site.btaWave Measurement Station at Bulgarian Antarctic Base, Built with UAE Scientists, Now Sends Real-Time Data

A wave measurement station at Bulgaria's St Kliment Ohridski Antarctic base, constructed on Livingston Island in collaboration with scientists from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is now transmitting data in real time.

After UAE researchers Badr Al Ameri and Ahmad Al Kaabi, together with logistics and electrical engineer Petar Sapundjiev, installed part of the station on Tuesday, they connected it to software in the UAE on Wednesday, enabling real-time data transmission. Al Ameri told BTA this is the only station on Livingston Island capable of supporting a model for early warning of tsunami risks in the region.

Also on Wednesday, solar panels were installed on another UAE-backed project - a meteorological laboratory being developed in cooperation with UAE scientists at the Bulgarian base.

In the new building, which will house several laboratories and sleeping quarters, two icons donated by Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew were installed.

The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) docked at Half Moon Island, where biotechnologist Kiril Kandilarov, microbiologist Snezhana Rusinova-Videva and Montenegrin biologist Vesna Macic carried out sample collection. Preparations were also made for a project led by Prof. Miroslav Tsvetkov.

A seabed survey using an underwater drone was conducted on the southern side of the island by Greek researchers Dionysia Rigatou and Eleni Kytinou. Physicist Oleg Vasilev carried out mapping of the island.

The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (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 Mar del Plata on December 13.

BTA has had a national press club on board the ship since 2022 and another on Livingston Island since February 2024. These are added to the news 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 RSV 421 and Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Base, which provide the necessary facilities. 

The news items of BTA's 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 attribution to BTA. Valchev recalled that thanks to its correspondents, the news agency appears among the top results on Google when searching for the phrase “Antarctica correspondent”.