Sailing for Science

How much value does citizen science add to a cruise? It's a question we should all be asking and it is one that was answered for me 12 years ago when, in the Bay of Biscay, I saw a whale in European waters for the first time. It was a thrill to focus pin-sharp binoculars on its flinty fin and know with absolute certainty that the whale was a humpback. Had it not been for the marine mammal surveyors who were on board with the wildlife charity Orca, I would’ve missed the whale.

Thanks partly to partnerships with ferries and cruise ships Orca contributes to several high-level global conservation initiatives. That week, I attended talks and spent around four hours on deck. I learnt more about whales and their behaviour than I had in decades of travelling.

Back then, citizen science, as this type of on-board experience is known, was still in its infancy. Now, most expedition ships will have at least one if not several, ongoing projects in which passengers can get involved, from counting ripples in the Aurora Borealis in Norway to gathering phytoplankton samples in Antarctica. We are no longer content with seeing; we want to be “doing” or, at the very least, learning. 

Citizen science has brought science down from its ivory tower. Generous with their time and knowledge the field experts in marine biology, zoology, whales and dolphins (cetaceans), birds, penguins, and geology I’ve met on board ships have been a huge asset. Their knowledge and experiences have been insightful and enriching. 

“Most people booking an expedition cruise are likely curious and environmentally aware. They’re potential ambassadors who can continue their involvement in science projects at home,” said Viking Polaris' chief scientist, Jason Heydon, on my cruise in Antarctica this year. Guests are getting a holistic experience, and we’re getting real science done.”

Citizen science is a two-way street. The Marine Conservation Society, the UK’s leading marine charity, mobilises volunteers around the UK’s coast and in the UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean. It says: ‘Without citizen science data, it would be more difficult and costly to determine the success of our efforts and where they should be focussed.’

Several expedition lines offer citizen science experiences on board, whether immersing guests via expert-led talks and workshops or involving them in sample collections off-ship and app-based observations. Guest scientists often travel on board.

New Scientist has just launched a tour to Svalbard (in June 2025) on board the Greg Mortimer with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Dawkins and accompanying marine biologist and oceanographer Russell Arnott will be involved in ozone censoring, microplastic and ice algae surveying and environmental DNA sampling. 

One leading expedition operator’s Visiting Scientist Program pairs remote destinations with specialist researchers. Last year, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) travelled on one of the operator’s ships, National Geographic Endurance, to quantify the distribution and abundance of marine birds in Baffin Bay. The CWS aims to establish a baseline of information for the long-term monitoring of pelagic seabird communities in the Arctic. 

Logged observations, biological samples, and data gathered by expedition teams and passengers can be of real value to educational institutions and research bodies.

“One of the advantages of having researchers or scientific programmes embedded on expedition cruise ships is that it allows more regular monitoring of locations where access for scientists is difficult and expensive,” says Tom O’Hara, communications manager at the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Expedition vessels can facilitate more pressing needs, too. The first avian influenza (HPAI) case was confirmed in Antarctica in late 2023. In March, scientists from the Antarctic Wildlife Health Network travelled on Ocean Endeavour to conduct a risk assessment and establish the best way to manage the disease.

In 2019, the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park documented the first-ever recorded sightings of two apex predator shark species in the Galapagos. In 2022, the team regrouped on National Geographic Islander II to re-survey sites from the pilot study and explore new areas in search of yet-unknown species.

O’Hara says the availability of boats for research is a real issue in the Galapagos and that moving around the Archipelago is not straightforward outside of the populated islands. “There is also the fact that the ships in Galapagos repeat the same itineraries week after week and year-round, which lends itself well to the long-term monitoring of specific locations.”

Crucially, expedition ships are re-visiting the same sites in remote areas like Spitsbergen (Norway), Greenland and Antarctica – which is warming faster than anywhere on Earth, several times a year. Conclusive results need big data sets, says Professor Julian Dowdeswell, geologist and emeritus associate at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI). 

