Today, on August 20^th, the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl departs from Arendal and sets sail for the One Ocean Expedition. The Nansen Center will be part of this incredible journey.

The route of Statsraad Lehmkuhl during the One Ocean Expedition. We will be onboard between Maputo and Cape Town in January 2023. Source: https://oneoceanexpedition.com/route-and-tickets, with our leg highlighted in yellow.

 During the coming 20 months St. Lehmkuhl’s voyage will cover a distance of 55.000 nautical miles and visit 36 ports worldwide. The journey and ship’s position can be followed both on the OOE website, as well as at the One Ocean Expedition Live Center at the Bergen Aquarium (Akvariet i Bergen). The overall aim of the expedition is to create attention and share knowledge about the crucial role of the ocean for a sustainable development 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”.

Tore Furevik (NERSC director, left) and Johnny A. Johannessen (PECO2 project leader, right) onboard Statsraad Lehmkuhl in Arendal before the departure. Photo: Nansensenteret

The Nansen Center is looking forward to participating in this extraordinary expedition. We are embarking Statsraad Lehmkuhl in Maputo, Mozambique for the voyage to Cape Town, South Africa in January 2023. During this leg, which is around 1200 nautical miles and takes about 10 days, we will offer a summer school in Operational Oceanography 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: (i) the air-sea interaction; (ii) the current 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 marine litter including microplastic. The summer school is connected to the “Partnership for Education and Cooperation in Operational Oceanography” (PECO2) project led by NERSC.

Up to 60 master and PhD students and Post Docs will be offered a berth onboard. The students will be involved in analyzing satellite data in comparison to onboard collected data and ocean model fields. In addition, they will actively participate in crew-related tasks, making the combined summer school and voyage an unforgettable training course in more than one way!

The course is designed for students from BSc to post-doc level. At a minimum, you must have started/be enrolled in a Masters program with relevant topics in marine biology and physical oceanography. Advanced skills in oral and written English are also required. An announcement for potential applicants to join the Maputo–Cape Town voyage will be released in the beginning of September. Travel grants will be offered to selected students. Students and Post Docs from the international Nansen Centres and the PECO2 project partner countries will have priority. We will in particular welcome applications from students in Africa including Mozambique, Madagascar, Angola, Namibia, Tanzania, and Kenya.  

Statsraad Lehmkuhl leaving Arendal today. We will see the ship in person again in January 2023 in Maputo, Mozambique. Photo: Tore Furevik