Helga Gomes has been selected by the National Science Foundation of the USA to participate in the next US Expedition to Antarctica. She is scheduled to leave for the Antarctic from New Zealand on the 10th of December on a 45 day expedition.

Helga, hgomes@gwi.net was born in Nairobi, Kenya and was raised in Verna, Goa. She is the daughter of Jacinto Gomes and Aida Rocha Gomes and is married to Joaquim Goes.

She completed her primary and high school educationin Goa. She has a Masters in Microbiology and a Ph.D. in Applied Biochemistry from Bombay University. She was
formerly a Research Associate at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, where she started her career.

She is presently a Senior Research Associate at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Maine USA Helga is currently working on Global Climate Changes and Ocean Ecosystem and has researched projects funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

During her cruise to the Antarctica, she will be studying phytoplankton photochemical processes in the presence of enhanced UV radiation under the Antarctic ozone hole. This research expedition to the Antarctica is funded by the National Science Foundation of the USA and its primary mission is to understand the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on life in the sea. Helga will be joining scientists from Bigelow Lab.and from 7 other labs in the USA, including the Smithsonian Research Centre, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, University of Southern California and others.

The 45 day research expedition on board the Nathaniel Palmer will leave for the Ross Sea, Antarctica from Christchurch New Zealand on the 12th of December. The research team will be flying back to Christchurch New Zealand, on board a Hercules C-130 from McMurdo Station, Antarctica.