The Fourth International Polar Year (IPY) from March 2007 to March 2009 involved scientists from 60 countries, including Bulgarian Antarctic researchers, said Prof. Hristo Pimpirev, Director of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and head of the country's Antarctic expeditions. He talked at the closing event of the initiative at Sofia University on Friday to an audience including President Georgi Purvanov and Prof. Lyubomir Ivanov, President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian contribution to the Fourth IPY should be judged on its merits, President Purvanov said. He noted that Bulgaria was among the first nations to establish a presence in the Antarctic, and that Bulgarian scientists and institutions appreciated its strategic importance for the future of mankind and of Bulgaria. Purvanov said that with its long-term presence, annual expeditions in the last decade and scientific projects Bulgaria managed to establish an Antarctic tradition and a school with its own unique contribution.

The President noted the participation of Bulgarian scientists in solving major issues of practical importance and impact on human life, including global warming, the need for a responsible, wise policy of protection and development of the Antarctic, of climate and the environment.

Purvanov called on the responsible institutions and businesses to continue providing assistance, given the strategic national interest in Bulgaria's participation in Antarctic research projects.

Prof. Pimpirev said the IPY was the biggest scientific initiative of the last 50 years. Its beginning was marked by a statement of the National Assembly in February 2007, he said.

The IPY priorities of Bulgarian scientists were studies of climate change, environmental protection and the unique flora and fauna of the Antarctic, using snowmobiles and special boats. It is in the polar regions that climate change resulting from global warming can be best observed, Prof. Pimpirev said.

He recalled that the first buildings at the Bulgarian base on Livingston Island date from 1988. The first Eastern Orthodox chapel there was built in 2003.

Prof. Lyubomir Ivanov presented the new illustrated map of Livingston Island and the Bulgarian base at a scale of 1:120000. It is in Bulgarian and features some 550 geographical sites. They include Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands in the South Shetland Islands.

Source: BTA