The 32nd summer campaign (2016-2017) of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) has started. As every year, the research team also includes theIstituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). The INGV team of technicians and researchers, consisting of Riccardo Vagni, Alessio di Roberto, Graziano Larocca, Paola Del Carlo, and Domenico di Mauro, left the port of Lyttelton, New Zealand, aboard the Nave Italica, heading for the South Pole. Having departed on December 30th, the ship is currently (January 6th at 10:30 a.m.) at latitude 69° 54,81S, heading toward the Ross Sea, having traveled 1480 miles.
Among the various planned activities, the installation of a new station for ionospheric observations, already present at the Italian-French Concordia Base of DomeC on the Antarctic plateau at 3200 meters above sea level; acquire seismic data and tephra sampling from Melburne and Rittmann volcanoes; update the magnetic declination and inclination measurements and control of the data acquisition equipment at the Italian Mario Zucchelli station; and finally, sampling marine sediments in the Ross Sea for tephrostratigraphic studies and paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions on board the Nave Italica.
Photo: from right to left, Alberto Salvati, Graziano Larocca, Riccardo Vagni, Paola Del Carlo, Domenico Di Mauro, Alessio Di Roberto and Andrea Cannata.