Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
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The Spanish Antarctic Base closes its doors for the winter

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Number: 5008

The 39th Spanish Antarctic Campaign has come to a close, with the Antarctic Base “Gabriel de Castilla” closing its doors on 28 February. A new team will arrive in Deception Island after the end of the austral winter.

The Base has been inhabited for 74 days, during which Army soldiers hosted and provided support to groups of scientists who came to carry out 14 research projects: 12 from the polar research programme of the Ministry of Finance and two unscheduled Chilean projects.

In addition, several communication projects of interest to the military have also taken place. One of them focused on the transmission of data during the winter and required the installation of a wind turbine to feed the system, which will make it possible to receive data on temperature, humidity and electrical voltage as well as images of the Base while it is closed.

Leaving Antarctica with the pilgrimage banner

Leaving Antarctica with the pilgrimage banner (Photo: BAE "Gabriel de Castilla")

Visit from the Spanish National Research Council

The president of the Spanish National Research Council (known as CSIC, by its Spanish acronym) visited the Base on 19 February, when it had just renewed its Environmental Management Certificate according to the criteria set out by ISO 14001, and praised the military for their support to scientific projects.

He was impressed by the capabilities of the Base and the quality of the scientific research being carried out there and presented representatives of the Campaign with a certificate of appreciation acknowledging the contribution of the Base to science and a medal with the effigy of Spanish scientist and Nobel laureate Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

Antarctic pilgrimage

The members of the 39th Antarctic Campaign bade farewell to Deception Island as pilgrims, because they intend to complete the longest route of the Camino de Santiago: from Antarctica to Santiago de Compostela.

They are not the first pilgrims to take a sea route; there have been Atlantic pilgrimages from Iceland, Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia, and Mediterranean pilgrimages from different places. However, they will be the first to have the Frozen Continent as their point of departure.

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