Science at Sea

Taking knowledge further

Get an inside look at innovative science and conservation projects

The ships in the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet are not only equipped for adventure—they also host important research and conservation work as part of our Visiting Scientist Program. This innovative initiative allows scientists to use the fleet as a platform to build and foster their research endeavors in places like Antarctica, the Arctic, and the Galápagos. 

The Visiting Scientist Program has been active aboard our fleet for years, and in response to the program’s popularity with our guests, we are expanding it for the upcoming travel seasons. Now, more travelers than ever before can voyage alongside fascinating researchers, enjoy talks on their findings, and in some instances participate in the scientific process through activities such as data collection.  

Learn more about the projects hosted on upcoming departures, and join one of our scientists at sea. 


New and Ongoing Research Projects

Undersea Realms

Marine scientists are using our fleet as a platform to dive into ocean habitats and make deep-sea discoveries.

Microplastics Entering the Food Chain in Polar Seas

The prevalence of microplastic pollution around the world has been a rising concern. Dr. Thomas Klinger from Bloomsburg University of PA, and graduate student Elizabeth Lee of Commonwealth University are documenting the abundance of microplastics ingested by limpets as an indication of this pollutant’s entry into polar food webs. Limpets are widely distributed marine grazers who rasp away at the biofilms growing on rocks and kelp blades. This season, we are expanding our study of microplastics ingested by limpets to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and areas on the Antarctic Peninsula.

 

Dr. Klinger and Lee will join us on the February 19, 2024 departure of Antarctica, South Georgia and The Falklands in National Geographic Resolution.

Environmental DNA (eDNA)

A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has outfitted National Geographic Resolution with a portable eDNA sequencing lab to examine sea life in the waters we travel worldwide—particularly species that cannot be identified at the surface or detected by other exploration tools, such as remotely operated vehicles. The lab has the ability to sequence DNA in a matter of hours, so we can see results while at sea. These data will contribute to growing eDNA databases worldwide.  

 

Galápagos Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems

As part of a recently launched partnership between the Cassar Lab at Duke University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Charles Darwin Foundation, and Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, researchers have installed oceanography equipment in the Science Hub on National Geographic Islander II. This instrumentation displays real-time, open-source data on atmospheric and sea surface carbon dioxide levels. This valuable data on the carbon cycle in this uniquely important part of the world will help scientists to better understand climate change. 

Environment

Using our ships as their roving base camps, researchers are studying environmental science in remote parts of the world.

Big Ice: Investigating Antarctica’s Ice Cliffs

One of the biggest unknowns in estimates of future sea level rise comes from the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s uncertain future. How will it actually recede, and how quickly will it go into the ocean? To address these questions, we need to understand how ice breaks up in the first place. From Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Catherine Walker will perform research focusing on how tall ice cliffs can grow, which tells us about how strong ice is and how long it can hold itself together.

 

Catherine Walker will join the February 11, 2024 departure of Journey To Antarctica: The White Continent on National Geographic Resolution.

Snow Algae Blooms and Antarctic Ice Melt

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Alia Khan is using ground observations and satellite imagery to study the effects of temperature, light-absorbing particles, and snow algae growth on snow and ice melt on the Antarctic Peninsula – a process that may be intensifying due to climate change. Developed in partnership with the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, the project has a citizen science component, encouraging travelers to contribute to data collection through snow algae observation.

 

Alia Khan from Western Washington University will join us on the January 8, 2024 departure of Journey To Antarctica: The White Continent on National Geographic Explorer.

Tracing Metal Aerosol Pollutants

Tiny metal particles, such as copper and lead, are emitted by natural (e.g., volcanoes) and anthropogenic sources, posing widespread environmental impacts. How long do these metal pollutants remain in the atmosphere and are they accumulating in pristine polar regions? Volcanologist and National Geographic Explorer Emma Nicholson is measuring the concentrations of metals in the Antarctic atmosphere, using sampling methods deployed at volcanoes, to explore how pollution levels have changed over recent decades and fingerprint where these metals are coming from.

 

Emma Nicholson from University College London will join us on the January 12, 2024 departure of Journey To Antarctica: The White Continent on National Geographic Resolution.

Wildlife Behavior and Biology

These scientists are joining us to search for some of the planet’s most incredible creatures—and using what we find to advance our knowledge of species.

South Georgia Island: Past & Present

South Georgia is a refuge for wildlife now, but the island has a long history of exploitation. King penguins were harvested for food and fuel while fur seals were hunted to near extinction by the early 1900s. This season, the Polito team onboard the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet will literally dig into the island’s history by collecting sediment cores to track penguin and seal populations over the past several hundred years. By studying the past, this project aims to inform present-day conservation.

