Atlantic 2014 Archives - eXXpedition

Meet Jen Pate March 16th, 2016

SpainNOW ArtCOP21exhibition by Maria Arceo November 24th, 2015

Larger than Us August 18th, 2015

Exploration to the Gyres August 13th, 2015

Loops and Cycles July 27th, 2015

A Sea Change | ONCA July 22nd, 2015

Two Journeys – Reflections of an eXXpedition Crewmate June 29th, 2015

The full-length eXXpedition documentary film is now available online March 25th, 2015

eXXpediiton Film Premiere at the Royal Geographic Society March 12th, 2015

eXXpedition Director and Sea Dragon Skipper Emily Penn at TedXEastEnd February 25th, 2015

eXXpedition Atlantic Film Premiere! February 18th, 2015

Happy New Year! eXXpedition by GoPro! December 31st, 2014

Food glorious food! December 12th, 2014

8th December – Sea Dragon and eXXpedition crew welcome the schools of Martinique December 10th, 2014

6th December – Body Burden in Martinique December 8th, 2014

5th December – Land ho! December 7th, 2014

4th December – Inspiration from our skipper and the 'what is our future' sessions December 4th, 2014

3rd December – Science, Seaweed and Songs December 3rd, 2014

2nd December – Shanley's sea tales and a trip to the hair salon, but not what you think! December 2nd, 2014

1 December — A New Month & A New Future! December 1st, 2014

Sunday 30 November — Species Remembrance Ceremony & The Art of Making the Unseen Visible November 30th, 2014

Saturday 29 November — A Whale In Our Sights & Inspirational Activism November 29th, 2014

28th November – 'A Perfect Day' & Our Super Sailing Psychologist November 29th, 2014

27 November – Happy Thanksgiving America November 27th, 2014

Wednesday 26 November — Leaving the Tropic of Cancer November 26th, 2014

Tuesday 25 November – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sea Dragon But Were Afraid to Ask November 25th, 2014

Sunday 23-Monday 24 November — Flying Fish, a Last Supper and Fragments of Time November 24th, 2014

Monday 24 November — Going With the Flow November 24th, 2014

Saturday 22 November – Pancakes, Progress, Plastics November 22nd, 2014

Friday 21 November – Harsh Weather, A Close Call & 'Me-Search' update November 21st, 2014

Wednesday 19 & Thursday 20 November – 1200 27°25.88N 22°42.26W November 20th, 2014

Anchors Away and They're Off! November 17th, 2014

Sunday 16 November — Our Crew Find Their Sea Legs! November 16th, 2014

Where Our Waste Goes November 15th, 2014

Karen McCarthy Woolf – Our land based support! October 30th, 2014

Why eXXpedition 2014? – Jenna's story! October 9th, 2014

Meet Anne Baker; Sailor, Instructor and Scientist! September 24th, 2014

Meet our Engineer in Residence Dr Jenna Jambeck! September 24th, 2014

Maria, our Artist in Residence! August 20th, 2014

Meet Diana, our fish and toxicology expert! August 15th, 2014

Trashed: a global waste problem. April 3rd, 2014

Introducing Sue from the wild windy Isle of Arran! March 25th, 2014

Welcome aboard Constança – Our European Policy Guru on Marine Litter! March 21st, 2014

Marine Litter Watch launches a new app to tackle Marine Plastic Waste March 4th, 2014

Welcome aboard Jen Pate, our filmmaker! March 3rd, 2014

Introducing Malin, our Nordic Climate Activist and Green Agitator! February 12th, 2014

Pow! Welcome aboard Caterina! February 6th, 2014

Adding Art into the Mix! January 23rd, 2014

Sea Dragon January 18th, 2014

Maidentrip January 17th, 2014

Ever wondered what the ocean looks like from our m

Ever wondered what the ocean looks like from our manta trawl’s point of view?
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@IrinaMariaPeterson had the genius idea to attach her @GoPro to the top of the manta trawl, giving us a unique look at how it slices through the top layer of ocean water to collect samples.
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As you can see in the video, the manta trawl works by scooping in water and filtering it through a fine net to collect microplastic particles at the surface of the ocean.
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Video by @IrinaMariaPeterson

“Anna, our awesome skipper, had an announcement

“Anna, our awesome skipper, had an announcement for us…we had just reached our halfway point! 1137 miles down, 1137 miles to go!” - Louise Tremewan, Leg 2
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This time last year, our Leg 2 crew were sailing through the middle of the Atlantic ocean, on their voyage from Azores to Antigua. Head over to the link in our bio to read about the mid-way point onboard celebrations, which included some groovy ocean-themed fancy dress...
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Have you ever crossed the Atlantic? Let us know in the comments!
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Photo by @sophiedingwall

