PhD students participation to The One Ocean Expedition by ESA

Manal, Juan and Mathurin are part of the exciting One Ocean Expedition organized by ESA on board the majestic Statsraad Lehmkuhl. They set sail from Tromsø, Norway, on April 22 and arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 5. The ship will remain in Reykjavik until May 8 before setting off on its next adventure to Nice, France, where it will arrive on June 3.

© Manal Hamdeno

© Joel Mark

During the first leg of their journey, they were actively involved in various watch duties, including fire watch, helm watch, scientific watch and buoy watch, while also helping with cleaning duties and even learning sea shanties.

Manal says: "I absolutely loving this trip and am learning so many new things every day, especially now that I have overcome my seasickness! I am studying the dynamics of marine heatwaves (MHWs) and marine cold spells (MCSs) in the North Atlantic and western Mediterranean in May/June 2025, using both satellite and in situ data. We have collected CTD data at 11 stations so far to measure water temperature, salinity, phytoplankton concentration and mixed layer depth (MLD) as well as continuously monitor atmospheric properties. This data will help me to investigate the properties of the water column during extreme events along our journey ."

Juan adds: "During the first leg I focused on the effect of the Lofoten Eddie dynamics on the phytoplankton distribution. It has been great to observe how drifters and CDT profiles show in real time what is happening inside and outside the vortex. I hope that during the leg from Iceland to Nice, I will be able to observe the influence of the north Atlantic into the bay of Biscay. Other than that the learning knots and the name of the sails have been great for fighting the cold watches at 2 am.."

Mathurin adds: "This is my first time on a research vessel, and the Statsraad Lehmkuhl is truly a special one. Over the past two weeks, I’ve gained valuable hands-on experience deploying the CTD, handling Niskin bottles, filtering water for suspended matter and optical property estimations, and using plankton nets to explore plankton diversity with a portable microscope. The biggest challenge so far has been adjusting to the sailing work shifts and coping with the resulting sleep deprivation."

Looking forward to more research, sampling and sailing during the second leg going from Reykjavik, Iceland to Nice, France.