Tell me, Mr Tanhua, do sailors become oceanographers?
In any case, I hope that we will soon receive authorisation for a research project in which cruise ships will take measurements in the Baltic Sea.
As so-called Citizen Scientists ...
Exactly. I wasn't convinced of that before. I thought you needed a lot of expensive instruments and it would never work. But today I see things differently. We now have very good instruments that are so easy to use that you can do it without any problems.
What do you want us sailors to research for you and, above all, how?
The oxygen content of the Baltic Sea, close to the bottom. This works with a small probe that weighs two or three kilograms and is lowered on a fishing line. To do this, you have to turn round or sail very, very slowly. The thing is then controlled by the smartphone. All you have to do is start an app and receive the data. The data is then sent to Geomar by email.
Where do we get the probe from?
They already exist. We just need to build up a network, which we are doing in partnership with the Trans-Ocean association. The idea is for sailors in the Bay of Kiel, the Great Belt and the Little Belt to take the device with them with instructions from the harbour master. They sail with it to the nearest marina and make one or two stops en route, preferably at the deepest point. In the harbour, you hand it back in and then the next person comes along and does the same.
What do you do with the measured values afterwards?
Analyse. The special thing about the Baltic Sea is that it has separate layers: salty, cold water with a high density at the bottom and fresh water from the tributaries at the surface. We want to find out how, where and when the oxygen disappears, because above a certain limit it becomes dangerous for the fish, which can then no longer live there.
Do you already have experience with sailors?
(laughs) I'm one myself!
What do you sail?
I have a one-tonner, converted into a cruiser. But I have also equipped other sailing boats with measuring instruments for research.
On what occasion?
It started with the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/18, when I had a funded project and was able to hire a scientist and equip two boats with instruments that were used to detect microplastics in the sea: "Akzo Nobel" and "Turn the Tide on Plastic". Boris Herrmann then used a similar instrument to measure the CO2 content in the water for us during his participation in the Vendée Globe.
What kind of device was that?
An ocean pack. The CO 2 content determined with this is important for climate research, as the oceans absorb around 25 % of emissions. The trimaran "Spindrift" now also has such an instrument on board.
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Lasse Johannsen
Deputy Editor in Chief YACHT