Did you know that the UK and US produce more plast

Did you know that the UK and US produce more plastic waste per person than any other major countries?
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New research has suggested that the US produces the most plastic waste in total and that it’s citizens are third highest in the world for contributing to ocean plastic pollution. Though the US constitutes 4% of the world’s population, it produces 17% of it’s plastic waste.
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Just behind the US was the UK, followed by South Korea and Germany, as countries with the highest total plastic waste production. Indonesia and India ranked highest for the amount of plastic waste ending up in the ocean.
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For more information on the study head over to the link in our bio.
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Photo by @yanikaborg89

This year, we teamed up with @YoungCitizensUK and

This year, we teamed up with @YoungCitizensUK and our Round the World Silver Sponsors Slaughter and May to create a set of engaging lesson plans that look at the effects of plastic pollution and how young people can use their skills to become part of a positive movement for change.⁠
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Check out the free classroom resources, aimed at KS2 pupils, through the link in our bio.⁠
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Photo credit: @ericacirino⁠

It’s often thought that the gyres - plastic accu

It’s often thought that the gyres - plastic accumulation zones - of the world look like giant floating islands of trash, when in reality, they’re actually more like a plastic soup.⁠
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Onboard Leg 2 of eXXpedition, our crew collected samples from the gyre, and were shocked to almost 500 pieces of plastic in a single trawl - equating to half a million pieces per square kilometer on the ocean’s surface.⁠
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Read more about what Leg 2 discovered in their manta trawl in our blog post “Starving in Ample Seas” - link in bio.⁠

“We sailed best to wind for the first couple of

“We sailed best to wind for the first couple of days – at about 200 degrees on our ship’s compass. Then the wind swung west and we were able to sail directly toward our destination of Antigua at 250 degrees.”⁠
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Sailing at espresso-martini speed - continue reading the Leg 2 blog by Natasha, Erica and Emilie, link in bio⁠
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Photo credit: @SophieDingwall⁠

“So far, we have analysed about 30 samples which

“So far, we have analysed about 30 samples which took about 2 hours. The vast majority of the plastic came out as HDPE (High density Polyethylene).” - Marita Schmid, Leg 2⁠
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Onboard eXXpedition, we use a scientific instrument called a @PerkinElmer Spectrum Two™ FT-IR spectrometer to help us identify the type of plastic polymer. This means that out at sea, our crew can match the polymers we’ve found in our samples to an existing library - which helps us to determine where the sample might have come from and potential sources of these microplastics. ⁠
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Hear over to the Leg 2 blog “Using the Magic Plastic-Definition Device” to learn more about how FTIR was used onboard Leg 2 to identify microplastic samples. Link in bio⁠
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Photo credit: Yanika Borg⁠
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“I’ve found sailing to be one of the best ways

“I’ve found sailing to be one of the best ways to experience nature, and it is a pursuit that I have devoted my life to. The ever-changing nature of the ocean environment has provided me with constant entertainment.”
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eXXpedition photographer and deckhand @SophieDingwall was featured in @oceanographic_mag!
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First hearing of eXXpedition while working as a commercial photographer, Sophie joined our Round The World voyage for 5000 nautical miles from Plymouth through to Panama.
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From conducting science in the North Atlantic Garbage Patch to capturing the voyages of the women that came onboard through her photography, head over to the link in our bio to read the article.
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Photo credit: @sophiedingwall

Have you heard of the ocean garbage patches? - Als

Have you heard of the ocean garbage patches?
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Also known as gyres, there are 5 large systems of rotating ocean currents which are formed by global wind patterns and the Earth’s rotation. As you can see in the video, as the gyres circulate ocean waters, they also draw in marine debris, concentrating it into a “soup” of plastic.
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During the second leg of eXXpedition Round the World, our voyage leg sponsors and scientific partner @copernicus_eu Marine Service and Mercator Ocean helped guide us to the first gyre of our journey - the North Atlantic Gyre.
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In our round the world voyage, we found the greatest total number of microplastics in surface waters on Leg 2, through the North Atlantic gyre (although the largest amount found in a single trawl was on Leg 5!).
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In each sample collected there was an average of 70 pieces of microplastic. Every sample was then analysed onboard using an FTIR from @PerkinElmer, and the vast majority of what we found was HDPE.

Just before the Leg 2 crew set sail from the Azore

Just before the Leg 2 crew set sail from the Azores, a slight weather delay kept us on shore a little longer than expected… but the extra time on land didn’t go to waste as it allowed the crew to kick off the science programme!⁠
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The crew set about conducting a land-based waste management survey using the CapLite method - which contributes towards @JennaJambeck’s research at the @UniofGA - collecting sediment samples, and taking part in a nurdle hunt across Santa Barbara beach where they found 424 nurdles in less than 30 minutes!⁠
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Though our science programme is on pause, you can all take part in citizen science to track plastic waste by using the #marinedebristracker.⁠
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Photo by Erica Cirino

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