Spitsbergen – On Saturday, July 4 an Italian delegation led by Professor Andrea Marion from the Department of Industrial Engineering within the University of Padua reached the Polish research base on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest in the archipelago of Svalbard. The voyage lasted eight days at sea on an oceanographic vessel that sailed from the port of Gdansk. The delegation includes Mattia Zaramella, from the Department of Industrial Engineering, and Andrea Bergamasco, Physical Oceanographer at the ISMAR CNR-Institute of Marine Sciences in Venice. The Polish base in Hornsund is located at 77 ° north latitude and was built in the 1950s thanks to some pioneering explorations; it is the only Arctic station located in a protected area, almost inaccessible to mass tourism. The field represents a natural laboratory of great interest, regardless of the major operational difficulties related to hard-to-reach places, the extreme climate conditions – especially during autumn, winter and spring – and the dangers posed by polar bear attacks that force the team to work in group, with armed personnel and with the aid of exploration dogs. The mission began on June 26, and ends today, while activities in the Polish polar station in Hornsund ended on July 6. (9Colonne)
