The BERA Logistics and Research Centre activities in Svalbard have gained tremendous speed this year! In June, we prepared the facility for work and stored over 30 pallets and several dozen small loads transported from Poland by the expedition ship Horyzont II.
During the entire month of July, our technical administrator at BERA, Wojtek Moskal, has been working hard on all the tasks that come up on site in Longyearbyen, including the transfer and loading of cargo for Polish and international research groups, whose equipment and supplies are transported to the regions where they work, based on research stations such as:
– Polish Polar Station Hornsund,
– Polar Station of the University of Wrocław named after Stanisław Baranowski,
– Polar Station of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Kaffioyra),
– Polar Station of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań (Petuniabukta).
We also assisted with the logistics of cargo loading for research groups on the Polish ship Oceania and K/V Svabard, where our scientists from the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences are conducting research monitoring the sea waters around Svalbard.
We still have the whole of August and September ahead of us, but so far the BERA Centre has already been visited by over 110 people from institutions such as: The University of Wrocław, the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the University of Svalbard (UNIS) and the 4Science Foundation.
We want to express our thanks for all the organisational help and cooperation of the research groups during reloading (especially heavy boats!) and improving joint activities.
We also welcomed teams from the General Zaruski sailing ship, which this year led a cruise for young people from the Gdańsk School Under Sail and cooperates with research groups from the University of Wrocław as part of the ‘GeoArctic Expedition 2025’ programme, as well as with scientists from the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences conducting research as part of the Cobiomo project: Changes in the coastal-intertidal ecosystem in Svalbard. BERA also stored supplies for these groups on the GZ sailing ship.
To our surprise, we were also visited by a group of young people from the Building School in Wolsztyn. Building in cold regions and areas with permafrost is also an interesting topic for them because of the technical solutions used in construction.
There was also international cooperation among scientists at BERA with Norwegians, Italians (who have their research station in Ny-Ålesund), Czechs (who also have their research station in Petuniabukta) and Americans carrying out joint scientific and research projects with Polish institutions.
Meanwhile, at our office in Poland (Sosnowiec), BERA is responsible for planning activities, scheduling your requests for BERA support, administration and all paperwork, orders, promotion, and expanding opportunities for further development of BERA.
We look forward to welcoming guests to BERA soon and receiving your requests regarding returning all cargo to Poland after the working season!
