Every year, sailboat owners join the Astrolabe Expeditions fleet, whether to transform their journey into a real scientific expedition or to make their sailboat available for our training, awareness-raising or organisation activities.
What is an expedition?
Our expeditions are missions at sea which aim to collect data for scientific purposes. They are divided into two main groups:
Local expeditions
Most coastal expeditions last only a limited time (one day to one week). They enable local data collection and respond to specific citizen science programmes (cetacean observation, plankton collection, etc.).
However, they can also be part of a very large science programme. Increased number of local expeditions around the global make greater the contribution of collected measurement (Ocean Sampling Day, Plankton Objective…) to research activities.
Major oceanic expeditions
These expeditions, organised and carried out by members of the organization, meet a need to collect data over a long period of time or over a wide geographical area.
They consist of adding a scientific dimension to a voyage already planned by a yachtsman, by taking science kits on board, and a human dimension, by boarding crew members.
How to organise an expedition?
Any yachtsman curious to discover citizen sciences or wishing to add meaning to a voyage can call on the organization to transform his adventure into a real scientific expedition.
The organization provides boaters with the equipment necessary for surveys, trains the captain in the use of scientific tools, helps with the organization and logistics of the voyage and provides trained crew members.
Boaters sailing locally and on a one-off basis can also approach the organization to take part in measures.
