Article by Brian Johnston: “Scientists are always short of research funds, but the boom in the popularity of expedition cruising has given them an unexpected opportunity to access remote places.
Instead of making single, expensive visits to Antarctica, for example, scientists hitch rides on cruise ships that make repeat visits and provide the opportunity for data collection over an entire season.
Meanwhile, cruise passengers’ willingness to get involved in a “citizen science” capacity is proving invaluable for crowdsourcing data on everything from whale migration and microplastics to seabird populations. And it isn’t only the scientists who benefit. Guests get a better insight into the environments in which they sail, and feel that they’re doing their bit to understand and preserve the wildlife and landscapes around them.
Citizen-science projects produce tangible results, among them that ships in Antarctica now sail under 10 knots after a study showed that, at that speed, whales have a far greater chance of avoiding or surviving ship strikes. In 2023 Viking Cruises encountered rare giant phantom jellyfish in Antarctica, and in 2024 discovered a new chinstrap penguin colony near Antarctica’s Astrolabe Island.
Viking’s expedition ships have a Science Lab and the company works with prestigious partners such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Norwegian Polar Institute. Expedition lines with visiting scientist programs include Chimu Adventures, Lindblad Expeditions and Quark Expeditions, which works with Penguin Watch to study the impact of avian flu…(More)”.
