After the operational stop in the Icelandic port of Reykjavík, the multi-purpose research vessel Alliance it left yesterday for the Arctic Circle where, during the next few weeks, oceanographic surveys will be carried out as part of the Iceland-Greenland Seas Project multidisciplinary program - PGI (https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/afis/).
After 90 years from Commander Nobile's achievements, this project, curated by NATO's Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), will report a Navy crew between the seas of Iceland and Greenland during the Arctic winter period.
In these waters the embarked researchers will perform prompt and in-depth surveys of electrical conductivity parameters such as temperature, depth, geochemical analysis and speed of sound in water, bati-thermographic surveys, bathymetry measurements and meteorological measurements (marine and aerial), in addition to perform the correlation and statistical collection of the acquired data.
The five-day stopover in Reykjavík allowed the first team of researchers from the international organization Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to take on the necessary equipment for the hydro - oceanographic activity and for the preparation of the Main Sea Lab ) onboard.
Among the instruments on board there is also a meteorological buoy that will be released in the operations area in order to detect meteorological and marine data to support the CTD activity (surveys and measurements of electrical conductivity, temperature and depth of water) .
It started last January 17th from La Spezia, with frigate captain Daniele Cantù, Nave in command Alliance it can count on a crew of 47 soldiers to which, for the occasion, a research group consisting of 22 scientists from various international organizations is added. In charge of the scientific mission is Dr. Robert Pickart, scientist of the WHOI, assisted by the head of the Italian Navy mission, vessel captain Massimiliano Nannini.
The next stop is scheduled in the port of Isafjordur, Iceland, towards the end of February while the end of the mission will take place in April 2018 with the return to Italy.
