Nave Milazzo, last 6 October, sailed from the port of Naples carrying a team of researchers from the department of sciences and technologies of the aforementioned Neapolitan university, and released, in the center of the Tyrrhenian Sea, at a depth of about 3.350 meters, some sophisticated equipment that, over the next twelve months, will record and store scientific data on the currents and the chemical-physical qualities of water.
Once arrived in the place that the researchers had previously found on the nautical charts, a heavy metal ballast was spun into the sea to which was fixed a robust iron chain of about 50 meters in length, which will be maintained in vertical suspension with the help of some floats. To the chain are ensured the various equipment including a "current meter", an instrument used to measure the direction and intensity of the deep marine current.
In about a year we will return to the site and, with a powerful remote control, the chain that, thanks to the floats, will be brought to the surface will be released from the ballast. Once recovered, the data stored in more than twelve months of activity on the seabed will be downloaded.
This activity represents a fundamental monitoring of the weak temperature variations of the deep sea layers. This information has an important value for climate studies and is part of a wider monitoring project of the whole basin coordinated by the "International Commission for the Exploration of the Mediterranean" (CIESM) and which involves the whole scientific community of the Mediterranean .
The navy, once again actively supports scientific studies at sea, to protect the aquatic environment: the now common connotation "Dual Use" of its ships and the high professionalism of its crews, makes it a preferential partner also of entities research extraneous to the armed force, thus contributing to scientific studies and monitoring the health of our seas.
Source: Military Navy
