UPDATE - Turkiye's 6th National Antarctic Science Expedition team arrives in Istanbul

By Sebnem Coskun

ANTARCTICA (AA) - Wrapping up an epic 46-day journey, Turkiye's sixth National Antarctic Science Expedition team arrived at Istanbul Airport on Tuesday.

Ozgun Oktar, who was in charge of the expedition team's logistics, said the project was carried out by a total of 20 researchers, including two foreigners, and that they completed all the studies they planned within 33 days.

Hasan Hakan Yavasoglu, the team member responsible for scientific studies, said their work was in the life, physical and earth sciences as well as astronomy.

"We have 86 publications," he said, noting this was a relatively high figure among countries that conducted research on Antarctica.

He said the trip had been particularly productive for the researchers studying life sciences.

Since Jan. 22, the 20-person science team had covered 36,000 kilometers (22,370 miles) with 20 helicopter operations, 100 hours of boat operations, and 18 hours of field study.

Their studies included 14 projects examining sea and lake sediments, microorganism samples and cosmic particle studies, as well as insolation and albedometer (radiation reflection) studies.

Participants gathered 400 lichen and 35 kilograms (77 pounds) of rock samples belonging to 120 species in 14 projects, water, sediment, and microorganism samples from seas and lakes, cosmic particle research for atmosphere research, and other samples and data.

*Writing by Ovunc Kutlu and Ali Murat Alhas