UAE scientists reach Antarctica, part of the country’s effort to develop polar scientific program

After sending astronauts to the International Space Station and a probe to Mars, the UAE has opted for somewhere slightly closer to home: Antarctica.

Two UAE scientists, Ahmed Al-Kaabi and Badr Al-Ameri, recently returned from a monthlong trip to the South Pole where, in multiple layers of clothing, they installed weather and seismic monitoring stations alongside a team from the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.

They’re not the first Gulf Arabs to reach the South Pole. Omani adventurer Nabil Al-Busaidi won that race in early 2010, followed soon afterwards by Saudi explorer Waleed Yusuf Zahid and his two sons. But the Emirati visit was different.

Rather than taking a “climb it because it’s there” approach, the UAE is trying to develop a broader scientific program. It announced the Emirates Polar Program in November and a Polar Research Center has been set up at Khalifa University. The next step will be a mission to the Arctic, which is due to set off this summer.