 

Michael Polito and Alison Satake from Louisiana State University will join us on the February 26, 2024 departure of South Georgia and the Falklands on National Geographic Endurance.

Local Adaptation in Penguins Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula

Why are some species more successful at adapting to environmental change than others? Gentoo penguins inhabit one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Despite this, the species is growing in numbers and colonizing new habitats. PhD students Rachael Herman and Clare Flynn from Stony Brook University are investigating whether the robustness of gentoo penguins to climate change is a result of increased epigenetic changes, which refers to changes that result in turning on and off certain genes that control important adaptive characteristics!

 

Rachael Herman and Clare Flynn will join us on the December 18 and 31, 2023 departures of Journey To Antarctica: The White Continent on National Geographic Endurance and National Geographic Resolution.

Polar Whale Watch

This Antarctic summer, the Polar Whale Watch team will again conduct baleen whale surveys across the Southern Ocean from the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet. This project collects whale sightings and location information to model abundance and distribution of baleen whales in key krill fishing grounds of the Southern Ocean. Research efforts aim to ensure krill fishing is sustainable and recovering whale populations are not completing with fishers for food.

 

Madeleine Brasier and Nadia Curcio of University of Tasmania will join us on the January 27, 2024 departure of Epic Antarctica: From the Peninsula to the Ross Sea and Beyond on National Geographic Endurance.

 

Angus Henderson and Carina Elena from University of Tasmania will join us on the February 15, 2024 departure of Antarctica, South Georgia and The Falklands in National Geographic Explorer.

Deep Sea Camera System

Capable of reaching depths of 6,000 meters, the National Geographic Society Exploration Technology Lab’s deep-sea camera system offers a window onto some of the deepest parts of our oceans. In the 2019 pilot research study aboard National Geographic Endeavour II, National Geographic, the Charles Darwin Foundation, and the Galapagos National Park documented the first-ever recorded sightings of two apex predator shark species in Galapagos. In 2022, the team regrouped on National Geographic Islander II to re-survey sites from the pilot study and explore new areas in search of yet unknown species.
 
 
While the scientific visits are complete for the current season, we look forward to continuing this work and welcoming the scientists back onboard next season.

Baleen Whale Population Survey of the Southern Ocean

Researchers traveling aboard the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet are conducting an observation survey of baleen whales using GPS and whale-spotting techniques. Their goal is to determine the current population status of various baleen species and their role in Southern Ocean ecosystems by assessing abundance on a broad scale as well as finer scale movements in krill foraging grounds.  

While the scientific visits are complete for the current season, we look forward to continuing this work and welcoming the scientists back onboard next season.

Antarctic Disease Surveillance

National Geographic Explorer Jane Younger and her team at University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies in Australia are using poo samples from Antarctic penguins and seals to screen for wildlife diseases. The team’s on-board lab uses genetics to detect pathogens in only hours, allowing for fast reporting of any diseases. This research will contribute to our understanding of disease prevalence in Antarctic wildlife and help detect new disease introductions to this remote ecosystem.

 

Jane Younger from University of Tasmania will join us on the December 28, 2023 departure of Epic Antarctica: From the Peninsula to the Ross Sea and Beyond on National Geographic Endurance.

Health of Whales in Antarctica

The waters around the Antarctic Peninsula are warming rapidly, disturbing marine ecosystems. National Geographic Explorer Dr. Holly Fearnbach and renowned whale researcher Dr. John Durban have been studying whale health in these warming waters for over a decade onboard the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet. They use non-invasive drones to measure the health of killer whales, minke whales and humpback whales, and recognize individual whales from photographs to track changes in population sizes. Their critical research has resulted in the publication of 18 peer-reviewed scientific papers, providing a snapshot of current whale health and allowing inference on the health of the ecosystem on which these top predators depend for food.

Penguin Watch

Penguin Watch uses a suite of innovative methods to assess year-to-year and geographic variability in breeding and reproductive success, population dynamics, and disease and diet at penguin colonies around the Southern Ocean. Based at Oxford Brookes University and in collaboration with the Lynch lab at Stony Brook University, the project monitors over 100 sites along the Antarctic Peninsula and throughout the Sub-Antarctic islands with a particular focus on the impacts of climate change and fisheries activities. Penguin Watch was instrumental in creation of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area and contributes to IAATO’s management of tourism.

 

Tom Hart from Oxford Brookes University and Louise Emmerson from the Australian Antarctic Division will join us on the December 13, 2023 departure of Journey To Antarctica: The White Continent on National Geographic Resolution.

