site.btaSolar Panel Installed at Weather Station in Sally Rocks Area on Livingston Island

A solar panel was installed on Thursday at the meteorological station, built last year, jointly by the Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition and scientists from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the Sally Rocks area. The Sally Rocks tongue of the Hurd Glacier on Livingston Island is located not far from Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Antarctic base. 

The solar panel was installed by UAE researchers Badr Al Ameri and Ahmad Al Kaabi, together with Bulgarian scientist Petar Sapundjiev.

Seismologist Gergana Georgieva carried out measurements of the markers placed last year at specific points on the surface of Contell Glacier to track its movement. Speaking to the Bulgarian News Agency, she said that systematic research in regions such as Antarctica is extremely important, as it shows the long-term condition of glaciers and reveals overall trends. 

On Thursday, the Colombian Antarctic Expedition visited the Bulgarian base. The head of Bulgaria’s 34th Antarctic Expedition, Prof. Hristo Pimpirev, and the commander of the Colombian expedition, Captain Natalia Otalora, exchanged commemorative medals from their respective polar programs.

Work also continues on the bathymetry project led by geophysicist Kiril Velkovsky.

In the meantime, Bulgarian scientists discovered new remains of an Argentine aircraft that crashed in 1976 at Barnard Point on Livingston Island. While mapping the land in the Barnard Point area, physicist Oleg Vasilev identified the aircraft wreckage. The remains will be transported and handed over to the Argentine naval base in Mar del Plata.

The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii completed a voyage around Livingston Island for the purpose of collecting samples from various locations.

Greek scientists Dionysia Rigatou and Eleni Kytinou collected scientific samples using an underwater drone at a depth of 50 metres off the beach at Barnard Point. On land, microbiologist Snezhana Rusinova-Videva and Montenegrin scientist Vesna Macic also collected samples as part of a microplastics research project.

Samples were also taken from Elephant Point Peninsula.

At the end of the day, the ship anchored in the bay near the Bulgarian base.

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”.