Italian and New Zealand researchers will travel to the Dry Valleys in the coming days to find out more about what is hidden underground.
The research team of the SENECA project "SourcEand impact of greeNhousEgasses in AntarctiCA", coordinated by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), he will spend 40 days in a tent in extreme conditions in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, in order to evaluate the gas concentrations and their emissions from the permafrost - the perennially frozen ground typical of the polar regions - and from the surface layers subject to thaw.
The Seneca project is funded by the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), as part of the 35th Antarctic Expedition.
The research results will be used to estimate for the first time the total emission of methane and carbon dioxide in this southern polar region. In fact, studies conducted in the Arctic have shown that double the carbon currently present in the atmosphere is stored in these areas.
Thawing permafrost could lead to a significant increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
