Last Tuesday, May 16, 2023, a new agreement was signed between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MINCyT) and Argentine Geological Service for Mining (SEGEMAR) Through which the construction of the new headquarters of the Argentine Observatory of Volcanism (OAVV) in the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, in the province of Rio Negro, will be financed through the federal program “Building Science”, as announced during 2022.
The Federal Program “Building Science” of the US Department of State aims to contribute to strengthening the scientific research, development and technological innovation capabilities of the institutions of the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation (SNCTI), through the creation or adaptation of their infrastructures. , taking into account a federal perspective to increase capacity and reduce existing asymmetries between jurisdictions and regions of the country.
The planned building will have an area of 1,213 square meters divided into 3 floors and will accommodate a total of 30 professionals and technicians. It will have offices for staff, a meeting room for developing exhibitions and for providing communications about volcanic activity in the country, and a state-of-the-art observation area where all information from the various volcanic observation networks can be viewed. Installed in Argentine territory.
The construction of this new building will allow for sigmar Completion of the nationwide embodiment of the OAVV project, which began in 2017 and which so far monitors 5 of the country’s main active volcanoes, including Deception Island in Argentine Antarctica, through the last network monitor installed there.
The location of this new headquarters for sigmar The OAVV in the city of San Carlos de Bariloche intends to contribute to the science and technology federation of the country, taking in this region of Patagonia, which has been seriously affected by various volcanic eruptions in the past (especially the one that occurred in 2011 from the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex), National Volcanic Emergency Information Center. In this sense, the population and the national, regional and municipal authorities will be notified of the possible occurrence of volcanic eruptions that may affect our country.
In turn, through this new headquarters, it will seek to strengthen the cooperation relations already established with the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro, with which sigmar He has been working closely for several years in terms of monitoring, preventing and disseminating volcanic hazards in the region and in the country, within the framework of the National Comprehensive Risk Management System (SINAGIR).
According to the authorities sigmar “The new OAVV is expected to become a reference center on the subject at the national and international levels, receiving local and international specialists, to become a space for presenting policies for the development of knowledge and the promotion of science promoted by the national mandate, which in turn enables the training of new professionals and young researchers in the study of active volcanoes. in our country.”
