Antarctica: 36th Italian expedition to the Arctic kicks off with pandemic restrictions

The opening of the Italian Mario Zucchelli station at the end of October marked the start of the 36th Italian Expedition to Antarctica, funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) as part of the National Research Program in Antarctica (PNRA), with ENEA managing logistics and operations and CNR coordinating scientific activities. The current health emergency has imposed severe limitations on scientific and logistical activities, including cutting team sizes and limiting the number of people at stations in order to be able to open safely and maintain the scientific equipment in operation.

The flight of the opening team of the Mario Zucchelli Station was ensured, as usual, by the American Antarctic Program (USAP): only two passenger flights from Hobart (Australia) with the Airbus-A319 of the Australian Antarctic Division and a cargo flight from Christchurch (NZ) with the New Zealand company RNZAF will then follow.

The opening team, in addition to resuming operations after last March closure, will prepare the 3 km sea-ice runway, suitable for landing of intercontinental air carriers.

In order to keep Antarctica the only COVID-free continent, all PNRA personnel  shall undergo a strict quarantine of at least 14 days  before reaching the Mario Zucchelli and Concordia stations and the research ship Laura Bassi.

The expedition personnel, with the exception of the winter staff, is therefore made up of veterans only. A short ad hoc training program was organized in Italy for the new winterers, which continued during the long quarantine in Hobart (Australia) with remote training courses organized by ENEA and the French Polar Institute IPEV.

On 24 December the Italian research vessel “Laura Bassi” will sail from the Lyttelton port in New Zealand to conduct a brief oceanographic campaign aimed at the protection and maintenance of the Marine Observatory instrumentation and then reach Terra Nova Bay, from where it is due to leave on 24 January with the staff staying at the Mario Zucchelli Station. The crew, in fact, will return earlier than usual, aboard the PNRA and IPEV vessels Laura Bassi and Astrolabe.

On 9 November the crew arrived at the Concordia station, located at over 3,000 meters inland on the Antarctic plateau. There too the essential activities to ensure safe operation of the Station, maintenance of the scientific equipment and training of the incoming winter team, will be conducted.

The summer campaign will last 3 months. This year, unlike other years and due to staff downsizing, the overlap period between the 12 incoming winter crew (6 from the PNRA, 5 from the French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) and 1 European Space physician (ESA) and the outgoing crew, will be considerably extended. Given the short duration of the summer campaign, the winter-over period will begin in mid-January. The winter-over personnel will then remain in complete isolation until November 2021, during the winter season, when outside temperatures plunge as low as -80 ° C (felt temperature -100 ° C).

This year as well, soldiers of the three Italian Armed Forces, from Army mountain guides to Navy divers, will participate in the expedition, collaborating in all its activities, from the operations room to logistics. The Italian air force will provide weather forecasting, a key factor to efficiently plan the numerous activities conducted in the antarctic bases.

First 2020-2021 Antarctica group departing from Christchurch

For more information:

• www.italiantartide.it
• www.pnra.aq
• www.enea.it
• www.cnr.it