02 de May del 2020

Researchers from UMAG came back from Antarctic after postpone the expedition for the pandemic

A group of students from pre-and postgrade from the Universidad de Magallanes, returned from Antarctic, from where arrived on board of the ship AP-41 Aquiles from the Chilean Army, after set sail the 13th of March from Punta Arenas. The travel was abruptly interrupted, due to the national alarm by the declaration of a pandemic of Coronavirus.

The five students that the 17^th of March arrived to Bahía Fildes, only reviewed two of the twelve sites that were planned for samples collection. The 18^th of March they were informed that the Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ECA 56) was going to be suspended as a preventive decision due the advance of COVID-19. The ship returned the 19^th to the Base Escudero from the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), where they stayed waiting for a flight to come back to Punta Arenas.

The PhD students Johanna Marambio, Juan Pablo Rodríguez and Zambra López and the undergraduate student Francisco Bahamonde traveled in company of the Doctors Martha Calderón (Universidad de Magallanes) and Danilo Bustamante (Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza), all of them part of the laboratory of Antarctic and Subantarctic Marine Ecosystems (LEMAS, in Spanish). The purpose of the expedition was to accomplish with the objectives of the project FONDECYT 3180539/1180433 e INACH RT 27 17, led by the Dr. Andrés Mansilla and the Dra. Martha Calderón. The three projects have as objective to study the impact of the climate change in the macroalgae that inhabit the Antarctic from Bahía Fildes until the south of Adelaida Island, crossing the polar circle.

The PhD student Juan Pablo Rodríguez believes that “due to the circumstances we hope to be prioritized in the next ECA 57, to accomplish with the proposed objectives of the research projects”.