Shipboard training NoSoAT (North to South Atlantic Transect) / SoNoAT (South to North Atlantic Transect)

We are pleased to announce that the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), with the support of Partnership for the Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), the Nippon Foundation (NF), the University of Galway and Chair of Climate Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, will conduct its fifth training expedition on board its icebreaker RV Polarstern, Germany's largest research vessel. 

We are offering 20 training scholarships and, for the first time, 5 scholarships for junior teachers.

The NoSoAT (North-South Atlantic Transect) OceanCapX (Ocean Capacity Exchange) expedition will depart on 13 November from Bremerhaven, Germany. Arrival in Walvis Bay, Namibia, is scheduled for 12 December 2025. A one-day pre-cruise workshop will be included.

During the latitudinal transect, participants will be trained in advanced techniques of oceanographic, meteorological and climate observation and analysis. They will learn how to take and process samples with standard sampling procedures (CTD Rosette 25l Niskin bottles, Underway CTD Profiler (towed), Plankton nets, FerryBox, Thermosalinography, xBTs) and handle the associated data. Causes of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change will be discussed in the context of international climate negotiations, as well as ocean governance and its implications for research at sea.
The data collected during the cruise will become part of an established data series on the North-South (NoSoAT) and South-North (SoNoAT) transits of the icebreaker RV Polarstern.

All 25 successful scholars will be divided into five groups. These groups of five will rotate through all topics during the cruise, so that by the end of the cruise each scholar has been through all teachers and topics.