Quasi real-time electromagnetic and greenhouse gases monitoring station at Seymour - Marambio Island, Antarctica

Abstract

A new permanent geophysical station was installed in the Seymour-Marambio Island, Antarctica, for monitoring electromagnetic, CO2, and CH4 gas signals. Those signals require specialized low noise instruments and the survey shall be carried out in places far away from cultural noise, such as populated human settlements. The most suitable place would be near the Earth's poles, where noise is the lowest possible. To measure these variables, the Geophysical Instrumentation Laboratory (Laboratorio de Instrumentación Geofísica - LIG) of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, in a partnership with the Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA) under the Argentinean National Antarctic Direction (Dirección Nacional del Antártico - DNA), deployed the COCOAonMEAT project, oriented to design, built and install a low-cost station with time synchronization via GPS and data transmission in almost real-time. Since January 2020, the project monitors continuously (24/7) seven variables: three magnetic components, two electric dipoles, methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. Due to operative facilities and its low electromagnetic noise, the place chosen for its installation was the Argentinean Marambio Scientific Base in the Antarctic Peninsula, with the Multidisciplinary Antarctic Laboratory's collaboration (Laboratorio Multidisciplinario Antártico en la Base Marambio - LAMBI). This station provides valuable information on electromagnetic signals and greenhouse gases related to regional tectonic activity and local perturbations associated with global climate change.