2,000 meters under the sea. ISPRA ready to discover the submerged mountains in the Mediterranean

The ship commissioned by ISPRA to investigate the sea depths along the Tyrrhenian ridge has set sail from Trapani for the Cimotoe submarine volcanic complex, off the coast of Pantelleria, with the aim of surveying 79 underwater mountains from 200 up to 2,000 meters deep, for a total planar surface of over 13,000 square kilometers. These are areas never monitored before, some almost completely unknown: an unprecedented technological and scientific undertaking in Italy, which falls within the scope of the MER (Marine Ecosystem Restoration) project financed by the PNRR and which involves the use of advanced instrumentation and of a multidisciplinary team of experts to study and protect marine habitats of extraordinary biodiversity.