Within the outdated city of Good, the 98-meter-long, three-masted barque arrived final week at Port Lympia, the place UNOC3 is now below approach. Inbuilt 1914 and owned by Norway since 1921, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl – named for former Norwegian minister Kristofer Lehmkuhl – was refitted final yr with state-of-the-art ocean science devices, remodeling it right into a floating college.
Now, greater than a century after its development, the vessel has change into a cutting-edge analysis platform, bringing collectively scientists, college students, and explorers to unravel the ocean’s secrets and techniques.
This transformation is central to the ship’s second One Ocean Expedition, launched on April 11 from Bergen, Norway, with a mission to bridge ocean science, training, and sustainability. The expedition goals to boost consciousness and share information concerning the ocean’s essential position in a sustainable future for all. It’s anticipated to return to Bergen a yr from now.
As a part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, a worldwide initiative aimed toward reversing the decline in ocean well being, this expedition partnered with the ESA Superior Coaching Course on ocean synergy distant sensing. Collectively, they assembled younger expertise from 28 international locations to cross-reference ocean observations from area and sea, bridging the hole between satellite tv for pc knowledge and in-situ analysis.
Demonstration of ESA satellite tv for pc distant sensing.
Area-ocean synergy
“Marrying … the science, oceanographic and crusing traditions is the easiest way to get contained in the ocean from the floor,” stated Craig Donlon, the ESA ocean scientist who led the expedition. He additionally advised UN Information that real-time satellite tv for pc knowledge is used to information on-board analysis and level college students in direction of areas that want extra and higher measurement.
Every day, the ESA transmits space-collected knowledge to the ship, delivering it roughly three and a half hours after processing. “Then we come to the captain, and we upset him by saying, we have simply found this new factor, can please we transfer right here?” laughs Mr. Donlon.
Scholar’s arduous work bearing fruit
Mr. Donlon stated that cutting-edge oceanographic devices, together with an acoustic Doppler present profiler (ADCP) to measure water motion, hydrophone arrays to seize underwater soundscapes, and Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) sensors to research seawater properties, work collectively to decode the ocean’s hidden dynamics.
Leveraging these, the scholars can cross-pollinate between their findings in physics, biology, and air-sea interplay, working individually or in teams on initiatives together with inside solitary waves, drifter trajectories and ocean biodiversity research.
“It is fairly robust, as a result of they should work eight hours a day on deck, and the remaining time they should eat and sleep, however additionally they discover methods to work collectively,” Mr. Dolon defined. “They made an enormous variety of measurements […] it is an incredible journey that they’ve made. We now have practically 15 terabytes of in-situ observations taken aboard this scientific vessel.”
He additionally spoke extremely of the worth of those works as evidence-based instruments that may guarantee the information units sensibly underpin insurance policies and promote ratification.
“It is our one Ocean, and we should be taught to reside in concord with its majesty as a result of it is stunning however fragile. It isn’t a worldwide dumping floor. Our future ocean ambassadors, the scholars aboard this ship, will lead this endeavor,” he insisted.
Pablo Álvarez, an ESA coaching astronaut, talks to UN Information.
An astronaut’s blue ambition
Amongst these younger explorers is Pablo Álvarez, an ESA coaching astronaut set to affix the Worldwide Area Station earlier than 2030. Earlier than launching into orbit, he’s honing his abilities and deepening his information aboard this tall ship – buying and selling the vastness of area for the mysteries of the ocean.
He makes a speciality of distant sensing of the ocean’s floor. By analyzing satellite tv for pc imagery, akin to patterns shaped by daylight reflecting off waves, often known as ‘solar glitter’, he uncovers insights into floor roughness, wind conduct, and ocean dynamics. These key knowledge factors support each marine scientists and astronauts learning Earth from afar, providing invaluable clues that will assist predict the ocean’s motion.
“In each fields [Ocean Science and Earth System Science] you are transferring the human information a bit farther with all the pieces you do,” added Mr. Álvarez, “I believe it is in our DNA to discover and to be taught extra about the environment, and the universe the place we live.”
Lena Schaffeld (second from the suitable) is amongst college students presenting their research on board.
Girls enhance scientific research
Among the many college students aboard, Lena Schaffeld, from Germany, discovered the expedition notably inspiring. She felt empowered realizing that feminine college students outnumbered their male friends – a uncommon and significant shift in a discipline usually dominated by males.
“I believe we’d like lots of girls in science, particularly ocean science. So, it’s fairly good to be certainly one of them,” Ms. Schaffeld stated proudly.
Targeted on the growing abundance and distribution of microplastic air pollution within the ocean, Ms. Schaffeld went on to inform UN Information that the journey has benefitted her research as effectively. “We have been passing completely different seas. We have come from the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Sea, in direction of the open Atlantic Ocean, and now into the Mediterranean,” she stated.
The marine particles monitoring venture is carried out by Lena Schaffeld with different two college students.
Gathering knowledge alongside the best way, she stated she has discovered extra seen plastics in samples taken from the Mediterranean.
“Microplastics are items of plastic which might be smaller than 5 millimeters, and most of them are invisible,” defined Ms. Schaffeld, who pressured that her work is simply starting and it’s too quickly to attract any conclusions.
“Solely after [the filtration process] and after I look below the microscope, which goes to occur on the finish of this voyage, will we all know how a lot plastic there really is.”
Wanting ahead to additional learning these samples, she stated she will even attempt to discover methods to make use of satellite tv for pc knowledge to detect microplastics within the water, and to put out an even bigger image about how plastic strikes with the currents.
“The water is at all times transferring and plastic on the floor strikes together with these currents. So, we’re additionally going to be making use of some numerical modeling to foretell and even backtrack [to] the place that plastic got here from. It’s going to fascinating,” she famous with hope.
‘A sustainable ocean is a necessity’
Many college students on board the Statsraad Lehmkuhl expressed their gratitude to participate within the coaching course and to have the ability to share their tales and experiences as a part of UNOC3.
“Bringing the ocean to the individuals is a job that we have tasked our college students with,” pressured Mr. Donlon. “They’ve engaged with Peter Thomson, the United Nations Particular Envoy (for the ocean). He gave us a mandate to run this course, and we’ve adopted that mandate.”
In Mr. Donlon’s eyes, “the UNOC3 is the place the place we come collectively. We talk about probably the most related subjects, and we carry a ministerial ingredient to that, to ratify evidence-based selections”.
He stated that he’s satisfied that the science-based selections and discussions happening on the Convention “will make lives and societies stronger”, whereas on the identical time assist to guard the atmosphere for future generations. “A sustainable ocean will not be a luxurious; it’s an absolute necessity. There will be no inexperienced except we now have a blue thriving ocean,” he reiterated.