“Unlike government or university-funded research vessels, cruise ships re-visit the same sites several times a year,” says Dowdeswell. 

He recalls visiting an isolated fjord in Greenland on a British research vessel in 1994. “The site has been visited twice since that, which means only three readings over a 15-year period.”

During Antarctica’s Austral summer (November through March), 11 tour operators hosted the NASA-funded Fjord Phyto project. Fjord Phyto has been monitoring the relationship between melting glaciers and dips in phytoplankton populations on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula since 2015, and on some ships, passengers, under supervision, can gather samples and assist in water temperature, salinity and depth readings. Over seven operational seasons, Fjord Phyto has engaged 5,000 citizen scientists. 

In this golden age of expedition exploration, where few places are off limits, it’s important to consider overtourism. If not kept in check, multiple visits to Antarctica on increasing numbers of ships – 61 vessels took 71,346 passengers ashore in Antarctica in 2022/3 – could prove detrimental.

Rod Downie, chief polar adviser for WWF-UK, says that while expedition ships can provide an important platform of opportunity for science and conservation, a clearer, more robust framework for protection is needed through the Antarctic Treaty System.

“Antarctic tourism is increasing as the continent undergoes rapid and dramatic change due to the climate crisis,” he says. “The reduction in Antarctic sea ice means access to penguins and other seabird colonies earlier in the season and greater numbers. This could cause disturbance to species at risk from climate change and a more vulnerable period in their breeding cycle.”

Expedition vessels don't disappoint when it comes to the latest kit. As ship design and research technology evolve, so do onboard toys and research facilities. Scenic Eclipse and Viking’s Polaris and Octantis both carry submarines, and Eclipse has an H130 helicopter (the quietest in its category) for aerial tours over vast icebergs.

Research equipment might include underwater drones and cameras, multibeam echosounders for sonar seabed mapping and technology to allow connection with microscopes. Some ships have a NIVA FerryBox system, which collects and displays information on oxygen content, microplastic presence, plankton composition, etc. Then, there are field tools such as Secchi disks, plankton nets, filtration, and slide preparation equipment.

Spaces where passengers can chat with experts and get hands-on with equipment are equally important. There are science centres across many expedition ships, including MS Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, and sister ship the MS Santa Cruz II, sailing in the Galapagos Islands. In addition to science equipment, the centres also include museum-style collections and areas for specialist workshops.

Viking Polaris and Octantis visit Antarctica, the Arctic, and North America’s Great Lakes. They were designed with science labs and dedicated berths for a small team of scientists. Fun, well-paced lectures take place in a modern, light-filled theatre, and there is a separate ‘meet-the-experts’ space on board with reference materials and a smart table for digital map exploration and weather balloon interpretation. 

On board Polaris in January, I met Arial Rabines, a visiting researcher from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Rabines was on board to assess the viability of a genomics sequencing set-up. Sequencing technology will allow for the analysis of phytoplankton populations on board, instead of having to send samples to Scripps. “I’ve been involved in genetics sequencing for over a decade, and this is the first time we’ve sequenced a sample at sea. “It’s very exciting.”

MV Sylvia Earle has a dedicated Citizen Science Centre where field experts interact with passengers. Le Commandant Charcot, the first hybrid polar-exploration ship powered by liquified natural gas, has a wet and dry lab. She is also the first Polar Class 2 (PC2) passenger ship.

Justifiably, the proliferation of citizen science projects globally raises questions about the validity of data obtained. University College London launched its own Citizen Science Academy in 2023. UCL defines citizen science as: ‘actively involving the public in research that contributes to scientific knowledge… often in collaboration with or under the direction of academic and research institutions, or similar.’

While there is no official citizen science badge of accreditation, methodology and the calibre of research and science partners should be transparent. Most operators are happy to share information about their citizen science endeavours and detail it online, but if in doubt, do a little pre-trip research.

