Post by NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

🛥️ Setting sail for the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt with the new REV Ocean research vessel 🌿 In 2027, the Norwegian initiative REV Ocean will send its new vessel on its first expedition. For it’s maiden voyage it will sail for one year, during which ten international research projects will be carried out. One of these missions is co-lead by NIOZ-researcher Linda Amaral Zettler. Together with Prof. Dr. Mar Fernández-Méndez from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research she will investigate the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt between Fortaleza (Brazil) and Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago). 🧑‍🎓 With their project, they aim to investigate the Sargassum belt and gain insights into its associated biodiversity, its role in the carbon cycle from the surface to the seafloor and the accumulation of microplastics. The mission, as the projects aboard the REV Ocean are called, are all designed and executed in collaboration with local partners. For the Sargassum mission, they chose an educational angle for this: training early-career ocean professionals from island nations affected by the Sargassum influxes. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e4nGww3Y