PANTHER Marine Research Expedition

Dr Aggeliki Georgiopoulou and PhD Student Michael Owens flew to Sicily on August 2nd to join Minerva I, an Italian CNR oceanographic research ship, at the port of Messina. Dr Aggeliki was part of a EUROFLEETS proposal that was successful and was subsequently funded. The project acronym is PANTHER and stands for PANtelleria High-energy ERuptions from marine studies. It is a marine research expedition, with participants from Northern Ireland (Ulster University), Italy (Bologna University, ISMAR CNR, Bologna and IGAG-CNR, Roma), Spain (Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences), Ireland (UCD and Limerick), UK (Royal Holloway), Netherlands (University of Utrecht), that will study the seafloor around the island of Pantelleria in the Strait of Sicily. The main aim of the project is to reconstruct the impacts of large high-energy eruptive events in the submarine environment, in particular in relation to potential geo-hazards and the effects of volcanic eruptions on the habitats and biodiversity in the region.

The expedition is funded within the (opens in a new window)EU Research Infrastructure Eurofleets2 project and departed from Messina on the 6th August 2016.

The project (opens in a new window)Facebook page will provide information about the team, their expedition and frequent updates from onboard the Minerva I. There will also be updates on Twitter @UlsterUniGES