Tom O’Hara says: “One of the things I would ask is: does the company demonstrate a deep engagement with sustainability across their operations, or is this project just a fig leaf to give the appearance of being 'green'?”

Ornithologists from Cornell travel regularly on Viking Polaris and Octantis, undertaking post-doctoral research on new observation methods and interacting with guests. The ships have been designated official NOAA/US (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather balloon stations. Data from the weekly launches, attended by passengers, is fed to NASA and guests are shown how to interpret it using digital maps and real-time graphics.

One operator partners with the Polar Citizen Science Collective. Established in 2018, the charity supports several citizen science projects, including the South Georgia Big Seaweed Search.

“It’s an umbrella organisation that brings the scientific community together with polar expedition operators to support citizen science. It also provides a training platform for our guides and expedition crew,” says the operator's head of guest learning, Dr Emily Baxter.

In 2023, the line made 23,677 data submissions across 20 global citizen science projects. Among these is the South Georgia Big Seaweed Search, a long-term monitoring programme project by the Natural History Museum. Around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, guests get involved in several activities, including searching for alien species along the strandline, photographing and locating species on the shore and observing seaweed rafts at sea.

In its first season in November 2021, Dr Rob Mrowicki, co-creator of the project, examined results from 54 surveys across four ships. This led to the discovery of the first non-native species (a sea lettuce) collected at Grytviken. Next year the same operator is piloting a new project in Alaska looking at toxic plankton bloom. 

Other discoveries include sightings of the giant phantom jellyfish (scyphozoan Stygiomedusa gigantea) in Antarctica. There are also ongoing projects in seabed mapping, penguin counting, and monitoring video footage from submarine dives. Over a series of dives in 2022, pilots sighted the jellyfish, first described in 1910. A paper authored by two of its chief scientists was subsequently published in the Norwegian Polar Institute scientific journal.  

MS Seaventure and Viking Polaris and Octantis mobilise teams of penguin counters from the not-for-profit organisation Oceanites on its Antarctic voyages. Oceanites has made 2,100 census visits to penguin colonies around the Antarctic peninsula and collected data at 258 locations in its efforts to monitor penguin and seabird populations 

While conducting a visual and thermal aerial survey of a known colony of chinstrap penguins at Astrolabe Island in January, two Oceanites counters travelling on Polaris discovered an additional colony at a site nearby called Diaz Rock. This is another entry for Oceanites’ Antarctic Site Inventory.

The best-case scenario for citizen science is continuity. Endeavours can start before travelling to a destination and continue long after returning home. 

“Projects can make a measurable contribution to conservation, but they have another important role, which is in creating a personal connection with a destination and giving visitors a stake in its conservation,” says O’Hara.

 “If people are going to fly halfway around the world to visit the Galapagos, with all the carbon emissions and other environmental impacts that entails, then we want them to have a meaningful experience, give back to both the community and the wildlife, and return home as ambassadors for the conservation of the Islands. If done well, citizen science can help with all of those things.”

The Galapagos Conservation Trust supports a programme called Iguanas from Above, which has photographed the coastlines of the entire Galapagos Archipelago using drones. 

Photos are uploaded to a platform called Zooniverse, where people can count the number of marine iguanas in each image from their homes. 

“It’s a hugely ambitious project – the first time the entire range of the marine iguana has been surveyed – and wouldn't have been possible without the thousands of volunteer citizen scientists who have taken part,” says Tom O’Hara.

Operators now recommend downloading key citizen science apps before joining an expedition cruise. These allow passengers to get involved in a range of projects, submit photos and data, and receive updates on personal observations, from whale fluke matches to plant identification. Try out the technology at home to get a head start. 

And if you can’t manage an expedition cruise, European waters are home to over a third of the world’s whale, dolphin, and porpoise species. Orca runs several Sea Safaris from Plymouth(UK) in the summer on ferries, too. where passengers are encouraged to go on deck and assist in spotting and documenting sightings. 

You never know; you may see a blue whale.