Ground-breaking Antarctic mission complete
by Flanders Today 26 Apr 2019 04:27 UTC
The Australis sailing ship was able to slip into unknown waters © Courtesy ULB
The sailing ship Australis, home for the last six weeks to a team of Belgian and French researchers, is back from its mission in Antarctica. Aside from confirming that the area is still thriving with biodiversity, the team of Mission Belgica121 also concluded that there is a troubling increase in tourism.
The team was led by ULB marine biologist Bruno Danis, and its chief diver was Francesca Pasotti of Ghent University. It was a world first as such a research mission has never been carried out in the Antarctic on a sailing vessel.
A vessel known as an icebreaker is usually used for research missions in the Antarctic. The Belgians chose the Australis as it is much less disruptive to the environment and can also sail into wholly new areas than can the much larger icebreaker. The CO2 emissions, for instance, were 140 times lower than those of a traditional icebreaker
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