site.btaRSV 421 Collects Samples around Livingston Island

A group of scientists set sail aboard the research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril I Metodii (RSV 421) on a mission around Livingston Island to collect samples from various locations.

On Monday morning, the ship departed for the Hannah Point peninsula on Livingston Island, where researchers will collect samples at a site suitable for landing. Scientists Snezhana Rusenova-Videva and Vesna Macic will take samples for projects in the fields of microbiology and microplastics.

Greek scientists Eleni Kytinou and Dionysia Rigatou will conduct oceanographic research from aboard the vessel, while physicist Oleg Vasilev will carry out mapping of the locations planned for stops by RSV 421.

Later in the day, the vessel plans to sail to the neighboring Elephant Point, where field sampling will once again be carried out. By the end of the day, RSV 421 will likely head toward Half Moon Island, located between Livingston Island and Greenwich Island.

Tomorrow, field research is planned on Half Moon Island, along with a visit to the Argentine base Camara, as well as a transit to Deception Island. The programme also includes a visit to the Spanish base Gabriel de Castilla.

RSV 421 departed for Antarctica from Varna (on the Black Sea) on November 7, 2025. After a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship arrived at the Argentine naval base in the city of Mar del Plata on December 13.

BTA has had a national press club on board since 2022 and another on Livingston Island since February 2024. These are added to the agency’s other 41 national press clubs (33 in Bulgaria, seven abroad in neighbouring countries and in nations with large Bulgarian communities, and one mobile National Book Press Club).

BTA's Director General Kiril Valchev announced ahead of the fourth voyage to Antarctica on November 7, 2025 that the national news agency would send a special correspondent in January-February 2026. He said the press clubs exist thanks to the generous support of the Bulgarian research vessel St. St. Cyril and Methodius and Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Base, which provide the necessary facilities.

The news items of the BTA special correspondents on RSV 421 and Antarctica are freely available in Bulgarian and English on the agency's website. They can be used free of charge by all media with reference to BTA.