See the first photos from our Antarctic expedition
Cruise leader Bjørn Krafft in the MOB boat outside King George Island – the largest island in the South Shetland Islands archipelago.
Photo: Oda Linnea Brekke Iden / Institute of Marine Research
The researchers spotted two different penguin species on the trip from the vessel: Adélie penguins with black beaks, and gentoo penguins with red beaks.
Photo: Oda Linnea Brekke Iden / Institute of Marine Research
Cruise leader Bjørn Krafft aims at the whale – to shoot an arrow which will either take a blubber sample or fasten a satellite transmitter on the whale. The blubber sample will fall off and be picked up by the researchers. Then they can get a DNA test, and read the age and sex of the animal. The satellite transmitter will track the whale’s movements. On this trip the researchers observed humpback whale, fin whale and blue whale.
Photo: Oda Linnea Brekke Iden / Institute of Marine Research
Kronprins Haakon with the mighty mountains of the South Shetland Islands in the background.
Photo: Oda Linnea Brekke Iden / Institute of Marine Research
The researchers saw three different types of whale on the short trip from the research vessel: humpback whale, fin whale and blue whale.
Photo: Oda Linnea Brekke Iden / Institute of Marine Research
The small houses in front of the glacier are storage for one of the stations on King George Island. Further in on the island there are more stations. Both Brazil and South Korea have stations here, for example.
Photo: Oda Linnea Brekke Iden / Institute of Marine ResearchPublished: 18.01.2019 Updated: 21.01.2019
The research vessel Kronprins Haakon is on its way to Antarctica.
For six weeks, the vessel and its many researchers will work in the Southern Ocean.
Many studies will be carried out during the cruise. Satellite tagging of penguins, seals and whales will help researchers map the animals’ feeding grounds.
Even though the krill has the center stage, the entire ecosystem will be mapped. Everything from EDna testing of water samples to acoustic measurements along the seabed.
One of the participants on the cruise is Oda Linnea Brekke Iden (20), who will document the cruise on behalf of the Institute of Marine Research. You can follow the research vessel’s journey on Facebook and on Instagram by following the hashtag #OdaiAntarktis.
In the photo gallery above you can get a glimpse of what the researchers are doing in the southern frontier.