Antarctica is a huge frozen desert, but also a unique opportunity for research. Spain is one of the more than 30 countries that have the basis in the territory and one of them, that of Gabriel de Castilla, has just been extended to be able to carry out a widest range of projects.
The peculiarity is that its construction has been carried out in record time and will allow a boost to the investigation of climate change and biodiversity with a particularity: Spanish is one of the three clean laboratories on the continent.
Single. We have been studying Antarctica for decades from the air. It is what is allowing us to know what it is like under that layer of ice, but we also have been studying in Antarctica from the ground. The 1959 Antarctic Treaty is the one that allowed different countries to establish bases on the continent, exclusively for peaceful and scientific purposes.
However, before that there were already bases such as the Orcadas Base of Argentina, which were operating continuously in the field. The reason is that it is a unique scenario for research. Not only for its diversity or for the dry atmosphere that allows to install advanced astronomical observatories, but because we can reconstruct the climate of hundreds of thousands of years thanks to the air bubbles trapped in the ice and, above all, it is a climate change thermometer.
Spanish Antarctica. We must several findings to the field investigation, being one of the most notable the discovery of the ozone layer in 1985. Fruit of those agreements, Spain was able to establish two bases in Antarctica. The most veteran is Juan Carlos I. It was inaugurated in early 1988 and is operated by the CSIC. It is not busy all year, but maintains automated records when there is no one and supports projects of areas such as biology, geology, weather and glaciology.
The other is the Gabriel de Castilla, inaugurated a year later and operated by the Army. Its operation area is diverse, with research in the fields of earth sciences (geomagnetism, volcanic surveillance or geomorphology, among others), biological sciences (ecology, ethology or microbiology), environmental sciences (climate change) and disciplines such as physics, mathematics or biochemistry.
Gabriel de Castilla. Like Juan Carlos I, this base is not always busy. Spanish work is limited to the months of the Southern summer, which occurs between December and March, and its location is unique because it is next to one of the two active volcanoes of Antarctica. This makes it a unique enclave to study geological processes and extreme ecosystems. But it seems that the base fell short, so a new scientific module has been built.
In the upper image we see what the base was like. In the lower one, those small modules have been eliminated to leave the new space.
Reform reforms. After an investment of two million euros, the Gabriel de Castilla has been able to expand its surface to about 307 m². Thus, he has been able to improve his equipment thanks to a microscope room, an electricity and electronic space, a sanitary module and a clean laboratory.
And we might think that in such an extreme climate the construction would go slow, but no: in 70 days of the plane to having a structure that already expects research equipment. As the Army points, 700 panels, 400 profiles, 26 screws and a total of 80 tons of material have been used to create a new module 41 meters long by 7.2 wide and another 7 high.
In case you wonder, beyond the heating, the walls have a 50 millimeter polyurethane sandwich -type layer and another 60 millimeter inner layer of rock wool to improve thermal protection.
Clean laboratory. But beyond the speed in its construction, the most important thing about the ‘new’ Spanish base in Antarctica is the aforementioned clean laboratory. It is a space designed to minimize external pollution, so research processes can be carried out in a practically aseptic space in which the samples are not contaminated with exterior agents.
The protocols are very strict in both cleaning and ventilation and disinfection, and the really important thing is that, of the more than 30 bases present in Antarctica, that of the Gabriel de Castilla is one of the three clean laboratories in the region. As they detail in this video of El País, it will be shared with Portugal, and one of the objectives will be to analyze pure samples to better understand the human impact on the planet without external interference.
Images | Earth Army, Antarctic Campaign
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