Ship Galatea continues its hydro-oceanographic campaign north of the Island of Elba: the primary objective of the mission is the execution of the hydro-oceanographic survey of the area surrounding the island, functional to the geomorphological study of the seabed and the chemical-physical parameters of the column of water as well as the updating of the nautical chart 117.
The hydro-oceanographic campaign will continue with the activity called "Summer and Winter Intensive Monitoring in the LIGurian Sea" (SWIM-LIG22), part of the joint research program launched in 2018 by the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy (IIM). The project, in collaboration with theNational Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development (ENEA), theNational Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) and the National Research Council (CNR), is aimed at monitoring the thermal capacity of the Ligurian Sea.
To achieve this objective, in the last ten days of September, the naval unit will acquire the current profiles of the area of interest and the parameters of the water column relating to the thermal balance. Thanks to the use of specific temperature and pressure sensors, the data collected will allow monitoring the evolution over time of the water masses that converge from the various sectors of the Mediterranean in order to generate forecast models on thermohaline circulation.
Ship Galatea, belonging to the squadrons hydrographic units and experiences, employed by Maricodrag La Spezia, together with the other hydrographic vessels of the Navy, provides an essential and valuable contribution to the IIM, the State cartographic body in charge of the production and updating of national nautical documentation as well as the enhancement of environmental data.
