Antarctica (ROICE 2020)

http://www.roice.ro/

The fourth Romanian Scientific Research Expedition to Antarctica (ROICE 2020), organized by the National Institute for Research and Development in Biological Sciences (INCDSB) started today, January 2nd, 2020, with the departure of the team to Antarctica.

The ROICE 2020 expedition takes place from 2 January to 4 February 2020 at the King Sejong Antarctic Station of the Korean Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) on King George Island in West Antarctica and is based on the Framework Agreement between INCDSB and KOPRI.

ROICE 2020 team departing from "Henri Coandă" International Airport Bucharest, Romania

Scientific objectives:

The ROICE 2020 objectives are in the areas of Life Sciences and Geosciences (paleoclimatology) covered by the National Antarctic Research Programme 2014-2020 and the SCAR Programme and have been endorsed by the Korean partners.
These objectives are:
1. Investigation of the water quality of the Antarctic Ocean, aiming to identify potential polluting compounds (e.g. plastic degradation compounds, oil residues, etc.);
2. Chemical characterisation of snow/ice in order to establish correlations between snow/ice and the structure of microorganism communities;
3. Investigation of microbial diversity as a potential indicator of airborne transfer of microorganisms;
4. Isolation and characterisation of extreme temperature-adapted microorganisms from snow, ice, seawater with the aim of isolating strains with potential biotechnological applications;
5. Assessing the impact of climate change and more specifically the retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet on the microbial communities embedded in the ice.
In addition, the impact of extreme conditions (cold, exertion, depth) on the human body and on the behaviour of the expedition members will be monitored.

The sponsors of the ROICE 2020 expedition are:

https://www.analytik-jena.com/
http://www.ambro.ro/
http://www.filarabiomed.ro/