XXXIX Expedition
The group of technicians and researchers from the INGV Etnean Observatory, formed by Danilo Contrafatto, Gaetano Giudice and Graziano Larocca, has recently concluded the activities of the I-VOLCAN Volcanological Observatory at the Italian Mario Zucchelli base, located in the Terra Vittoria, region of East Antarctica .
The mission of the INGV OE group began on 29 October 2023, with the help of special means such as the Basler BT-67 and Hercules C-130 aircraft of the Italian and New Zealand Air Force, and ended on 3 December, passing through the US base McMurdo.
The activities of the I-VOLCAN Observatory began this year, after the approval by the PNRA of the project created thanks to the synergy between the University of Catania and the INGV, and coordinated by prof. Andrea Cannata. The main objective of I-VOLCAN is to create a multiparametric monitoring network on the quiescent volcanoes Melbourne (Figure 1) and Rittmann, near the Italian Mario Zucchelli base (Figure 2).
Figure 1 – The southern slope of the Melbourne volcano photographed from a helicopter. Credits: Graziano Larocca @PNRA.
Figure 2 – The Mario Zucchelli station, an Italian scientific base in Antarctica located in the Terra Vittoria area. Credit: @PNRA. https://www.italiantartide.it/stazione-mario-zucchelli/
Among the activities completed during the expedition were:
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the recovery of seismic and geochemical data recorded by the monitoring stations installed in the caldera of the Melbourne volcano inside the "ice caves", natural caves dug into the ice by the action of fumaroles (Figure 3) and maintenance of the powering system of the seismo-acoustic station at Rittmann (Figure 4);
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the installation of a permanent seismic station;
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the detailed 3D survey of the ice cave called “Aurora” using a laser scanner (Figure 5);
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the drone photogrammetric survey of the caldera;
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the creation of telemetry connections for the real-time transmission of seismic and geochemical data to the Mario Zucchelli base;
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the recovery of seismic data from the permanent seismic station on the Rittmann volcano;
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the completion of the exploration and survey of the main ice caves on the Melbourne and Rittmann volcanoes;
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the sampling of fumarolic gases in the ice caves of the Melbourne and Rittmann volcanoes (Figure 6);
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outdoor and laboratory maintenance of seismic and geochemical stations (Figure 7).
Figure 3 – Maintenance of the seismic station located inside the “MC4” ice cave Credits: Gaetano Giudice@PNRA.
Figure 4 – Maintenance of the wind generator of the permanent seismic station on the Rittmann volcano. Credits: Graziano Larocca@PNRA.
Figure 5 – The caldera of the Melbourne volcano and the ice "chimney" created by the fumaroles which indicates the entrance to the ice cave called "Aurora". Credits: Graziano Larocca@PNRA.
Figure 6 – Gas sampling and soil temperature measurements inside the ice cave called “MC4”, where temperatures above 34°C were measured a few centimeters deep from the surface. Credits: Graziano Larocca@PNRA.
Figure 7 – Maintenance of a wind generator inside the Mario Zucchelli Base laboratory. Credits: Graziano Larocca@PNRA.