Image of the month: December 2019
The POSEIDON in Poseidon's homeland
Our image of the month shows a nocturnal photo of the research vessel POSEIDON during the expedition POS513 in the southern Aegean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea has been an important area of operation for the RV POSEIDON in recent years—suitable for a ship named after the god of the seas from ancient Greek mythology. Urgent research questions related to this region, which Kiel marine scientists wanted to answer together with German and international partners, led her to the homeland of her namesake again and again.
One focus has been the investigation of geodynamic processes that result in a quite high risk of natural disasters in the Mediterranean. Several earth plates collide between North Africa and Europe, leading to active volcanism and frequent earthquakes. Landslides and tsunamis are further consequences.
The expedition POS513 in particular was part of a longer campaign to study the volcanic history of the Santorini archipelago. Today, the islands are mainly known as destinations for cruise ships. But 3600 years ago a huge eruption occurred there, which was possibly responsible for the decline of the Minoan culture on Crete.
The southern Aegean is still volcanically active. In 1650 AD—and thus in the geologically most recent past—the underwater volcano Kolumbo erupted northeast of Santorini and caused a tsunami. The Kolumbo seamount and the traces of the tsunami hidden in the seafloor were the destination of the expedition POS538 in October 2019, which was the latest POSEIDON expedition led by GEOMAR scientists.
The knowledge gained during this and earlier expeditions helps to better assess the potential dangers in the densely populated Mediterranean region.
But for the POSEIDON POS538 was also a farewell. It was not only the latest, but also the last GEOMAR-led POSEIDON expedition. At the beginning of 2020, after more than 40 years in the service of science, the ship will be decommissioned and sold. Poseidon will certainly miss her.
Further information:
Article on the expeditions POS510, POS511 and POS513 in the southern Aegean
Sea (in German)
Information on expedition POS515 off southern Italy
