June 11-15, 2018 – Exciting times for PolarQuest2018! A series of exceptional events last week launched the PolarQuest team into full “expedition mode”. Paola Catapano and Mike Struik were invited by our partner NORBIT Subsea (whose motto is, coincidentally, Explore more!) to attend an intense field training in Trondheim, Norway on the use of their latest 3D multibeam sonar that we will use North of Svalbard to search for any remains of the ITALIA Airship.

They were trained by underwater acoustic searches expert Aleksandra Kruss, who is now fully part of our scientists on land, on an adventurous search. ThePolarQuest team had to look for a WW2 British waterplane, a Short Sunderland, sunk in the Trondheim fjord in 1945! It was a perfect case study to get to know how to use Norbit’s 3 D sonar for our future purposes in the Arctic next August.

After a quite long set up of the instrument, the team started off in the fjord on board Norbit’s special RIB and when they reached the stretch of sea between Munkholmen island and the coast of Trondheim, the plane’s rough location, they started the search. The PolarQuest team found the plane resting on the sea bottom at a depth of 65 m! The fortunate hunt was followed by RAI Uno Tv crew, La vita in diretta Estate, for the 2 days. Journalist Patrizia Fanelli and wonder videoman Pietro Pellizzieri, who managed to connect live with the studio in Rome using i-phones and the wifi from the boat and from a bar in Trondheim! You can watch the 3 live events below.