Organizers
Motivation
The One Ocean Expedition (https://oneoceanexpedition.com/) with the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl is contributing to the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences through a 20-month circumnavigation of the globe.
In August 2021, the 107-year-old 98-meter-long tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl departed from Arendal in southern Norway only to return to Bergen (Norway) in April 2023 having sailed 55 000 nautical miles and visited 36 ports worldwide. The ship is equipped with modern instrumentation and will collect high quality data of ocean physics, chemistry and biology continuously throughout the journey. It will also serve as a floating university bringing crews of students and young leaders together at different legs. High level meetings and public events will happen during port visits. Real time access to data, video and TV from the ship will serve to inspire and engage not only scientists but also citizens for ocean-based action towards sustainable development worldwide.
The main goal of the One Ocean Expedition is to create attention and share knowledge about the ocean´s crucial role for a sustainable future in a global perspective. This is an important and timely contribution to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and its slogan “The science we need for the ocean we want“.
As such the expedition will serve as a powerful tool for outreach, inspiration and engagement for the ocean.
Training Course Information
The Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) and European Space Agency (ESA) are looking forward to embarking Statsraad Lehmkuhl in Maputo, Mozambique for the sail-voyage to Cape Town, South Africa from 3-13 January 2023 (see Figure 1). During this leg of the One Ocean expedition, which is around 1200 nm and takes about 10 days, we will offer an advanced training course in satellite oceanography in support to Marine Services tailored to regional environmental and climate change of the oceans around southern Africa. Sailing along the Agulhas Current, the world´s strongest ocean current, we will study (not exclusive): (i) the air sea interaction; (ii) the ocean current dynamics, variability and transport of heat from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic Ocean; (iii) the upper layer marine biology; and (iv) the distribution and concentration of pollutant material.
The training course is jointly organized by the “Partnership for Education and Cooperation in Operational Oceanography” (PECO2) project coordinated and lead by NERSC and the European Space Agency. The ship provides dedicated measurements while on passage including sea surface temperature, pCO2, fluorescence, turbidity, oxygen, salinity, waves, meteorological variables, CTD casts, and net sampling amongst others. These measurements allow fundamental upper ocean features to be monitored and linked to satellite data.
Up to 60 master and PhD students and Post Docs will be offered a berth onboard. The students will be involved in analyzing near real time satellite data in comparison to onboard collected data and ocean model fields. In addition, the students will actively participate in crew-related watches and tasks, making the combined training course and voyage an unforgettable event in more than one way!
Prior to the sail-voyage an introductory virtual training course covering 2-3 hours per week for 10 weeks from September to November 2022 will be offered. This will be mandatory for all selected students and will be using a visualization portal (see Figure 1) designed as a training platform. It will both give the students background knowledge of the content and use of the portal as well as offer opportunities to select specific analyses options that may be well aligned with graduate studies and thesis subject. Both the introductory virtual training course and the onboard training course on Statsraad Lehmkuhl will be run by international recognized expert lecturers. A broad range of disciplines will be covered in satellite oceanography, upper ocean dynamics, air-sea interaction, coupling of ocean physics to biogeochemistry, marine biology, ocean modelling and data assimilation, and environmental and climate change. The students will be grouped and tasked with delivery of group reports of their analyses and findings. A short report from each Student based on their personal studies using the data collected aboard the ship and from satellite measurements will also be required. The delivery of these reports are mandatory to be granted the Joint Statsraad Lehmkuhl, PECO2 and ESA Training Course Diploma and shall be received no later than by end of March 2023.
During the ongoing One Ocean Expedition, Floatenstein drifters were launched by researcher Lars R. Hole and students from the University of Bergen for verification of significant wave height measurements determined from space.
Syntool Visualization Platform
Routine use of the Syntool Visualization Platform https://ovl.oceandatalab.com/ will form an essential part of the training course (see Figure 1). The portal allows for highly attractive display and overlay of near real time satellite data together with in-situ data and model fields. Key variables will include: sea surface temperature, ocean color, surface geostrophic current, near surface wind and ocean waves. Selection of variables to be displayed is controlled by the “Products” menu located to the left. The date and time of selection is controlled by the lower horizontal panel.
The viewing options of the Visualization Platform range from global to regional and offers a wide span of variable collocations and overlaying possibilities. Hereunder the position of St. Lehmkuhl will also be made visible on the portal. Moreover, surface drifter trajectories can be displayed on top of the near coincident SST, ocean color, surface roughness and surface current maps clearly demonstrates the strength of this visualization tool both for research and dedicated applications. The visualization portal will also routinely be used for planning and execution of data collection during the sail-voyage.