Climate Action Norway Project #30627

Polar expedition to free the oceans from plastic

by Association Polarquest

Polar expedition to free the oceans from plastic

Project Report | Aug 2, 2018
Press Release: Nanuq arrives in Longyearbyen

By Paola Catapano | Polarquest2018 project leader

Iceberg in the Greenland Sea

Polarquest2018’s sailing vessel Nanuq arrives in Longyearbyen, Sptitzbergen.

Longyearbyen, 1 August 2018, … (CEST). After crossing the Greenland Sea for 10 days and exploring the southernmost part of the Svalbard archipelago, Polarquest2018’s self-sustaining sailboat Nanuq has arrived in Longyearbyen, the capital of Spitzbergen, according to plan. The crossing conditions were “almost optimal, except for some fog and lack of wind on the approach to the South coast of Spitzbergen” – said Captain Peter Gallinelli, upon arrival.

“Time was different on the boat. No night, no day, no meal hours. Everything was at the rhythm of our shifts and all in U. T. (Universal Time),” said Safiria Buono (19) who carried out fifteen stations of microplastic sampling on behalf of the Marine Institute (ISMAR) of CNR (Italian Research Council). The most important part for sampling was between Greenland and Jan Mayen, where two ocean currents meet, creating an accumulation of microplastics, also called “garbage patches..

Ombretta Pinazza, physicist at CERN for INFN Bologna, together with physics student Alberto Rolandi (20) of EPFL Lausanne, have been making sure that the PolarQuEEEst cosmic ray detector takes data correctly. This detector was built at CERN and installed on board Nanuq under the coordination of Centro FERMI of Rome. The researcher has already managed to send some data samples to her colleagues on land using the Iridium satellite phone. “At times, we had to try eight times until it worked!” said Alberto.

The skipper and his international crew of sailors, scientists and communicators will now take a short rest in Longyearbyen and a well-deserved hot shower (no such facilities exist on board) before casting off again at noon on Saturday 4 August to Ny Alesund. There they will take part in the 90^th anniversary commemoration of the ITALIA Airship polar expedition at the Italian Research Station “Dirigibile ITALIA”, managed by CNR, on Sunday August 5. Representatives from the families of the ITALIA Airship 1928 crew are flying to Longyearbyen on 4 August to take part in the commemoration.

Nanuq will finally cast off from Ny Alesund on 6 August to circumnavigate the archipelago and reach, for the first time in 90 years, the ITALIA crash site. While continuing its research programme, the Nanuq crew will also attempt to locate the ITALIA airship wreck under the sea North-East of Nordauslandet. For their search, they will use a new 3D multi-beam sonar developed by the Norwegian company NORBIT Subsea.

On Saturday 4 August at 11:00 CEST (Central European Summer Time), Polarquest2018 has organized a press event at the North Pole Exploration Museum with members of the Nanuq crew, representatives of the ITALIA Airship crew families, Prof. Gianluca Casagrande of the Società Geografica Italiana (who will embark on Nanuq in Longyearbyen to carry out a drone-based geographical exploration), and Tenente Colonnello Adelio Roviti of the Italian Airforce. The press event will be moderated by Polarquest2018 project leader Paola Catapano. Interested journalists and public can take part in person at the Museum or by joining the live on Polarquest2018’s facebook page.

For press registration in Longyearbyen, interview requests and information about the press event:

polarquest2018@gmail.org

info@northpolemuseum.com (+ 47 91 38 34 67 + 47 95 73 57 42)

Press officer Maddalena Monge +39 348 76 33 188 (maddalena.monge@gmail.com)

Polarquest2018 is made possible thanks to the following partners and sponsors:

Elysia Capital, the crowdfunding platform GlobalGiving, Loterie Romande, and

Fondation Dudley Wright Geneva.

Research: Museo Storico e Centro e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, INFN, CERN, CNR, Université de Savoie, GREAL Università Europea di Roma, Società Geografica Italiana, and CRS4 Cagliari.

Technology partners: NORBIT Subsea, B&G, Survitec, Drone Capture Systems, ALLIANZ, Advanced Tracking, HAMILTON Watches, Drift + Noise Polar Services, Fly-to-Discover, EWOL, Gréments Import, Weather Dock, and SPADE.

Food providers: Marramiero Vini D’Abruzzo, BARILLA pasta, Eli Prosciutti Parma, Oleificio Andreassi Pescara, RODOLFI Pomodoro a Parma, and Caseificio Battistero Parma per il Parmigano Reggiano.

Special Thanks to:

Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica Leonardo da Vinci of Milan,

The North Pole Exploration Museum, Longyearbyen and Stefano Poli

The descendants of the airship crew ITALIA

RAI Uno – La Vita In Diretta Estate

for their precious collaboration.

In a Fjord south of Svalbard, by Safiria Buono

Untouched Svalbard Landscape by Mike Struik

Links:

Latest News from Nanuq

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Jul 23, 2018
Cast off! The polar adventure begins!

By Paola Catapano | Project leader

22.07.18 Casting off from Isafjordur, Iceland

Cast off! The adventure begins!

July 22, 2018 At 18.35 local time in Iceland, Nanuq cast off! The crew has embarked on the first leg of the PolarQuest mission: a ten-day trip on rough Greenland seas, across the Polar Arctic circle, to reach Longyearbyen, Svalbard archipelago, on board Nanuq, the self-sufficient and sustainable sailboat of the expedition.

