{"id":1467,"date":"2023-04-09T07:39:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T07:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2023-04-09T07:41:09","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T07:41:09","slug":"engaging-the-next-generation-of-ocean-professionals-ocean-observation-on-the-rv-polarstern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/2023\/04\/09\/engaging-the-next-generation-of-ocean-professionals-ocean-observation-on-the-rv-polarstern\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaging the Next Generation of Ocean Professionals: Ocean Observation on the RV Polarstern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Life aboard the RV Polarstern, one of the world’s most renowned research vessels, is like nothing else. The smell of the ocean, the hum of the engines, and the endless horizon stretching out in every direction\u2014it’s a thrilling and awe-inspiring experience. But beyond the romance and adventure lies a critical mission: to understand the ocean and its complex systems in order to understand and protect life on our planet. And as the global community continues to face growing threats from climate change, pollution, and overfishing, it’s more important than ever to engage and inspire the next generation of ocean explorers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day on board begins with the anticipation of a new day of research.\u00a0We all\u00a0gather early for breakfast, fueling ourselves up for the day ahead\u00a0before\u00a0setting out to carry out\u00a0our\u00a0various tasks.\u00a0The oceanographers prepare the deployment of the CTD,\u00a0a device that measures the ocean’s temperature and salinity\u00a0and many other parameters at different depths. The biogeochemists and microbiologists\u00a0prepare\u00a0their sampling bottles and reagents, eagerly awaiting the return of the CTD to collect their samples from the Niskin bottles.\u00a0And meanwhile,\u00a0the\u00a0ecologists\u00a0ready\u00a0the multinet to collect plankton from various depths in the water column.\u00a0Each group plays\u00a0a crucial role\u00a0to help improve\u00a0our understanding of the ocean.\u00a0But the most exciting part of\u00a0this cruise is\u00a0the presence of the WASCAL students, the next generation of ocean professionals, eager to learn and contribute to the important work\u00a0the scientists\u00a0are\u00a0doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Christelle, Wise and Dr Sunke Schmidtko discussing the CTD profiles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I was walking through the ship’s labs one afternoon, I overheard\u00a0two WASCAL students, Wise Datsomar from Ghana and Christelle Akonde from the Republic of Benin,\u00a0excitedly discussing their\u00a0insights in the winch room watching the CTD sensor profiles on temperature, salinity and chlorophyll gradually visualize in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201eIt is very exciting to see how this data is contributing to global ocean observation systems helping us understand climate change!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

– says Christelle pointing at the computer screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u00a0are\u00a0assisting\u00a0Sunke, who is leading the oceanography module on board, gaining valuable firsthand experience in how\u00a0CTD sensors and Argo Floats help us collect valuable data on the ocean’s biological, chemical and physical properties and how it\u00a0contributes to our understanding of the changing ocean. It\u00a0is\u00a0inspiring to see how passionate and dedicated\u00a0the students\u00a0are trying to understand the complex interactions in the ocean and how this data contributes towards sustainable\u00a0ocean observation, monitoring, and forecasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
WASCAL students and Fiona-Elaine Strasser from the EuroSea project preparing the deployment of a Float.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the sun\u00a0begins\u00a0to set, the scientists\u00a0and students gather\u00a0in the mess for dinner and a well-deserved break.\u00a0Our\u00a0time\u00a0aboard the RV Polarstern\u00a0slowly comes to an end,\u00a0and we are all filled with gratitude for this great experience and the big collection of new experiences and memories. The past two weeks have shown how important it is to engage\u00a0the next generation in ocean science and research. This cruise has provided a unique opportunity for students to work alongside experienced scientists and witness firsthand the value of ocean\u00a0observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watch as the sky turns shades of orange and pink, the sun sinking below the horizon. It is a peaceful evening, and for a brief moment, we all forget about the work we were doing today and simply enjoy the beauty of the ocean around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiona-Elaine Strasser<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EuroSea, GEOMAR<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS135-2 Communication Instructor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life aboard the RV Polarstern, one of the world’s most renowned research vessels, is like nothing else. The smell of the ocean, the hum of the engines, and the endless horizon stretching out in every direction\u2014it’s a thrilling and awe-inspiring experience. But beyond the romance and adventure lies a critical mission: to understand the ocean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":1471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozeanbeobachtung"],"geo":{"latitude":50.1783905,"longitude":0.0800304,"description":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1475,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions\/1475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/capeverde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}