One Ocean Expedition: Sailing to Greenland for Science and Connection

Can you imagine sailing the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean to the frigid waters of Greenland?  This summer, about 40 graduate students and faculty from Portugal, Norway, Greenland, and the U.S. are spending three weeks on the Staatsraad Lehmkuhl, sailing from Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel Island in the Azores to Nuuk, Greenland.  The vessel is a three-masted barquebuilt in Germany in 1914 and now based in Bergen, Norway.  Although the ship is majestic, the accommodation is spartan – just hammocks in a shared space below decks. However, these students eagerly joined the ship in Ponta Delgada after a three-day workshop on the campus of the University of the Azores to begin their oceanographic voyage.