This SUP Antarctica expedition plans to be the first SUP based expedition to the continent. A small team will be setting out from Ushuaia, Argentina. After crossing the Drake passage on a transport ship we will rendezvous with the expedition yacht Icebird. This ship and our tents will be home for the next 15 days as we explore along the world’s most isolated coastline   

 

This is not just an adventure, this is a research trip.

We have teamed up with the Polar Collective, a research group who we will be gathering data for. The SUP’s will allow us to cruise through icy passages and weave between islands with just the sound of the blade in the water and the gentle lapping of the waves. With our upright positions we will have a great viewpoint for surveying whales. We are working with the Happy Whale Project which is crucial to understand migration patterns and population status. 

 

The SUP is an ideal vessel to get us into small coves and to isolated islands. We will be recording the presence of snow algae in these hard to reach places, usually researchers have to rely on satellite images to monitor the snow algae, but cloudy skies often lead to blank spots. We will help to fill in these spots.

 

Throughout the expedition we will be using our floating laboratories for surveying the amount of phytoplankton which have declined by 40% globally between 1960 and 2010 due to climate change. Phytoplankton are the main food source for a range of marine life and a major producer of oxygen. 

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