Mario Zucchelli Station, IT

Research station is owned by ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development).

Contact

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Location

Mario Zucchelli station (MZS) is located in the Ross Sea area, in the Victoria Land, at the foot of small range called Northern Foothills. MZS is a costal station built on a granite promontory overlooking the Gerlache Inlet, within the wider Terra Nova Bay.

Website

https://polardex.org/ – Mario Zucchelli
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61073506e9b0073c7eaaf464/t/611497cc1ece1b43f0eeca8a/1628739608968/COMNAP_Antarctic_Station_Catalogue.pdf

Facilities

The station is built right on the shore, on a granite rocky peninsula with a north-south orientation. The area assigned to the buildings provides easy access from/to the sea from both east and west. The small inlet on the east shore is particularly suited for unloading cargo at the beginning of the season, when the sea is totally covered with ice. The fast-ice in Tethys Bay is used at the beginning of the season as an aircraft landing place. The main facilities are runways, helipads, plants (power production, incinerator, waste water treatment, desalinator, liquefier), fuel storage and acquarium.

Mario Zucchelli is one of the two Italian station in Antarctica. Located on the coast of the Ross Sea, is open only during Australian summer, from half of October till half February.
Area under roof: 7500 (m2), Area scientific laboratories 2400 (m2)
Type of scientific laboratories: Astrophysics, Biology, Chemistry, Climate, Geodesy, Geology, Geomagnetism, Geophysics, Glaciology, Gravimetric, Ionosphere, Scientific diving, Seismology. conference room , logistic area, number of beds 124, laundry facilities, number of staff on station (peak/summer season) 80, number of scientists on station (peak/summer season) 40.

Availability for access

Time frame for access preparation

Annual plan for science activities is defined during spring. Process involve scientific (CNR) and logistic (ENEA) operators. The final plan is approved typically in May, beginning June by the National Antarctic Commission for Antarctica (CSNA). To better secure resources for POLARIN, CNR will operate to obtain yet in the previous fall an approval that all resources offered in the TA call will be at disposal during thespring discussion. So the spring disccxussion will be devoted to define the details of project participation: number of researchers, period in Antarctica, how to reach and return from Antarctica, special requests/use of base facilities, amount of transported material.
Deadline to receive all information for this detailed plan, can be fixed to end of April. Meanwhile the period May-July can be the timeframe to define all the logistic details, integrating the TA project in the frame of the whole planned science activity.�

Permits, licenses and training

Depending on research activities should be carried out, request for Ethical of Environmental impact declarations can be requested to researchers by PNRA. In any case PNRA will manage the interaction with AT and/or SCAR offices devoted to check that planned activities are respectful of the environmental and ethical rules for Antarctica.�

Medical guidelines

Medical health check is a pre-requisite. Italian Antarctic Program accept as valid:
– Certification on health status provided by another Antarctic program.
– Medical certification/clearance provided by researchers. In this case a specific list of required documentation will be provided by the PNRA medical officer. List being based on the standard PNRA protocol for access to Mario Zucchelli station.
– Personal information, as well as logistical details are requested and manage only after Medical health check is positive.
– Participants will receive from PNRA all dress and material necessary to operate in Antarctica. This material will be than recovered by PNRA at the end of the Expedition.