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Russia Antarctic expedition ends Molodezhnaya base mothballing

All 15 participants in the seasonal works, including 3 specialists from Belarus were taken on board the vessel

ST. PETERSBURG, March 26 (Itar-Tass) – The Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE) has completed the work on the conservation of the Molodezhnaya seasonal field Base in the western part of Enderby Land on the coast of the Cosmonauts Sea. The headquarters of polar science – the St. Petersburg-based Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) told Itar-Tass on Monday that the operation was conducted from the Akademik Fedorov research vessel - helicopters delivered diesel fuel for the work in the next season, as well as the necessary building materials to continue the repair of the base buildings that were damaged by hurricane winds.

After that all 15 participants in the seasonal works, including 3 specialists from Belarus were taken on board the vessel. In addition seven containers of waste for subsequent removal from the Antarctic were loaded on the ship. Monitoring observations of permafrost, ecology, water chemistry and geodesy were conducted along with the base conservation operations. When the conservation was completed the Akademik Fedorov ship set the course towards the final area of her works under the program of the 58th seasonal RAE – the Novolazarevskaya station.

The Molodezhnaya base (67 ° 40 'S 45 ° 50 'E, 42 m above sea level) is located in a small coastal oasis (Thala Hills) at 0.5-0.6 kilometres from the coast. The oasis is a hilly terrain with rock ridges free of ice and snow, separated by snow-covered valleys. To the south of the base the glacier surface elevation increases, and at a distance of 10 kilometres it reaches a height of 500 metres or more. Molodezhnaya is the base of field route research in the adjacent areas of East Antarctica.