The south of Chile, a natural laboratory to curb climate change

The end of the coast of the Strait of Magellan, at the southern end of Chile, was in the middle of the 19th century a marked point in the cartography of the British settlers to easily locate the long-awaited “Río de Minas”, baptized for its proximity to the coveted coal deposits.

Back then, this mineral —to which climate change is largely blamed today— was celebrated by European sailors as a real treasure to keep warm in the freezing southern climate.

Over the years and thanks to mining, the current city of Punta Arenas grew in that place.

Paradoxically, the final piece of the American continent has managed to resignify itself and is today the site of green hydrogen plants, sensors that detect global warming, the project for the first International Antarctic Center (CAI) and other initiatives that make the south of Chile a natural laboratory to combat climate change.

“Magallanes is a place where the past, present and future of scientific research come together in topics such as climate change, biodiversity and sustainable economy”, said the Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Andrés Couve, from Punta Arenas.

unique ecosystems

Darwin, Magellan and Elcano were some of the explorers who were interested in Magellan’s biodiversity: cetaceans, penguins, pumas and endless microscopic life make up the landscape of this region, on which scientists from all over the world have set their eyes.

Elie Poulin, a French researcher at the Millennium Institute for Biodiversity of Antarctic Ecosystems, explained that the southern ocean is the “ideal” place to assess the effects of climate change.

“It is a pristine ecosystem, the only place in the world without stressors for fauna and flora such as pollution, overexploitation of the soil or the massive use of pesticides,” he explained.

The biodiversity of Magellan could even serve to anticipate global warming, according to a pioneering investigation that studies the only colony of king penguins on the continent, located in Tierra del Fuego, a large archipelago south of Punta Arenas.

“Magallanes is an extraordinary geographical experiment where the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic and the South Sea come together, but at the same time it is a very fragile place and susceptible to climate change,” said the prestigious biologist Valeria Souza, an academic at the National University Autonomous of Mexico and leader of the study.

His team analyzes the microbes that inhabit the feathers of penguins and other animal species.

“These microorganisms react before the animals to changes in temperature and salinity. In this way, they warn us of the warning signs of climate change before the rest of us feel them”, he said.

The door to Antarctica

Punta Arenas functions as the connection point between the southernmost part of South America and Antarctica, one of the best preserved territories on the planet.

Recently, it was chosen as the location of the first International Antarctic Center, which seeks to attract scientists from around the world who wish to enjoy the particularities of the white continent to analyze climate change, Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute, explained to Efe.

“Studying this vast frozen territory today is essential since, due to its atmospheric and oceanic influence, it plays a determining role in the climate of the rest of the planet,” he pointed out.

In parallel, the frozen continent will be one of the key points of the Climate Change Observatory (OCC), a pioneering project that aims to collect and store data on global warming on a free access platform with hundreds of sensors from north to south of the country.

Sharon Robinson, a specialist in Antarctica at the University of Wollongong (Australia), said that the length of Chile (more than 8,000 kilometers if the frozen continent is included), is “ideal” for analyzing variations in climate change.

“This is the observatory that covers the largest latitudinal range in the world and the largest in the southern hemisphere,” he said.

Patagonian winds, a source of energy

The indomitable winds of Chilean Patagonia (south) are one more ingredient that guides the region to be a forerunner in the fight against climate change.

With gusts of more than 90 kilometers per hour, air currents function as an ideal resource to produce wind energy and hydrogen in a sustainable way, the so-called “green hydrogen”, which aims to become the energy source of the future.

Very close to Punta Arenas, the Chilean company Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF), with capital from Germany’s Siemens Energy and Porsche, is building the largest plant to manufacture green hydrogen-based fuel in Latin America, which will aim to produce 130,000 liters per year as of 2022.

All these initiatives were highlighted during the signing of the “Declaration of Punta Arenas”, in which the Government, together with regional authorities, representatives of academia and institutions, reaffirmed their commitment to consolidate Magallanes as a center of science and technology.

“Here -concluded the Minister of Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet- we have all the ingredients to make this country a leading producer of green hydrogen worldwide and an engine to curb climate change”.