The arrival of the oceanographic research vessel Hespérides at the port of Cartagena (Murcia), last July, has put an end to the last stage of the Malaspina 2010 Circumnavigation Expedition.

The Malaspina Expedition is an interdisciplinary project managed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

This is the first Spanish circumnavigation for scientific purposes, in which 400 researchers from almost 50 Spanish and international institutions, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, the Spanish Navy and the BBVA Foundation have participated.

The oceanographic expedition has landed with significant results, such as evidence of the decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the tropical ocean; the discovery on the surface of the ocean of an area with an unusual abundance of plastics in the South Atlantic, similar to that already known in the North Pacific, or the greater capacity of the Indian Ocean compared to other oceans to act as a CO2 sink.

10 months of navigation are behind us (seven on the Spanish Navy’s Hespérides ship and three on the CSIC’s Sarmiento de Gamboa) and 42,000 miles sailed.