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XXXIII Expedition

The XXXIII expedition was the second of ICE-VOLC project. The scientific activities dealt with:

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• Geochemistry

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• Volcanology

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• Seismology

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Antarctica ICEVOLC project

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Geochemistry

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The geochemical investigation performed during 28 October- 23 November 2017 mainly focused on the fumaroles and Ice Caves of both Mt. Melbourne and Rittmann. The following activities were performed:

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- Thermal analysis of the fumarole areas.

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​- Extended the exploration and mapping  of  MC3 Ice Cave on Mt. Melbourne and R5 on Mt. Rittmann.

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- Installation of a temporary geochemical-meteo station in the Aurora Ice Cave, to test the possibility of continuously monitoring the gas and heat fluxes released by the cave.

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- Installation of 2 microloggers to evaluate the heat flux from soil in Aurora Ice Cave.

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- Download of almost 1 year long air temperature dataset from the micrologger inside Aurora Cave, and logging restart.

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- 3D experimental survey of a portion of tunnel in Aurora.

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​- Collection of 2 samples of gas in MC3 Ice Cave

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- FTIR and UV measurements of gas in both volcanoes

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- Investigation of Mt. Rittman's plumes using a visible and NIR sun-photometer.

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© PNRA

© PNRA

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© PNRA

Volcanology

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The main volcanological activities during the XXXIII expedition were:

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- Identification of ash layers within the glaciers around Mt. Melbourne​

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- Collection of 4 samples of ash from Backer Rocks cliff on Mt. Melbourne.

Antarctica ICEVOLC project rock geochemistry volcanoes

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Seismology

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The main seismological activities were:

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- Installation of a permanent seismo-acoustic station on Mt. Rittmann​

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- Installation of two temporary seismic station on Mt. Rittmann

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