The Viking Expedition Team has printed the corporate’s first scientific paper from the inaugural Antarctica season, in keeping with a press launch.
“In creating ‘the thinking person’s expedition,’ it was our intention that every voyage should provide opportunities for scientific discovery,” mentioned Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking.
“At the core of Viking Expeditions is the goal to do meaningful scientific work. After just one full season in service, we are pleased that our expedition vessels and scientists have already contributed to research that might not have been possible otherwise, and we look forward to providing critical research opportunities on future voyages.”
The paper incorporates observations of the not often encountered scyphozoan Stygiomedusa gigantea, also referred to as the enormous phantom jellyfish that the expedition staff encountered throughout submersible dives within the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsula in 2022.
There have been solely 126 encounters with the enormous phantom jellyfish ever recorded because the species was first described in 1910. During the inaugural season in Antarctica in 2022, the Viking’s staff noticed the enormous phantom jellyfish thrice because of the submersibles deployed from Viking’s expedition ship, the Viking Octantis. The staff documented these encounters by means of stills and video pictures.
The paper was authored by Viking’s chief scientists with contributions from the submersible groups. It describes how private submersibles, like those on the Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, can present alternatives for organic analysis in polar areas.
The lead creator, Dr. Daniel Moore mentioned: “It is extraordinary that we know so little about such large marine creatures as the giant phantom jellyfish, however now we have the means to make regular observations at greater depths than previously possible, which provides an exciting opportunity for discovery.”
The paper is printed in Polar Research, the scientific journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, and may be learn right here: http://dx.doi.org/10.33265/polar.v42.8873.