Thirteen scientists commanded by Andrés Maldonado set off the next 25th of November for the Antarctica to continue in this exceptional laboratory their studies on the formation of continents and oceans and the global evolution of the Earth. It will be on board the ship Hespérides, in the seas of Scotia and Weddell. The works will be carried out for a month, 24 hours a day, and they will explore predetermined routes on profiles marked out according to the characteristics obtained in the eight previous expeditions to the Antarctica, and in the previous studies of the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences (IACT) and the Dpt. Geodynamics of the University of Granada.
These research works revolve around two main topics. The first one is the plate tectonics, the formation of continents and oceans and, specifically, a basic aspect: the division between South America and Antarctica. The second one focuses on paleoceanography, giving raise to the Antarctic circumpolar stream.
Drake Passage is the division between the Antarctic Peninsula and South America, separating the Antarctic continent from the other oceans. This way, it remains thermally separated, allowing the installation of the Antarctic circumpolar stream, masses of cold water flowing clockwise. “According to our interpretation, this phenomenon gives rise to the global cooling and the climates of the Antarctic glaciations, influencing decisively the current climatic change”, says Maldonado. Its study is nowadays one of the most important scientific lines all over the world.
Creation of deep water
For the first time in these campaigns, physic samples will be taken on the ocean bed with a high-level technologic material to date and study its components. “It is about identifying the creation of deep water and the portals used to flow to the north”, says Maldonado. Five of the thirteen scientists who take part in this international mission supervised by the director of the IACT are from Granada. They are Jesús Galindo Zaldívar, Antonio Jabaloy Sánchez, José Rodríguez Fernández, Francisco Lobo Sánchez and Fernando Bohoyo Muñoz, who recently presented his doctoral thesis on the Scotia Arc in the University of Granada and is now taken on by the British Antarctic Survey.
Reference: Prof. Andres Maldonado López. Dpt. Geodynamics. Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences
Phone number: 958 243 158 / 958 244 159.
Mobile: 606 337 753.
E-mail: amaldona@ugr.es.
