High latitude geographical regions, particularly those with large areas covered by glaciers, are expected to be among the most affected environments by climate change. One of the most globally spread and harsh consequences of climate change is Ocean Acidification: increasing CO2 gets into the ocean water, changes its chemistry, and decreases the overall pH of the ocean, threatening the marine ecosystem which affects the entire world. This phenomenon is one of the main focuses of our expedition. When we come back, we will publish the gathered data on-chain to contribute to climate research: CO2, pH, salinity, oxygen, and other parameters. Our base on land is Centro IDEAL in Punta Arenas, with whom we collaborate for equipment and technical garment. We will navigate the route with Capitán Hugo and his local crew on his new ship El Huracan.

We will sail from Punta Arena along the Strait of Magellan to Yendegaia to recover a sensor from the Beagle Channel from a past research project Max worked on. Passing the famous glacier alley and Chilean fjords, we’ll continue to the Met Station and will eventually reach Puerto Williams where we plan to spend a day. We’ll continue to Puerto Toro, the southernmost permanently inhabited community on the globe, and navigate all the way down to Cape Horn and its monument, the southernmost point of the Americas – Antarctica is just around 600 km away from here, on the other side of the Drake Passage.

We’ll return from Cape Horn to Punta Arenas after a day or two.

We plan to be at sea for 14-16 days, but the exact duration will be determined by the weather. There is additional space on the ship for up to three collectors at no additional cost. Please contact me if you’d like to apply for a spot. A form for the applications will be available in April.