Suggested Searches

Notes from the Field

Categories

Sailing for Science: A 50-Day Mission to Study the Southern Ocean  

Emmanuel Boss, Ph.D., University of Maine

A research vessel under full sail seems to move dynamically across the sea off the coast of a land of low green hills.
Perseverance posed under sail as it approached Tasmania.
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production

For 50 days during the 2026 Austral summer (January to March), the PlanktoSpace team of 18 scientists, crew members, and passengers set sail on a unique mission. Our expedition traveled 7,200 miles across the Southern Ocean aboard the Perseverance, a sailing vessel owned by a French non-profit dedicated to science and education. Because the Perseverance uses sails for most of its journey, the expedition was environmentally friendly and cost-effective. In fact, the fuel used for our entire 50-day trip was roughly the same amount a typical large research ship burns in just a single day. 

PlanktoSpace included scientists from NASA, the European Space Agency, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), and the University of Maine. Our main goal was to study the health of the marine protected areas. While we kept a close eye on famous locals—like leopard seals and penguins—we were also there to study the “base” of the ocean’s food web: plankton. These tiny, drifting organisms are the lifeblood of the sea. Just as different trees change the look of a forest, different plankton communities change the color of the water. That’s why data from NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission can be used to distinguish different phytoplankton in the ocean. 

In a surging sea off the coast of tall, snow-covered mountains, a small yellow ball flanked by two dark blue uprights floats along.
A radiometer system for validation of PACE remote sensing measurements rode aboard a buoy in the chilly waters of McMurdo Sound.
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production

A person holding a line with both hands suspends a yellow capped device with two cylinders on opposing sides, all connected by wires, over the side of a boat. A pointed shaft extends from the bottom of the device, open water is on the left side of the image and the body of the boat on the right. The person is largely cropped from the image at the top right, they are wearing long sleeves.
Emmanuel Boss deployed a radiometer buoy from the bow of Perseverance.
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production

During this expedition we used a suite of instruments to measure the color of the ocean, helping us to better understand how sunlight interacts with plankton and other materials in the ocean. In the map below, you can see the concentration of chlorophyll, the green pigment found in all phytoplankton (and land plants), and how it changed along our path.  The map color scale shows that the amount of life in the water changed dramatically—up to 100 times over—as we traveled between New Zealand, Antarctica, and Australia. We had to weave through sea ice and navigate around the most dangerous winds and waves to keep the ship and crew safe. Rough seas can be seen in our data; the little breaks in the colorful track lines mark the periods when the seas were so rough that air bubbles got into our sensors, making accurate readings impossible.  

This map is circular, and mostly white, with purple contour lines. Also shown are the gray outlines of land masses – Antarctica, to the bottom left is the largest; at 11 o’clock is the tip of Australia and at 1 o’clock is New Zealand. Shown in royal blue, sky blue, green, and yellow is the track of the ship. To the right of the map, a bar sale is used to show the concentration of chlorophyll: its top is yellow, the bottom purple.
This map shows the level of chlorophyll—the green pigment found in tiny ocean creatures called phytoplankton—measured along the track of our 50-day journey. Note the convoluted pattern of our route to and from Antarctica, due to the presence of ice on the high seas. There, bubbles entered the instrument, compromising the data; hence, there’s a gap in our measurements of the “roaring forties” latitudes.
Map by Emmanuel Boss

In addition to instrument measurements, we collected additional water samples, including material for genetic analysis, during the period when PACE, a NASA satellite launched in 2024, passed overhead. Our samples will be used for PACE validation, the process of comparing in situ measurements with what PACE observes from space. The entire crew pitched in to collect this important dataset, especially on those clear-sky days when the satellites had the best view of our work from above.  

The bright red superstructure of the ship frames the scientist, dressed in a parka and knit hat, who stands holding the long “snake” of a plankton tow just retrieved, over his head. To the right, the bottom of the net extends into a collection bottle. He’s ready to examine what’s inside. Behind him is the gray gunwales of the ship, a deep blue sea and, on the horizon, distant snow-covered mountains. Another scientist stands by partly out of frame, waiting to assist, collar turned up, bucket in hand.
Emmanuel Boss retrieving a plankton high speed net from the bow of Perseverance with retired microbiologist Marie Jose Butel.
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production

This interior shot shows three lab workers in a science lab. On the bench are several flasks of water, a yellow and black box, other tools that are partly blurred. In the foreground, a woman in a turtleneck and hoodie seems intent on something in her hands that we can’t see; to the rear, a man and woman are in conversation, their eyes on something on the bench.
Volunteer plankton imagers Bernadet Marco, a retired travel executive (front), with the Curiosity microscope, and Marie Jose Butel (center) with the Planktoscope, worked with Emmanuel Boss (rear).
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production

This was not all. Perseverance was equipped with instruments that allowed us to track microplastics and other manmade changes in the water and air. We also tested a new smartphone app (iSPEX Water) and attachment designed so that citizen scientists can take surface-level water measurements that integrate with those collected by NASA’s satellites. 

This is a profile view of a man in all-weather gear and a cold-weather hat, holding up a photo toward the sky. 
Mathieu Lyss, an engineer at Airbus, measured the sky radiance using the iSPEX water phone app.
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production

Ultimately, the majority of the data collected during the Perseverance’s expedition to the Southern Ocean will be submitted to the relevant NASA databases to allow scientists from all around the world to better use space technology to monitor the health of our oceans from Earth orbit.  

The gray hull of Perseverance, her sails furled, forms the background of this photograph. To the left, a door in the hull is open, and a gangplank extends down onto an ice floe. There we see the entire crew (except for one sailor visible in the window of the ship’s bridge) posing and waving behind a folding table set with bright tablecloths – and the French flag! – and wine glasses and bottles. Everyone is dressed for the cold, and several are wearing life vests.
The full Perseverance 2026 Antarctica expedition paused on an ice floe in McMurdo Sound.
Maxence Cagigal Del Solar from Gears Production