SPANISH SERVICE MEMBERS AND SCIENTISTS START UP BASE “GABRIEL DE CASTILLA” IN ANTARCTICA

 Yesterday, 20th December, around one o’clock in the morning local time in Antarctica, and after confirming the inexistence of seismic activity, 10 members of the Army and 2 civilian researchers debarked on the Antarctic continent’s Deception Island and opened Spanish Antarctic Base “Gabriel de Castilla”. So begins the 2010–2011 Antarctic Campaign. 

The base opening team travelled from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia (Argentina) by air to then embark on the Spanish Navy’s Oceanographic Research Ship “Las Palmas”.  After setting sail south and crossing the Drake Strait, it anchored on the afternoon of 19th December in Deception Island’s Foster Bay (South Shetland Islands).

In this Campaign, from the military point of view, noteworthy is the project that will be undertaken in the field of telecommunications: sending images in real time of the activities on the Island by using assets equipping the Army.  In the Area of Environment, which last year obtained ISO 14001 certification, in the present Campaign the Army aims to improve the Environmental Management System in order to achieve greater energy efficiency and less impact on the environment by reducing water consumption and incinerator emissions, among other measures.

The 20110-2011 Antarctic Campaign will consist of 16 research projects, 9 of which will be undertaken on Spanish Antarctic Base “Gabriel de Castilla”, which will involve 53 researchers -48 of them Spanish- and approximately 20 institutions.  The Ministry of Science and Innovation will allot for its funding 3.7 million Euros from the National Research, Development and Innovation Plan (I+D+i).  Most of the research projects that are included in this campaign are within areas such as biology, geology, vulcanology, seismology, meteorology or climate change.

To achieve success in polar research, the Ministry of Science and Innovation collaborates closely with the Marine Technology Unit of the High Council on Scientific Research (which manages Antarctic Base “Juan Carlos I” and co-ordinates all campaign logistics) as well as with the Ministry of Defence through the Army –which manages Antarctic Base “Gabriel de Castilla”- along with the Navy –which operates Oceanographic Research Ship “Las Palmas”-.

The present Antarctic Campaign, which as in previous years coincides with the Southern Hemisphere summer, is scheduled to conclude in mid March next.   

For further information:
http://www.ejercito.mde.es/unidades/Antartica/antartica/index.html

http://www.armada.mde.es/ArmadaPortal/page/Portal/ArmadaEspannola/conocenos_actividades/deLaFuerza--0893_campanna-antartida-las-palmas-xiv-2010

http://www.micinn.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.8ce192e94ba842bea3bc811001432ea0/?vgnextoid=3f0f1e7a6fa49210VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&vgnextchannel=429338effdb33210VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD