Aura CDT student, Enora Lecordier recently took part in a leg of the “One Ocean Expedition” on board the tall Norwegian ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl. The full expedition is a 20-month navigation all around the globe as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences, seeking to create awareness and share knowledge about the ocean´s crucial role for a sustainable future in a global perspective.

Enora describes her experience conducting research on board the ship on the One Ocean Expedition:

The leg I embarked on (3-13 January 2023) was part of a training course led by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) and the European Space Agency (ESA). We spent 10 days at sea going from Maputo (Mozambique) to Cape Town (South Africa). On board, we were collecting oceanographic data on the eddies of the Agulhas Current; this data is matched up with satellite images in order to study this part of the world on a bigger scale and understand this very dynamic part of the world.

But most of the time we were part of the crew (as the above picture shows) and had to take part in day and night shifts such as the helm (steering the ship!), lookout watch (at the prow), man overboard watch (at the back of the ship), fire watch or climbing the rigging to fold/unfold sails at a maximum of 45m height! There were about 150 people on board: 120 trainees divided into 3 groups/watches and 25 crew members. Each watch had to sleep in the same room to avoid waking up the others during the shifts, as we were a lot, we slept in hammocks as it saves space!

It was a crazy and amazing experience with 30 different nationalities present on board. We had to live as a community, all equal as a team. I am proud and glad I had this opportunity. I learnt a lot about science, and sailing but also a lot about myself. I have been able to see dolphins, whales, a great white shark, seals and albatrosses. I will never forget this voyage!

Enora is an environmental scientist, undertaking PhD research to assess the potential for colocation of aquaculture with offshore wind energy farms using remote sensing at the University of Hull.