 

Catie Foley of NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and Louise Emmerson of the Australian Antarctic Division will join us on the December 23, 2023 departure of Journey To Antarctica: The White Continent on National Geographic Resolution.

Citizen Science

Guests can get involved in the advancement of science by participating in a variety of research projects hosted onboard our fleet.

Happywhale

Whales have unique markings on their flukes that allow scientists to identify individuals and track them across the globe. When guests capture pictures of the whales we spot on expedition, they can submit them to the Happywhale app to aid in the tracking process. Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic ships are also outfitted with Whale ID accounts and dedicated tablets that use AI to identify the individual whales within minutes of a photo submission.

iNaturalist BioBlitz

Travelers to South Georgia are invited to participate in a BioBlitz, where guests and staff join forces to photograph all the plant and animal species that they can find in a designated area during shore landings. Participant photos are then uploaded to the iNaturalist app, where they become part of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an open-source database used by scientists and policymakers around the world. 

eBird

Guests traveling on any of our expeditions are encouraged to keep track of the birds that they spot and log their sightings on the eBird Mobile app. The app is linked to eBird, a global online database of recorded bird sightings that is available for scientific research, education, and conservation.   

Previous Research Projects

Impact of Ocean Acidification in Antarctica

National Geographic Explorer Arianna Mancuso from University of Bologna studied the effects of environmental conditions on marine calcifying species, such as corals and mollusks, to understand how they are affected by climate change, especially ocean acidification. Traveling aboard the National Geographic Resolution, she collected seawater data and limpet samples in Patagonia and Antarctica to investigate cold-water mollusk growth. This data is crucial in comparing calcification of mollusks among polar and temperate regions, and assessing how ocean acidification is impacting shells globally.

Antarctic Microbe Communities

National Geographic Explorer David Velazquez from University of Madrid and scientist Gonzalo Gomez-Saez from Maximilian University studied the diversity and ecological makeup of Antarctic microbes with the goal of understanding climate impacts on this vulnerable ecosystem. The Antarctic is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and may be a valuable early-warning site for understanding the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, community composition, and ecosystem function. Microbes play a foundational role in ecosystems, including in carbon and nutrient cycling, and climate change may impact various microbe-driven processes.

Mapping Microplastics and Microfibers in Antarctica

National Geographic Explorer Rachael Z. Miller and scientist Brooke Winslow have been investigating the problem of microplastic and microfiber pollution and developing solutions for a decade. One of those solutions is CSI for the Ocean: A Global Citizen Science Microplastic Mapping and Monitoring Program. As part of this effort, Rachael and Brooke lead guests in investigating the microplastics and anthropogenic microfibers that could be floating on the water’s surface and suspended in the air.

Ice Fishing Without Fish

Understanding the elemental fingerprint of Beryllium in sea ice and coastal seawater is important for reconstructing Antarctic ice sheet history. Stanford University researcher Yueyi Che and University of California, Berkeley’s Colin Chamberlin travel to Antarctica with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic to collect ice and water samples for Beryllium isotope measurements. These data contribute to our knowledge of Antarctic Sea ice formation and melt processes as well as determine sea ice age, all important for understanding how the Southern Ocean and Antarctic ice sheet will behave under global warming.

Southern Ocean Kelp Forests

Alyssa Adler is a marine scientist whose research focuses on community ecology in kelp forest systems. For her Ph.D. research, she is investigating how predator presence impacts plant defenses in giant kelp. She has collected data for her thesis project on several voyages with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, including on expeditions to Patagonia, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands.

Microplastics in Limpets

Thomas Klinger studies how microplastics consumed by animals at the base of an ecosystem’s food chain impact the greater marine community. From aboard the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet, he documented the abundance of microplastics in the stomachs of limpets, a type of aquatic snail and a widely distributed member of near-shore marine communities. 

Arctic Microfauna

Dr. Dzmitry Lukashanets investigates Arctic soil and tundra vegetation inhabited by tiny invertebrates, or microfauna. While traveling aboard National Geographic Explorer in 2022, he collected soil samples from Iceland, a geologically young island, and Greenland, a geologically old landmass, to investigate whether microfauna are distributed in a north-to-south gradient or by soil conditions such as moisture and nutrients.

Salinity and Temperature of Antarctic Waters

Dr. Alessandro Silvano’s research focuses on how changing currents in Antarctic waters regulate glacier melt and the ocean’s ability to capture heat and carbon dioxide. Dr. Silvano conducts this research using state-of-the-art technology to collect water temperature and salinity measurements. Aboard National Geographic Endurance, he can access remote areas where oceanographic data are virtually non-existent.

