After sailing 8,500 nautical miles from Cartagena to Antarctica aboard the Navy scientific research ship ARC Sim贸n Bol铆var of the Colombian Navy and the General Maritime Directorate - Dimar, the country says goodbye to the White Continent successfully fulfilling the science purposes established for the Tenth Antarctic Expedition of Colombia, a naval operation that contributes to the protection of the Navy environment and Antarctic awareness at a global level.
This expedition composed of 95 men and women, including the ship's crew and national and international researchers, focused their efforts on obtaining relevant information on topics and disciplines related to hydrography, comprehensive maritime safety, Navy biology, meteorology, climate change and environmental conservation.
Having the characteristics of a naval unit such as the ARC Sim贸n Bol铆var, built with the Resources to reach the South Pole, in addition to positioning the country as a bioceanic power with a high international incidence, led to the effective development of the 12 research projects on board, being more agile and units in their fulfillment.
"A few years ago we could generate this same information, but not with the same degree of accuracy that we have now, it can in the same way be said that we took much more time exposing the crew members to this type of adverse conditions, but now thanks to the ARC Simon Bolivar we can verify that with its Resources and we obtain much more data, more accurately and in less time. This logically expands our information bases in chemical, physical, biological, microbiological aspects, etc." emphasized Ship Captain Alexis Grattz Bonilla, cruise chief of the expedition and director of the Pacific Oceanographic and Hydrographic Research Center of Dimar.
Meanwhile, the Ship Captain Jahir Andr茅s Robledo, commander of this afloat unit pointed out: "This ship is that leap that we needed to be able to carry out an expedition in a safe, reliable way, supporting all the logistical load as a platform to provide science, research, scientists with what is necessary and they can carry out their research."
Source: Navy of Colombia
