsburg Scientific Research Center as part of the visit to closely examine the work of foreign scientists. During the expedition, the team also delivered samples taken for the projects of Italian researchers as part of international cooperation to the Italian research station. The science team also paid a short visit to Ny-Alesund, a town with 12 research stations from different countries located at 79° north latitude, and took a group photo in front of the statue of Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who first set foot on the North Pole and second on the South Pole. There are 20 research facilities belonging to 13 countries on Svalbard (Spitsbergen) Island to conduct scientific studies on the Arctic and the Arctic Ocean.
The first findings on the work of the researchers participating in the Arctic science expedition will be shared with other scientists at the 7th National Polar Science Symposium, which will be held on November 30 - December 1.
In the 8th National Antarctic Science Expedition, researchers will work in the other polar region of the planet between January and March 2024 to gather information about the Earth and global climate change.
