On board the naval unit for scientific research Alliance, in the port of Tromso (NO), the press conference was held to present the preliminary results obtained at the end of the “High North 17” marine geophysics campaign, just concluded in the Arctic Ocean, to the south / southwest of the Svalbard islands.
During the event, which saw the participation of the regent ambassador of Italy in Norway, Antimo Campanile and some Norwegian political authorities, the director of the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy, Captain Luigi Sinapi, emphasized how the campaign "High North" involved the main Italian research institutes, such as the CNR (National Research Council), the OGS (National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics), ENEA (National Agency for New Energy Technologies) and sustainable economic development), the international researchers of the Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (NATO CMRE) of La Spezia, who for the first time worked, once again at the North Pole after 89 years from Umberto Nobile's company, on a ship of the Navy under the scientific coordination of the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy.
Professor Roberta Ivaldi, professor at the Istituto Idrografico di Genova and scientific coordinator of the expedition, then illustrated the first achievements:
- The high-resolution acoustic survey of the bathymorphology and of the nature and sedimentology of the INBIS Channel seabed, highlighted the presence of glacial structures and canyons originating from the melt water of the last glacial maximum;
- The evidence of the presence of water masses with different physical and geo-bio-chemical characteristics, including the very dense and slow water that identifies particular habitats and associated hydrodynamics of high environmental relevance.
The large amount of hydrographic and oceanographic data collected by all national bodies and research centers participating in the shipment will be officially processed and presented in the coming months.
The activity conducted by the Alliance ship therefore represents an important added value in the collection of useful evaluation elements in many sectors, not least the climate one.
The Navy, with the help of platforms and tools for marine research at the Naval Hydrographic Institute, contributes to improving knowledge of the evolutions of that marine environment in order to better secure the security and free use of resources.
