A contingent of soldiers of the Italian armed forces is ready to take part in the XXXI Summer Antarctic Campaign, a project included in the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) which starts the 2015 / 2016 season with the reopening of the Italian base "Mario Zucchelli", located in Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica.
The expedition will last 4 months, and will involve 24 men and women of the Army, Navy, Aeronautics and Carabinieri, who will provide collaboration in the field of specific competences of the armed force of belonging, expressing exclusive professional skills and preparation essential to success of shipments.
The military will be joined to the initial core of 12 specialized technicians of ENEA, which manages the mission, to which will be added, in the coming weeks, Italian and foreign technicians and researchers, for a total of about 200 people.
The contribution of the military of the armed forces will go from the weather forecasts for the safe performance of the air operations, to the operations at high altitude with the mountain guides, to the naval operations that allow to supply the base Concord for the winter campaign, up to the "extraordinary jobs" in a location with abundant snowfall and winds that can reach even 300 Km / h.
The activity of the PNRA is financed by the MIUR according to the strategic guidelines of the National Scientific Commission for Antarctica (CSNA). The research activities, coordinated by the CNR, will cover: biodiversity, evolution and adaptation of Antarctic organisms, Earth sciences, glaciology, environmental contamination, atmospheric and space sciences, monitoring activities at permanent weather and climatic observatories, astronomical and geophysicists.
Researchers and military personnel will have to face the Antarctic summer, with particularly complex environmental conditions, with average temperatures between 0 ° C and -35 ° C, and conditions of 24 hours of light per day throughout the period.
The term of the XXXI Summer Campaign is scheduled for the 12 February 2016, with the return of the "Italica" motor vessel, which will support the operations, and the closure of the Mario Zucchelli base.
