The tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl is embarking on a new long-distance voyage, just two years after the “One Ocean Expedition 2021-2023” circumnavigation of the globe. This time, the “One Ocean Expedition 2025-2026” will go around North America. The Nansen Center, OceanDataLab and the European Space Agency (ESA) want to repeat the success of the previous journey, and this time we are also offering a course on board for students. Registration is now open, and the deadline is 08.09.2024.
The aim of the expedition is for Statsraad Lehmkuhl to become an even more important ambassador for the UN Ocean Decade, and to inspire a stronger commitment to a cleaner ocean. The sailing ship will leave Bergen in April 2025, travelling through both the Norwegian Sea and the Mediterranean before heading for the west coast of the USA via the Northwest Passage. The Statsraaden will then sail through the Panama Canal and head for Bergen, where the voyage will end in April 2026.
On board, the Advanced Ocean Training Course will be organised for around 40 students. The aim of the course is for participants to gain knowledge of how satellite data, direct measurements from ships, and ocean models can contribute to a better understanding of conditions in the ocean, and how we can predict the state of the ocean.
The first part of the course is arranged online. The second part will take place on board Statsraad Lehmkuhl during the period April to June 2025, while the ship sails from Tromsø, via Reykjavik to Nice. The ship will cross the Norwegian Sea, the north-eastern Atlantic and the western Mediterranean, with multiple transits across known ocean currents and areas that will be in different phases of the biological spring bloom.
The tall ship is equipped with a number of instruments that will be used to measure physical and biogeochemical data along the way. The voyage provides an opportunity to collect valuable data, which together with measurements from satellites and ocean models will contribute to further knowledge about important physical and biological processes in the waters that the ship will be crossing. Support for the implementation of the course comes mainly from ESA and the Norwegian Space Center.
