Whereas doing a survey of chinstrap penguins on Astrolabe Island in Argentina, a Viking expedition crew helped uncover a further colony on Diaz Rock.
“The Antarctic peninsula is effectively traveled and explored, and it’s not typically we discover a new penguin colony,” Dr. Grant Humphries, Director of Science at Oceanites, mentioned in a information launch. Viking’s scientific accomplice, Oceanites is the main discipline analysis entity in Antarctica penguin monitoring.
“Our partnership with Viking opened a brand new alternative to not solely rely the chinstrap penguins on Astrolabe Island for the primary time because the Nineteen Eighties, however it additionally allowed us to find and map a colony of chinstrap penguins beforehand unknown to us,” Humphries mentioned.
The discovering passed off when Viking’s expedition vessel, the Viking Octantis, visited Astrolabe Island, a three-mile-long island positioned within the Bransfield Strait of the Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica. Astrolabe Island is dwelling to a colony of chinstrap penguins that had not been surveyed since 1987.
Through the go to, Oceanites carried out a visible and thermal aerial survey. The fieldwork documented the primary survey in almost 40 years of the identified chinstrap penguin colony of Astrolabe Island and, within the course of, found the extra colony on Diaz Rock. Oceanites will share further particulars from the survey in a scientific paper.
“This work will permit us to get a greater understanding of how Antarctic penguin inhabitants dynamics are shifting in an ever-changing world,” Humphries mentioned.
The invention is an instance of Viking’s dedication that each expedition voyage on the Viking Octantis and her equivalent sister ship, the Viking Polaris, ought to present alternatives for significant scientific discovery.
The findings additionally come one 12 months after Viking printed its first scientific paper in Polar Analysis, the scientific journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, following its expedition crew’s encounters with uncommon big phantom jellyfish in Antarctica.
“With our third season in Antarctica underway, we’re happy to have supported one other signification scientific growth that can permit for additional understanding of the area,” Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking, mentioned in a information launch.
“From the considerate design of our expedition vessels, every with a well-appointed Science Lab, to our partnerships with among the world’s most prestigious establishments, our intention has at all times been to offer our friends and scientists with alternatives for significant discovery throughout every voyage,” Hagen mentioned. “We sit up for supporting different vital analysis alternatives on future voyages.”
Viking has created the world’s main scientific enrichment surroundings in an expedition setting with the assistance of partnerships with esteemed tutorial establishments.
“Viking’s expedition vessels proceed to showcase the potential of reimagined ‘ships of alternative’ and the analysis capabilities accessible for scientific efforts,” Dr. Damon Stanwell-Smith, Head of Science and Sustainability at Viking, mentioned in a information launch.
Throughout every expedition, visiting researchers from accomplice establishments are a part of the multidisciplinary 36-person expedition crew. This group of consultants leads friends by way of significant scientific analysis, offering guiding and interpretation throughout shore excursions and delivering world-class lectures.
“With scientists from our accomplice group on board, like Oceanites, we are able to conduct actual, significant analysis within the areas,” Stanwell-Smith mentioned. “We sit up for persevering with our partnership with Oceanites and different science companions to convey extra findings ahead sooner or later.”
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