Science and sailing to collect environmental data during the Vendée Globe race
In 2022, Oliver Heer Ocean Racing and the Swiss Polar Institute have started a three-year collaboration to place world-leading Swiss science on Oliver Heer’s racing sailing yacht IMOCA – Gitana 80 and carry out a data collection campaign during both the training and racing phases of the Vendée Globe challenge between 2023 and 2025. The Vendée Globe race started on 10 November 2024 and is expected to end in early March 2025.
Using cutting-edge science to collect vital ocean data
The Swiss Polar Institute placed cutting-edge science onboard Oliver Heer's IMOCA and carry out a robust and innovative data collection campaign during both the training and racing phases of the Vendée Globe challenge between 2023 and 2025.
As a major regulator of the global carbon and energy cycle, the Southern Ocean represents one of the key modulators of the global climate system. The Vendée Globe race and campaign represent a unique opportunity for science to access data in understudied yet critical ocean regions.
"The extreme environment of the Southern Ocean still holds many mysteries – especially with regard to its role as a sink for atmospheric CO2. With these novel measurements, we will be able to unlock some of these."
Prof. Nicolas Gruber, ETH Zurich
A unique Swiss scientific campaign
Although similar oceanographic measurements are carried out by competing sailing yachts, offering inter-comparability and quality control opportunities, the uniqueness of the Swiss science campaign includes:
- Oceanographic measurements using instruments developed and tested for implementation on sailing yachts. Measurements typically include parameters such as temperature, salinity and dissolved CO2 concentrations.
- Study of "marine extreme events", notably harmful impacts on marine organisms and ecosystems.
- Integration of the collected data into scientific publications, including open access data repositories.
- Swiss-wide collaboration by leading Swiss science groups at ETH Zurich, the University of Bern and the University of Lausanne coordinated by the Swiss Polar Institute.
The instruments
To carry out the measurements, an OceanPack RACE® underway system manufactured by the German company subCtech has been installed and fitted with the following additional options:
- RACE CO2 auto-calibration
- RACE Thermosalinograph
- RACE GPS marine receiver
Oliver Heer Ocean Racing
Oliver Heer Ocean Racing was established in April 2022 to become a global IMOCA 60 sailing team with Swiss roots. Managed and skippered by 34-year-old Oliver Heer, the objective is to compete in the 2024 Vendee Globe, the solo, non-stop, unassisted round the world race that takes place every four years, with the next edition starting in November 2024.
Learning content for younger generations
In collaboration with Oliver Heer and the scientists from ETH Zurich, University of Bern and University of Lausanne, the Swiss Polar Class educational programme has developed a new series of modules with learning content destined to primary schools. Available in French and German, this new module offers a novel way to better understand the role oceans play in global climate while following the Vendée Globe, the ultimate solo sailing challenge circumnavigating Antarctica.
The ocean teaching series “Cap au Sud / Segelrennen um die Antarktis” is tailored to primary classes (5H to 8H / 3rd to 6th grade). The various chapters cover the history of human exploration of Antarctica, the importance of ocean currents, ocean life, the role of the Southern Ocean in global climate, and its transformations due to anthropogenic activities.
Online updates on the scientific campaign
The Environmental Physics (UP) Group from ETH Zurich is posting regular updates on the data collection campaign on their LinkedIn page with a focus on various aspects the campaign helps address, such as measuring the ocean carbon sink and the impacts of marine heatwaves.
