National Central University (NCU) president Chou Ching-yang (周景揚) and NCU School of Earth Sciences dean Hsu Shu-kun (許樹坤) on Thursday presided over a flag conferral ceremony ahead of the university’s polar exploration team’s departure.
It is the first time that Taiwan has sent a team to conduct field research in the North Pole region, the team’s leader, Kuo Chen-hao (郭陳澔), said.
The researchers are due to depart for Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago on Friday next week, where they are to join researchers from Poland’s Nicolaus Copernicus University to conduct studies on glaciers and ice fields.
The three-strong NCU team was originally scheduled to depart for the mission in August last year, Kuo said, adding that all members — including professor Chang Wen-ho (張文和) and research assistant Kuan Cho-kang (管卓康) — have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The team is tasked with conducting geological investigations, taking aerial photos with drones, and deploying buoys to collect oceanic and meteorological data.
Polar ice fields are rapidly melting, which is considered one of nine tipping points of global warning identified by the scientific community, Taiwan Earth Science Pilot Exploration Project director Ni Chun-fa (倪春發) said.
The team’s goal during the four-week trip is to assess glacial migration and its correlation to minor seismic activity, geological formation and structure in periglacial areas, and surface deformation, Ni said.
The researchers are expected to bring back samples of surface rocks and subterranean water, he added.
Aside from preparing their research, the three had to take self-defense lessons, as Svalbard’s population of 3,000 polar bears outnumbers the archipelago’s 2,000 residents, the researchers said.
After their 13-hour flight, the researchers are to observe a 10-day quarantine, the university said.
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