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Falkor (Also) sets sail after bureaucratic delays
Scientists on board will conduct research in marine geology and physical oceanography
After days of delays due to bureaucratic problems, the Falkor (Too) left the port of Buenos Aires for another joint underwater mission by the Schmidt Oceanographic Institute and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) of Argentina. (See also: https://es.mercopress.com/2025/10/03/buque-cientifico-varado-en-buenos-aires)
Now, the scientific team intends to explore the underwater canyons of the Argentine continental slope in two distinct systems: 500 km from Viedma and 450 km from Rawson, in a little-known area, fundamental to understanding the connection between the deep ocean and the continental shelf.
According to the Data Portuaria website, the ship was stranded in the Port of Buenos Aires awaiting an agreement that required the signature of Rear Admiral Hernán Jorge Montero. “The delay caused frustration among the 30 researchers on board and was interpreted by some as a sign of contempt for the work of the academic community”, says the specialized website.
Once the conflict was resolved, the ship left under the direction of oceanographer Silvia Inés Romero. The team created an Instagram account, 2-Cannon Echoes, to share everything related to the new mission. Among other things, it will provide information on when live broadcasts from the seabed will take place, although no specific dates have been set as this depends, among other things, on sea conditions.
“One of the main reasons why Schmidt Ocean makes the ship available is to promote science. We have been meeting with them for over a year, where they explain to us what we have to do with the media.
“We will only go down to a depth of 1,000 meters. We will see a different ecosystem (from Mar del Plata), we will collect water samples and the organisms we will see will be smaller”, explained Romero, 58 years old, veteran of more than a dozen campaigns.
“This is different because we have the ‘rob’, which has spectacular cameras and will allow us to see the bottom to take samples of marine geology,” he said.
“The Falklands Current influences the entire slope. We know this from numerical models and observations, but now we have the opportunity to investigate in situ how it interacts with the submarine canyons of the continental margin. However, these two canyons, unlike the one in Mar del Plata, where the previous expedition was carried out, are not blind, but rather affect the upper margin, exactly where the platform ends and the slope begins. Our hypothesis is that they have a decisive impact by facilitating the exchange of waters from Malvinas Current“, explained Romero.
“We will conduct marine geology and physical oceanography research to determine whether underwater canyons are in fact gateways for nutrient-rich water to shallower areas, to understand exactly how water enters and leaves the shelf, and to understand how this affects the organisms at the base of the food chain, the phytoplankton and zooplankton,” he added.