The Italian research ship Laura Bassi has left the port of Lyttelton in New Zealand, heading for Antarctica where three different missions await her on the study of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of specific areas of the South Pole. The ship will circumnavigate the entire Ross Sea and conclude its Antarctic mission, back in New Zealand, after 60 days in March 2024. The Laura Bassi ship, owned by the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics, has 39 researchers and a 23-member crew on board. The icebreaker's voyage began last November 25 when it left the port of Naples to embark on an approximately 40-day voyage. The ship sailed through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, taking all planned anti-piracy measures and sailing along the security corridor under the umbrella of protection provided by the naval vessels of various countries. In late December, she landed in Lyttelton to embark personnel who will carry out the search mission. Once loading operations were closed, the ship departed Lyttelton port on January 6 for the Red Sea. Through the analysis of Antarctic ice, the project aims to reconstruct Earth's climate history by going back 1.5 million years to reveal information about the temperature and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
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