The oceanographic research vessel 'Hesperides' off the Antarctic coast
Spain begins its 39th Antarctic Research Campaign, coordinated by the Spanish Polar Committee, part of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, with 28 scientific projects. The aim of the Spanish Antarctic campaign is scientific research, during which 15 projects approved by the State Research Agency, 3 historical series and various scientific projects from other countries will be carried out and supported at our facilities.
To ensure that these scientific activities are carried out safely, the volcanic monitoring services of the National Geographic Institute and the meteorological forecasting services of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) are available. A project opportunity will also be developed to test the Ministry of Defence's Galileo positioning system.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities finances most of the scientific projects and the construction and maintenance operation of the infrastructures for research in Antarctica, the oceanographic research vessel 'Hespérides', and the Spanish Antarctic Bases 'Gabriel de Castilla' and 'Juan Carlos I'.
In total, around 200 people will participate in this campaign, including scientists from various universities and research centres, as well as technical and logistical support staff.
The scientific activities to be developed are distributed in large disciplinary groupings, in projects in Earth Sciences (41%), Life Sciences (27%), Physical Sciences (23%) and services (9%), although they are multi-disciplinary projects and some are at the frontier of knowledge.
Among them, the MERIDIAN project stands out, which will study the soil microbiota and its role in polar ecosystems in the face of climate change, thereby contributing to generating scientific knowledge to anticipate the impacts of global warming in one of the most vulnerable areas of the planet.
Specifically, it seeks to study how environmental perturbations, such as increased temperature and changes in soil moisture, affect the micro-organisms that inhabit these extreme ecosystems. Antarctica, because of its climate sensitivity and its role in the global balance, is a privileged place to study the effects of climate change.
There is also the POLAR-MELT project, which aims to explore the potential of melt-fed streams as ecological corridors facilitating connectivity, organism dispersal and nutrient flow between glaciers and downstream aquatic and terrestrial habitats in both polar regions. Therefore, the results obtained in this campaign will be compared with similar approaches to be carried out in Arctic areas, in order to identify common patterns for both hemispheres.
This research will provide the first comprehensive, multi-scale, holistic analysis of the diversity and connectivity associated with the development of melt-fed streams in the Polar Regions, a key insight in the face of their expected global expansion due to climate change.
Due to the scientific and social importance of this subject, during this expedition audiovisual material will be produced with the aim of not only making the dynamics of these streams and the effects on these ecosystems known, but also to experience and feel them.
International cooperation is fundamental to the development of Antarctic campaigns, both scientifically and logistically. Specifically, this campaign will support seven research projects in other countries such as Germany, China, USA, Italy and Portugal.
Spanish Antarctic Research Campaign
The Spanish Antarctic Research Campaign is an R&D cooperation model between different public institutions within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation. The Spanish Polar Committee coordinates the activities carried out by the different organisations during the campaigns.
The entities participating in these activities are the Marine Technology Unit of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), which manages the 'Juan Carlos I' base on Livingston Island and is responsible for the logistical coordination of the campaign, the Spanish Army, which manages the 'Gabriel de Castilla' base on Deception Island, and the Spanish Navy, which operates the ship 'Hespérides'.
Both the ship and the bases are part of the Spanish map of Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures.
Non official translation