A total of 26 members (5 women and 21 men) will take part in Masaryk University's next expedition to Antarctica. The main part of the expedition, consisting of 18 people, will depart on Friday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m. from the Janáček Theater by minibus to the airport in Vienna and from there via Madrid to Santiago de Chile to the Czech scientific station J.G. Mendel on James Ross Island. The second, eight-member part of the expedition will then depart on Friday, January 23, via Chile to the CZ*ECO Nelson technical and logistical field camp on Nelson Island. "Due to the different timing and locations of interest, the two expeditions are unlikely to meet in Antarctica," explained Daniel Nývlt, head of the Czech Antarctic Research Program based at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University.
The goal of the 2026 expedition is to continue long-term climate monitoring and comprehensive monitoring of the state and changes in polar geo- and ecosystems, i.e., primarily local glaciers, permafrost, ice-free areas allowing the growth of lower plants, river and lake systems, and other geomorphological formations. In addition, grant projects by colleagues from Masaryk University (principal investigator Filip Hrbáček), Mendel University (Stanislava Bezdíček Králová), the Czech Academy of Sciences (Tomáš Uxa and Matyáš Šanda), and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (Michal Goga) will be addressed.
"The expedition to James Ross Island will traditionally focus on monitoring climate change, the condition of glaciers and permafrost, and research into lower plants. A new development is the deepening of cooperation with Charles University, which has resulted in the long-term establishment of a new research section for monitoring the natural environment. The second, smaller expedition will, in addition to its own research, attempt to repair the crumbling roof of a building that is part of the technical and logistical facilities of the Czech field camp CZ*ECO Nelson," said Daniel Nývlt from the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University.
The reason for this year's later start of the expedition is the increasingly complicated transport situation. "James Ross Island is a scientific paradise, but a logistical hell. Because we are the national Antarctic program with the smallest budget of all and without our own icebreaker or helicopter, we rely on the national programs of other countries for transport. Finding a way to combine their capabilities with our needs is becoming increasingly difficult, given the unpredictable weather and sailing conditions," said Pavel Kapler, who is in charge of operational matters as the manager of the Czech Antarctic Research Program. However, he believes that the later start will not affect the research: "Even so, we still hope to have a sufficient five weeks of work at the Czech scientific station and three weeks at the field camp," added Kapler.
Photo: Archive of the Czech Antarctic Research Program
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