ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The Italian research vessel Laura Bassi of the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics – OGS has concluded the mission that has led it to navigate for four months in the antarctic waters in support of the research activities on the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of specific areas of the continent.
With the return of the icebreaker to the port of Lyttelton in New Zealand, the 41st scientific expedition in Antarctica funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the National Research Programme in Antarctica (PNRA), managed by the National Research Council (CNR) for scientific coordination, by the ENEA for the planning and logistic organization of the activities at the antarctic bases and by the National Institute of Scientific Studies
The scientific mission involved aboard the ship 44 units of technical and scientific personnel and 23 crew members, who carried out 5 research projects funded by the PNRA and logistic support activities.
“This year the mission of the icebreaker Laura Bassi was characterized by the high number of activities planned and, consequently, by a longer duration than previous missions,” comments Franco Coren, Director of the OGS Naval Infrastructure Management Centre. “During the expedition two research campaigns were carried out: the first, of 25 days, mainly dedicated to logistic activities supporting the Zucchelli Base and the transfer to the Antarctic continent of two ice samples from Mont Blanc and the Grand Combin, collected in the context of the international initiative Ice Memory. The second, of 58 days, was instead dedicated to the 5 research projects approved by the PNRA. All the activities have been completed according to the times and the modalities previewed and have concluded with full success, despite the staff on board has operated in very adverse weather conditions along the antarctic coast in front of Australia”, Coren concludes.
The return to Italy, in Trieste, of the ship and of the crew is scheduled in the second half of April after a navigation that will see Laura Bassi first cross the South Pacific Ocean and then the Atlantic, until you arrive in the Mediterranean passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. In these days, restrictions on air traffic in certain transit areas have made it necessary to reorganize the international return flights to Europe of scientific personnel.
– PNRA photos from Enea press office –
(ITALPRESS).