Currently on board, an international team of arctic sailors, researchers and communicators, some of them very young: Safiria, 19, in charge of microplastic sampling, Kai, 19, in charge of photos and videos, Alberto 20, following up data acquisotion of the cosmic ray detector on board, and Mathilde, 20, co-skipper.The crew includes CERN and INFN research staff, and aims to bringing together scientific research and communication on several relevant phenomena involving the Arctic environment, to be conducted until September 4

PolarquEEEst (Extrem Energy Events) Cosmic Explorer- An unprecedented programme for the measurement and study of cosmic rays at polar latitudes, with a detector developed at CERN in Geneva by the Enrico Fermi Centre Rome, in collaboration with the INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics), as well as with the participation of school students from Norway, Switzerland and Italy;
Nanuq-MANTANET-Microplastics sampling programme at sea, for the first time
above 80 ° N, with a MANTANET sampling net, under the scientific responsibility of ISMAR-CNR Lerici (IT);
AURORA – Geographical observation programme with consumer-level drones from the North coast of Spitsbergen Island and the coasts of Nordaustlandet, defined by the Geographic Research and Application Laboratory (GREAL) of the European University of Rome and Societa Geografica Italiana;
Arco di Nobile – Experimentation of a new multi-beamer sonar developed by the Norwegian company NORBIT Subsea for the very detailed three-dimensional scanning of the seabed (as yet uncharted) in the area of maximum probability of the airship ITALIA crash in 1928, first targeted attempt at finding the wreckage of the missing airship. An important historical-geographical component will be the identification of certain areas (towards Nordaustlandet) where it is believed that remains of rescue missions on foot can be found, which in 1928-1929 set off in search of the ITALIA airship.

Follow Polarquest2018 on the live tracker at any time accessible from the expedition website!

Announcing time of cast off to the world

Leaving Isafjordur

Kai and Alberto

Safiria

Mathilde at the helm

Links:

See where is Nanuq now

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Jul 18, 2018
POLARQUEST2018 expedition departing from Iceland

By Paola Catapano | Polarquest2018 project leader

Nanuq in Isafjordur, 17 July 2018

POLARQUEST2018 – SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION ON A SAILBOAT IN THE ARCTIC TO SAMPLE MICROPLASTIC, IS READY TO CAST OFF FROM ISAFJORDUR, ICELAND

Six expedition members have now joined Captain Peter Gallinelli in Isafjordur, in North West Iceland and are busy finalizing the preparation Peter's self-sufficient and sustaibnable sailboat Nanuq (polar bear in Inuktitut, as well as all the scientific experiments on board. They will be joined by the rest of the team this Friday to cast off according to plan, Saturday July 21st for a crossing of the Greenland Sea via Jan Mayen, for a quite rough high sea sailing before they reach Longyearbyen, in the Svalbard Archipelago, the Northernmost “capital” in the world, on August 1.

The rough seas will not prevent Nanuq from starting its scientific programme right away with two of the four experiments:

PolarquEEEst (Extrem Energy Events) Cosmic Explorer- is going to be installed these days on board by a dedicated team from Centro FERMI and INFN Bologna, who have been busy testing the detector in iceland since Monday. This is an unprecedented program for the measurement and study of cosmic rays at polar latitudes, with a detector developed at CERN in Geneva by the Enrico Fermi Centre Rome, in collaboration with the INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics), as well as with the participation of school students from Norway, Switzerland and Italy- On bard to take care of the detectr are Alberto Rolandi, young physicists from EPFL Lausanne, and Ombretta Pinazza of INFN Bologna and CERN.

The Nanuq-MANTANET-Microplastics sampling program under the scientific responsibility of ISMAR-CNR Lerici (IT) is also starting immediatley after departure, in the hands of Safiria Buono, who is currently busy assembling the Mantanet for sampling with calm seas and preparing the bottles for rough seas sampling.

COMMUNICATION - All the scientific activities of Polarquest2018 will be documented and shared - as much as possible - live through social networks and Polarquest2018.org website, live connections with Italian TVRAI-Uno and through the production of a documentary that will be broadcast on various international channels.

Do follow us online throuhg Italian TV, our website and our socials @Polarqest2018 and share, like and RT!!!

And right before departure, we would like to extend big thanks to all of our supporters in the Global Giving Network as well as our Institutional Partners and Sponsors, in particular:

GOLDEN PARTNERS. Elysia Capital and the crowdfunding platform Global Giving, Loterie Romande, Fondation Dudley Wright Geneva.

SCIENCE PARTNERS: Museo Storico e Centro e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, INFN, CERN Geneva; CNR-ISMAR; CNR-Presidenza; GREAL Università Europea di Roma; Società Geografica Italiana; CRS4 Cagliari.

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS: NORBITSubsea, B&G; Survitec, Drone Capture Systems, ALLIANZ, Advanced Tracking, HAMILTON Watches, Drift + Noise Polar Services, Fly-to-Discover, EWOL, Gréments Import, Weather Dock, SPADE.

FOOD ON BOARD : Marramiero Vini D’Abruzzo; BARILLA pasta; Eli prosciutti Parma; Oleificio Andreassi Pescara; RODOLFI – Pomodoro a Parma; Caseificio Battistero Parma.

SPECIAL Thanks to: Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, to the descendants of the airship crew ITALIA and to RAI Uno – La Vita In Diretta Estate for the precious collaboration.

THE POLARQUEST2018 CREW !

Peter and Safiria assembling the Mantanet

Mike flying the drone in Icelandic landscapes

Links:

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