One Ocean expedition onboard the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl

‘Advanced Ocean Synergy Training Course 2023’, onboard the tall ship, Statsraad Lehmkuhl, during the ‘One Ocean expedition program’ leg from Maputo, Mozambique to Cape Town, South Africa from 03/01/2023-13/01/2023.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway (NERSC) jointlyy conducted the ‘Advanced Ocean Synergy Training Course 2023’ (OTC23) onboard the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl. 

(For those who are curious about the ship) Stastraad Lehkuhl is a 108-year-old tall Norwegian ship and is a fortunate icon of Bergan, her home port since 1923. It uses the most advanced technology for navigation in collaboration with NOAA. It can attain a speed of 19 knots using her 22 sails (of course, when the wind favours it) and 11 knots on her diesel engine. It has a desalination plant for water supply when in the ocean, and it works on reverse osmosis. 

This voyage is a leg of the One Ocean Expedition (OOE), recognized by the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences, and a part of the "Partnership for Education and Cooperation in Operational Oceanography" (PECO2)  project that includes partners from South Africa, China, France, India, and Norway, led by Dr. Johnny Johannessen, NERSC. One aspect of this training course was conducted online from September to December 2022, structuring one lecture per week focusing on the earth observation satellites and their enormous application in oceanography, educating the young career ocean professionals to innovate further and expand the vision of operational oceanography from space. The second part was a ship-based component onboard the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl during the leg of the One Ocean expedition from Maputo, Mozambique, to Cape Town, South Africa, which is around 1335 nm and was covered in 10 days. 

During this leg, a diverse group of 133 trainees from various parts of the world representing 30 countries, ranging from high school students, teachers, researchers/scientists, manufacturers, police officers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and many others participated. Of them, 60 are students selected from the numerous applications received, and I was fortunate to be one of them. We were coordinated under supervisors and co-supervisors under three major topics. Dr. K. Ajith Joseph (Principal Scientist & Executive Director, NERCI, India), Mr.Akash S, Mr.Ullas M. Pillai (Researchers, NERCI, India) and myself, Dr.Sreelaskhmi S, INCOIS, Hyderabad participated in this incredible journey from the Maputo-Cape Town leg. Other delegacies include  Dr. Tore Furevik (Director, NERSC), Mr. Haakon Vatle (Director and leader, One Ocean Expeditions), Dr. Johnny Johannessen, Dr. Lasse Pettersson (Research coordinator, NERSC), Dr. Craig Donlon (ESA, Netherlands), Dr. Fabrice Collard, (President OceanDataLab, France), Dr. Lucile Guatier (OceanDataLab, France), Dr. Marie Helene Rio (ESA, Italy), Prof. Mathieu Rouault (Nansen Cape Town Centre), Oyvind Breivik (Head of Division for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology, Norwegian Meteorological Institute), scientists and board members from Nansen centers Norway and South Africa, IFREMER (France), and TUDelft (Netherlands), along with the selected 60 young ocean professionals attended the onboard workshop. Every member embarked from the Maputo Port by 02 January evening, and the ship arrived safely at the Cape Town waterfront on 13 January 2022 as charted.

Unlike the other research voyages, all the members had the full opportunity to become an apprentice/trainees onboard and participated in all crew activities. The members will do the essential watches as a team (there are three team watches, namely RED, BLUE, AND WHITE) during their assigned time slots (cycle of 4hrs work, 8hrs off) so the ship might sail smoothly without any hurdles. During these ten days of the voyage, there were lectures on rigging, safety measures, evacuation procedures, rescue, different alarms, mastering, etc. ‘Rigging’ means setting up/off the sails on the mast by all means of its practice. It includes pulling the rope, holding, tying, climbing the masts, furling the sails, etc. The masts on the SL are 45 m, and so you know, there has been no record of aloft accidents in this ship. And no wonder the amount of confidence captain Jens Joachim Hiorth has in his crew members, who are amazingly skilled in sail and rope works and also guided us through the rigging and ship routines. And at the end of the day, the captain handed over the diploma certificate to each of us as ship trainees. (All thanks to the crew members and fellow trainees).

 Mr. Haakon Vatle,  the leader and the director of ’One Ocean Expedition,’ shared his vision of this program as ‘to create attention and share knowledge about the crucial role of the ocean for a sustainable development from a global perspective.’ This workshop was vital in building skilled young professionals through interactive lectures, informative discussions, onboard data collection, and web-based applications. The gained knowledge and training through this program will eventually help the student detect the synergies between the systems, thus paving the way for research, innovation, and more excellent ocean enthusiasts. And to this end, the motive of OOE is seen as fulfilling during this leg. 

(Now, some science watch!!) The students under these watches were also supposed to do their research onboard. The RED Watch focused on the interaction at the Air-sea interface, including the Wave-current interaction, CO2 and heat exchange, etc. The second group, the White Watch, concentrated their research on subsurface eddies and the currents, whereas the Blue Watch, their motive was marine biochemistry. The ship stopped at ten science stations allowing the students to collect the data from the ocean, such as temperature, salinity, density, zoo/phytoplanktons, and other chemical conditions near the surface. During these stations, the first group used instruments such as drones and fishing buoys (tied with a fishing thread to measure the waves for 20-30 minutes and then pulling them back) to record the sea state. The scientific team from the Norwegian Meteorological Department supported the program with their OpenMetBuoys, which are deployed at selected locations in the Agulhas current and the eddy systems during the voyage. The onboard expert team from OceanDataLab, France, Dr. Fabrice, and Dr. Lucile continuously processed and gathered the different satellite, onboard, in-situ, and model datasets and made them available for everyone. Also, for many of us, it was a new insight into a sea-watching drone capable of measuring the sea glittering by watching the sea surface. The students and scientists have initiated various attempts to process the surface glittering and derive wave height and current velocity information. 

(few about being in the ocean) We were all thrilled by setting the sails for 12 knots (literally, I felt I was flying). Also, it would only be complete if it mentioned the stormy night, the ship continued its sail through the rough sea, and the dark clouds continued showering day and night. And those who were there for the Buoy watch (carried at the back/half deck of the ship) during the midnight would always remember the scary experience. It was hardly something visible to anyone. Also, that's how practically an oceanographer could experience a vessel's six degrees of motion. The ship was continuously pitching to a height of a two-storied building, splashing, rolling, and heaving. And our brains shuttled between reality and the childhood memories of being in an amusement park. Later it was interesting to notice that the drifter buoys recorded a wave height of ~6m for the same day(well, at least I am good at watching and understanding wave heights). 

The day starts with the positivity of the White Watch (4-8) with beautiful sunsets and sunrises, whereas the Blue Watch (8-12) keeps the ship routine during the peak hours of the day. It would not be overstated that the RED Watch (12-4) keeps the ship routines intact when everything seems hard and dark and still gives the others a comfortable sleep. Those were a few of the best nights of my life when I managed to spot the milky way and a lot of satellites after a long time in my school days. It is a huge opportunity to connect with all my onboard members, who are all ocean enthusiasts in one way or another. It is a gateway to becoming a global citizen, and there I realized there is no gender/race/language when it comes to science.

Cheers…!