Malaspina Expedition 2010

The Malaspina circumnavigation expedition was an interdisciplinary research project to assess the impact of global change on the oceans and explore their biodiversity.

Due to Malaspina's involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the Spanish government, he was jailed upon his return and a large part of the expedition's reports and collections were put away unpublished, not to see the light again until late in the 20th century.

The project will put together Colección Malaspina 2010, a collection of environmental and biological data and samples which will be available to the scientific community for it to evaluate the impacts of future global changes.

The high point of this training module will be the use of the Sarmiento de Gamboa as a teaching vessel on the leg of the journey between Miami and Las Palmas.

The expedition's research work is subdivided into 11 blocks: The Malaspina expedition, taking place between December 2010 and July 2011, will involve two oceanographic research vessels: The Hespérides, operated by the Spanish Navy, which will circumnavigate the globe, and the R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa, operated by the Marine Technology Unit from the CSIC, which will sail from Cadiz to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and then return to Cadiz, where it will host a ‘floating university’ providing oceanographic training for a group of master's degree students.