The 19-member research team, which took part in the field work of the expedition, started from Istanbul Airport and traveled approximately 15,000 km by 4 different airplanes, first to the South American Continent and then to King George Island in the northernmost part of the Antarctic Continent. After arriving on the island, the team boarded the 80-meter Betanzos ship and sailed in the Southern Ocean along the western coast of Antarctica until March 2. The team visited a total of 8 different foreign science stations and carried out studies within the scope of bilateral collaborations.
Dünyanın en büyük beşinci kıtasında yaklaşık bir ay çalışma yapan sefer ekibi Antarktika’nın coğrafi zenginliği ve önemi ile ilgili açıklamalarda bulundu. Bölge, dünyanın en soğuk, en rüzgârlı, en yüksek, en kurak bölgesi olarak tanımlanıyor. %98’i buzullarla kaplı coğrafyada, insan etkisinden izole yapısı sebebiyle disiplinlerin çoğu açısından doğal bir laboratuvar olarak görülüyor.
Today, it is protected within the framework of the Antarctic Treaty, to which 54 countries are parties, and is governed by the votes of 29 consultative countries that are parties to the treaty. Turkey, on the other hand, has been conducting scientific activities in Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean since 2017 within the framework of the National Polar Science Program (UKBP).
UKBP and National Polar Science Expeditions have been carried out under the auspices of the Presidency and the Ministry of Industry and Technology since 2017. Until the establishment of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) Polar Research Institute (KARE) in December 2019, the coordination was carried out by Istanbul Technical University Polar Research Application and Research Center (ITU PolReC), while TÜBİTAK MAM KARE assumed the national coordination duty after this date.
The polar regions, where global climate change, which affects the entire world, is most quickly observed and which form the basis of the global climate system, hold many clues about the past, present and future of climate.
TÜBİTAK MAM not only coordinates the work at the national level through KARE, but also carries out scientific and technical projects that are long-term and feasible during the expeditions. During the 2022-2023 Antarctic season and the Seventh National Antarctic Science Expedition (TAE-VII), which took place between January and March, 6 researchers from TÜBİTAK MAM took an active role in sampling and measurements related to 8 research projects in field studies. In addition, foods produced by TÜBİTAK MAM Food Safety and Quality Research Group were used in the field by the expedition team, and PM10 sampling was carried out by filtering with the air quality measurement device belonging to the Air Quality and Environmental Noise Technologies Research Group.
A total of 18 research projects were carried out within the scope of TAE-VII. In addition to life sciences projects such as microplastics and other anthropogenic pollutants in the sea, snow, glaciers and lakes, phytoplankton in lakes, psychological assessments of expedition participants, sampling was carried out for earth sciences research on millions of years before human history through the study of rocks.
In addition, for the first time in TAE-VII, students who won the TÜBİTAK High School Students Polar Research Projects Competition also took part in the expedition and had the opportunity to test the bioplastic materials they produced to prevent microplastic pollution under polar conditions.
EXPEDITION TEAM TALKS ABOUT ANTARCTICA
Atilla YILMAZ, Principal Investigator at TÜBİTAK MAM KARE, has been researching environmental management and anthropogenic pollutants in the polar regions throughout the expedition. As Deputy Expedition Leader on the seventh expedition, YILMAZ conducted measurements and sampling in the lakes on the island. The samples collected will be analyzed for pollutants carried to the region by atmospheric movements.
Talking about the difficulties they experienced while working in harsh weather conditions, YILMAZ said, "Especially in our work on lakes, the low air temperature makes the work very difficult. This time, we saw that some of the surface of some of the lakes we worked on was largely covered with ice. This not only puts our safety in the field at risk, but also limits the location and amount of sampling."
