On Wednesday 17 January, the Alliance multi-purpose research vessel will leave the port of La Spezia for a scientific mission with the Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) of NATO, between the seas of Iceland and Greenland, beyond the Arctic Circle. To greet the crew and the researchers on board, the Commander in Chief of the Naval Squad, Admiral Donato Marzano and the director of the CMRE, Dr. Catherine Warner.
After 90 years from the historic mission of Commander Nobile and following the recent expedition carried out in the summer of 2017 called "High North", the Navy will return to the North Pole, for the first time in the Arctic winter period, to support research activities in support of the international organization Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) within the multidisciplinary program Iceland-Greenland Seas Project (PGI). The main purpose of the expedition is the study of the air / water interaction and the relative ventilation that is created in the Arctic Sea, with the aim of achieving a better understanding of the circulation of sea currents. The scientific activity will be characterized by two navigation periods of about twenty days each, and will consist in carrying out, in the strait that separates Iceland from the east coast of Greenland, expeditious and in-depth surveys of the parameters of electrical conductivity, temperature, depth, geochemical analysis and speed of sound in water, bathymetry and meteorological measurements (marine and air), performing the correlation and statistical collection between the acquired data.
Nave Alliance, under the command of Frigate Captain Daniele Cantù, has a crew of 47 soldiers and embarks, for the occasion, a research group consisting of 22 scientists from various international organizations. In charge of the scientific mission is Dr. Robert Pickart, scientist of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), assisted by the Chief of the Navy Mission, Captain Massimiliano Nannini. Two scientific teams will alternate during the mission: the change will take place during the operational stops in the Icelandic ports of Reykjavik and Isafjordur, respectively in the first and last ten days of February.
The ship will end its mission with the return to Italy, scheduled for the first ten days of April 2018.
FURTHER INFORMATION ON SHIP ALLIANCE
Nave Alliance is a multi-purpose research unit (NATO Research Vessel - NRV) which mainly carries out activities conducted by the Maritime Research and Experimentation Center (CMRE), on behalf of the Scientific and Technological Organization (Science and Technology Organization - STO) of NATO.
In April 1988, the unit was handed over to the then SACLANT Underwater Research Center (Undersea Research Center - SACLANTCEN), later renamed NATO Underwater Research Center (NATO Underwater Reserch Center- NURC), then further renamed STO / CMRE.
Since March 2016 it is equipped with Navy personnel thanks to an agreement of December 2015 between the Navy and the CMRE. The ship has organic dependence, through the Hydrographic Units and Experiences Squadron Command (COMSQUAIDRO) and the Mine Countermeasure Forces Command (MARICODRAG), on the Naval Squad Command in Chief (CINCNAV).