After two months in the Ross Sea, in Antarctica, the research vessel sailing under the flag of Italy Laura Bassi has completed its research campaign on the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of certain areas of the continent. Specifically, the activities were related to the “Tenore”, “Signature” and “MORsea” projects coordinated by the Parthenope University of Naples, the Politecnica delle Marche and the University of Messina, respectively.
The success of the campaign was also possible thanks to the international collaboration that was implemented: for the first time, the ship supported the research of a scientific programme carried out by a team of 12 researchers from New Zealand who were hosted onboard.
The return of the icebreaker to the port of Lyttelton in New Zealand marked the end of the 39th research mission conducted in the polar continent by the ship Laura Bassi, funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the National Antarctic Research Programme (PNRA).
Moreover, funds were also provided by a number of research bodies including the National Research Council (CNR), responsible for the scientific coordination, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), in charge of the planning and logistic organization of the activities at their Antarctic bases and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) that managed the technical and scientific aspects of the expedition.
“The campaign of the icebreaker Laura Bassi was successfully completed and, thanks to the collaboration between the crew and the technical and the scientific staff onboard, we have achieved all our target goals and collected more data than expected,” explained Franco Coren, director of the OGS Centre for the Management of Maritime Infrastructures.
The next step will be the return of the ship to the port of Naples, where it left on 25 November 2023 and where it is expected to arrive in the second half of April. Then, scientific activities in the Mediterranean Sea are scheduled to take place before preparing for the next Antarctic mission.
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