Navy: Nave Alliance directs for the polar circle

After the operational stop in the Icelandic port of Reykjavík, the Alliance multi-purpose research vessel left yesterday for the Arctic Circle where, during the next few weeks, oceanographic surveys will be carried out as part of the Iceland-Greenland Seas Project multidisciplinary program - PGI (https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/afis/).

After 90 years from Commander Nobile's achievements, this project, curated by NATO's Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), will report a Navy crew between the seas of Iceland and Greenland during the Arctic winter period.

In these waters the embarked researchers will perform prompt and in-depth surveys of electrical conductivity parameters such as temperature, depth, geochemical analysis and speed of sound in water, bati-thermographic surveys, bathymetry measurements and meteorological measurements (marine and aerial), in addition to perform the correlation and statistical collection of the acquired data.

The five days of stopping in Reykjavík allowed the first team of researchers of the international organization Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to embark the necessary equipment for the hydro - oceanographic activity and for the preparation of the Main Laboratory (Main Sea Lab ) onboard.

Among the instruments embarked there is also a meteorological buoy that will be released in the area of ​​operations in order to detect meteorological and marine data to support the activity of CTD (measurements and measurements of electrical conductivity, temperature and depth of water) .

Match last 17 January from La Spezia, with the command of the Captain of Fregata Daniele Cantù, ship Alliance can count on a crew of 47 military to whom, for the occasion, is added a research group consisting of 22 scientists from various international organizations. Responsible for the scientific mission is Dr. Robert Pickart, WHOI scientist, assisted by the Chief Military Navy Mission, Captain of Vascello Massimiliano Nannini.

The next stop is scheduled in the port of Isafjordur, Iceland, towards the end of February while the end of the mission will take place in April 2018 with the return to Italy.

Navy: Nave Alliance directs for the polar circle