The commander of the ARA Almirante Irízar, Carlos Recio, confirmed that next Sunday the icebreaker will begin the second stage of the Antarctic Summer Campaign (CAV) and affirmed that the giant iceberg that broke away from the Brunt ice barrier in the Argentine Antarctic Sector “It is just one more stumbling block among the innumerable ones” on the journey to the Antarctic bases.
“It’s just one more stumbling block among the innumerable ones in the Antarctic Campaign,” the ship’s captain told Télam, referring to the iceberg that was detected four days ago by the Naval Hydrography Service, dependent on the Ministry of Defending.
According to a statement from that service, the rupture of the giant iceberg occurred “in the south of the Weddell Sea, specifically the Brunt ice barrier, with an approximate area of 1,500 km2 equivalent to seven times the city of Buenos Aires.”
The iceberg was named A81 and it was calculated that “it has an approximate depth of 150 meters”.
Recio affirmed that “monitoring tasks” are being carried out inside the Irízar, since they have personnel from the Meteorology Department of the Naval Hydrography Service on board who “are specialists in everything related to monitoring ice movements.”
In this way, he was confident that “the iceberg is still in the immediate vicinity of the glacier”, but he affirmed that “if it leaves the normal route”, the Irízar has “advanced technology that allows its detection” in nearby areas.
“Once it is detected, we have two Naval Aviation helicopters that will allow us to visually determine the route to follow,” he explained in that regard.
Meanwhile, he stated that the icebreaker is “in contact” with the National Commission for Aerospace Activities of the Argentine Republic “which moved its surveillance area to that area.”
“This allows us to monitor the distance minute by minute and know what we are going to find when we are in the area of operations,” he emphasized.
The Irízar will set sail next Sunday from the city of Ushuaia to begin the second stage of the CAV in order to reach the Orcadas Base and the Belgrano II Base in Antarctica in approximately 12 days to carry out resupply tasks.
“We bring them all the materials so that they can be there during the Antarctic Winter Campaign (CAI),” he said.
During the campaign, in addition, the ship transports the incoming endowment and the personnel that withdraws after spending a year carrying out activities.
“When the Irízar arrives, we sound the typhoon, which is a great horn that is heard for kilometers and everyone comes out to say hello, it is something very exciting,” the captain anticipated about the arrival of the ship.