Göksu USLULAR, Senior Researcher at TÜBİTAK MAM, recorded high-resolution aerial photographs of the region with a light Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with a multispectral camera throughout the expedition. She also collected lichen samples from different regions for microplastic research as part of another project. Stating that he had difficulty in operating electronic devices due to sub-zero weather conditions, USLULAR said, "The fact that UAVs can fly under certain weather conditions and that the batteries can be charged with the generator that can only be operated at certain hours has greatly affected the planned studies. Electronic devices that had difficulty in charging due to cold weather conditions made this process even more difficult. Nevertheless, I collected approximately 10000 UAV images (39 GB), 10 kg of rock samples and 5 kg of lichen samples."
Captain Özgün OKTAR, Expedition Leader, who gave information about the process after the measurement studies carried out within the scope of the research projects carried out within the body of TÜBİTAK MAM and in partnership with Istanbul Technical University, Yıldız Technical University, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Belarusian Academy of Sciences, said: "These projects, which focus on global climate change, are completed in 2-3 years and bear fruit by turning into academic publications. These data will be processed and a data set will be created as a digital surface model. The surface models and thicknesses of the glaciers in the same regions will also be interpreted with UAV GPR data, providing us with an idea of the most difficult-to-access thicknesses of glaciers. By comparing the results of studies conducted and to be conducted in the same region every year, we will be able to understand how much fresh water these glaciers release into the ocean annually. This will not only give us information about the rate at which the glaciers are melting, but will also help us understand the volume of freshwater and nutrients entering the ocean in other studies conducted in the ocean."
OKTAR, who had the opportunity to closely observe the effects of climate change, one of the biggest global problems, explained the change as follows. "I think when we say climate change, every person first thinks of images such as melting glaciers and a polar bear left alone on the sea ice. Of course there are no polar bears in Antarctica. But we can see the melting glaciers with our eyes. The fact that the glacier you saw a year ago has receded by 10 meters a year later, the crevasses on it and the darkening of its color are like a harbinger that these glaciers will no longer be here in the future. The fact that the rocks you have been stepping on for the last 6 years are covered with moss reveals the speed of change."
Researcher Furkan Ali KÜÇÜK, who conducts studies in the fields of Astronomy and Meteorology in the Polar Regions, monitored anthropogenic air pollution in the campsite by TÜBİTAK MAM during the expedition. In addition, he measured the sky quality at night, that is, analyzed the visible brightness of the stars. KÜÇÜK said that they show great sensitivity to prevent any human-induced damage to the continent, "Scientists working there do their work without harming the environment, without leaving any garbage on the continent, without polluting the air. For example, global climate change can cause large areas of ice shelf to break up and cause habitat loss for ice shelf-dependent animals; increased UV radiation can cause changes in plankton communities and affect the food chain. By conducting studies such as these, we are working on how we can investigate these effects."
Sinan YİRMİBEŞOĞLU, R&D personnel and corporate communication representative at TÜBİTAK MAM Polar Research Institute, made sea ice observations on the continent. In addition, he prepared a vlog about the Antarctic Continent for TÜBİTAK Bilim Genç Youtube channel.
As a result of his observations, YİRMİBEŞOĞLU will make predictions about when the planned ship voyages to the poles can provide suitable conditions. The researcher said, "I observed major ice melts on the continent, which I visited for the second time after 2017. Climate change affects the polar regions the most. We have witnessed this in Antarctica. We need to increase education and awareness raising activities for climate change, especially among young generations. In this context, I am trying to convey this to young people and how we can cope with climate change with my children's book "Polar Expeditions" published by TÜBİTAK Popular Science Books and my comic series "Antarctic Adventures" in Bilim Çocuk." He drew attention to awareness on climate change with his statements.
Şevval YALÇINKAYA, one of the youngest researchers of the team, conducted sampling studies on lakes to better understand the water-rock relationship and geological processes. In this context, it is aimed to contribute to the studies on past years and life in space by considering extreme conditions by conducting chemical analyzes and laboratory experiments with the samples taken. With the studies carried out, the formation mechanisms of iron minerals and sulfate products will be discussed by looking at oxygen and sulfur isotopes, and important contributions will be made to the literature by revealing comparisons and differences compared to other temperate regions of the Earth. In addition, Turkey's polar science studies will be provided with country-based data.