Supporting Science in Galápagos

The Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet has transported researchers—with delicate eggs and hatchlings—for the Mangrove Finch Project; hosted scientists working on the Marine Invasive Species project by assisting them with collecting plastic marine debris to study hitchhikers; transported park wardens to study sites; and offered our ships as a platform of opportunity for all kinds of research conducted by the Galápagos National Park and Charles Darwin Research Station over the years. These initiatives facilitate research and advance the training of young local scientists.

Using Algae to Understand Past Greenland Ice Sheet Melt

Coralline algae forms a hard skeleton which records long-term change in seawater temperature and salinity, and is a valuable tool for understanding past climate. National Geographic Explorer Branwen Williams from Claremont McKenna College and Meghana Ranganathan from Georgia Institute of Technology are searching waters in coastal Greenland for a long-lived coralline algae that they will use to understand historical change in the Greenland Ice Sheet, and recent patterns of ice loss that contribute to sea level rise.

Marine Ice Nucleation

Researchers traveling with Lindblad Expeditions are investigating biological ice-nucleating particles in the Arctic. Ice nucleators are ubiquitous in nature and play fundamental roles in everything from atmospheric processes to the survival of freeze-tolerant organisms like bivalves and phytoplankton. Aboard the National Geographic Endurance, researchers can collect seawater samples from remote oceanic regions to assess the abundance and diversity of ice nucleators under warming Arctic conditions.

Functional Redundancy in Arctic Tidepools

Many ecosystems contain far more species than there appear to be unique ecological roles. This has led many ecologists to suspect that some species are “functionally redundant,” and that communities with redundant species may be more resilient to environmental change. National Geographic Explorer Daniel Dick evaluated species composition and functional redundancy in Arctic intertidal microbial communities to improve our understanding of how these crucial communities will respond to ongoing climate changes.

Exploring Science through Art in the Land of the Ice Bears

How do we use the arts to understand science more deeply? Throughout her voyage, Dr. Kat Owens, a National Geographic Explorer, artist, and researcher is creating a journal of sketches and written observations inspired by notebooks of seafarers and scientific explorers of the past. Additionally, she is inviting guests to contribute to co-creating a hand-sewn, life-sized portrait as part of her Entangled and Ingested project, which highlights animals harmed by plastic pollution. 

While the scientific visits are complete for the current season, we look forward to continuing this work and welcoming the scientists back onboard next season.

Sea Bird Surveys of the High Arctic

In 2023, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) is traveling with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic to quantify distribution and abundance of marine birds in Baffin Bay. Although tied to land during the breeding season when they raise their young, seabirds exist mostly in the marine environment where knowledge of their ecology is difficult to obtain. CWS's goal is to establish a baseline of information for the long-term monitoring of pelagic seabird communities in the Arctic, and enhance the visitors’ understanding of conservation and management in Nunavut.

In August 2023, Canadian Wildlife Service scientists Clement Chevalier and Rick Ludkin traveled aboard Gateway to the Northwest Passage: Greenland and Canada on National Geographic Endurance. While the scientific visits are complete for the current season, we look forward to continuing this work and welcoming the scientists back onboard next season.

Use of Opportunistic Surveys: A Focus on Skuas

Pelagic seabird surveys have been carried out for many decades worldwide. For this project,a new approach is used, focusing on the use of Citizen Science and public legacy data combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), BIG DATA, and Machine Learning/AI to overcome data gaps, combine data sources, and create reliable ocean predictions for conservation actions. Skuas are major seabird predators in the polar system; here, they receive main attention as a test case.


In June 2023, University of Alaska scientist Falk Huettman traveled aboard Land of the Ice Bears: an In-Depth Exploration of Arctic Svalbard on National Geographic Endurance. While the scientific visits are complete for the current season, we look forward to continuing this work and welcoming the scientists back onboard next season.

Long-term Monitoring of Rocky Shore Temperature and Biodiversity

National Geographic Explorer Rui Seabra and researcher Cátia Monteiro are installing temperature sensors and conducting biodiversity surveys in some of the most remote Arctic rocky shores. Their goal is to expand a monitoring network focused on collecting long-term temperature and biodiversity data for the Atlantic Ocean to polar intertidal ecosystems, where dramatic environmental changes are already taking place. These data will be invaluable in assessing how climate change is impacting intertidal ecosystems globally.

Guest Speakers Program

In addition to the scientists and researchers who join our voyages, we host a range of fascinating experts from the worlds of literature, music, photography, and politics as part of our Guest Speakers Program. These renowned individuals offer in-depth insights and compelling conversations, helping you connect more deeply to the people, places, and wildlife along your journey.

Learn more