POLARQUEST2018 : A polar expedition combining adventure,
science and history
Tuesday, November 19, 2019, 8:00 pm - 9:45 pm
CERN - Globe of Science and Innovation
During the summer of 2018, an international team of explorers,
scientists and science communicators board the Nanuq sailboat,
trying to locate the wreck of the Umberto Nobile airship that
crashed on the pack ice 90 years earlier. Like the 1928 aerial
laboratory, POLARQUEST2018 conducted several scientific experiments
on board.
Screening of the POLARQUEST documentary made for Ushuaia
TV (2019) followed by a discussion with some members of the
expedition and the director.
Documentary in French subtitled in English
Discussion in French
Free admission - Registration required on http://voisins.cern/fr/events
Polarquest
at the IMMF (October 10, 2019)
The Polarquest documentary was part of the International
Maritime Film Festival – the premier event for maritime-themed
filmmaking – celebrates the heritage, spirit of adventure,
and ingenuity of boats and waterborne pursuits. A gala awards
event was hosted on September 27-29, 2019, at Bucksport’s
state-of-the-art Alamo Theatre.
Weeks of crew sailing are also the occasion for developments
like this submarine project dedicated to the monitoring of
various parameters characterizing the ocean. If such probes
exist, this project provides inteded to create a scalable
and low-cost infrastructure, particularly adapted to citizen
science, while meeting the quality requirements of laboratories
and academic institutions.
Figure 1: Sketch of the captive 'submarine',
'maneuvered' with a rope. Synchronous motor drive will come
later. First of all we intend to draw vertical temperature
profiles. The depth is measured by a pressure sensor.
Figure 2: The electronic components: articulated
around a Raspberry-PI
and Yoctopuce
sensors whose quality, reliability and ease of integration
make it a system of choice. We also have acamera that documents
the measurements at the sampling frequency of 1 Hz. The sensors
used, from top to bottom are : temperature, inertial platform
(3D) and pressure (depth).
As often, when we engage into new adventures, there is also
the share of unknowns. The submarine still suffers from sealing
problems that should can only be solved with terrestrial means;
possibilities on board are limited and access to specific
components is often difficult or impossible to improvise en
route; our frustration.
More to come!
Nanuq
and Aqualti Collaboration (July 20, 2019)
The association Aqualti and Nanuq agree on a collaboration
forming an experienced team and two structures that work hand
in hand to confront the elements and support scientific research
projects in complex terrains and remote areas: AQUALTI in
the mountains, NANUQ at sea.
Combining science and environmenta research in difficult
environments, AQUALTI intervenes in the mountains (high-altitude
lakes) and its counterpart NANUQ at sea (Arctic routes). The
structure supports scientific missions with the support of
universities and research laboratories.
The missions are intended to complement the scientific data
on micropollutants and microplastics, and to raise awareness
among the general public.
The
catamaran with its manta net = the Mantamaran Aqualti. Photo
credit: Lucas Bernard
The 'mantamaran', a contraction of Manta and Catamaran, is
a platform specifically designed by Aqualti to collect surface
samples of lakes in alpine environments. Driven by an electric
thruster, the platform can safely carry four people and scientific
equipment on sheltered waters. The structure is portable and
can be divided into 4 bags of 20kg for a possible portage
on the back of man (design Peter Gallinelli and Frédéric
Gillet, with the support of the University Savoie Mont-Blanc,
University Paris Est-Créteil , CNRS funding and Eau
Neige Ice Foundation).
Le
passive igloo at Passi'bat 2019 (February 28, 2019)
Invited to the National Congress of Passive Building to be
held on April 16 & 17 at the Porte de Versailles in Paris,
Peter Gallinelli will talk about the passive igloo.
Forschung für die nächste Generation /
Die Arktis als Labor für ein Passivhaus
Ziel des «passive igloo project» ist eine Unterkunft
zum Wohnen und Arbeiten - genauer ein Segelboot - im arktischen
Winter ausschliesslich mit erneuerbarer Energie zu versorgen.
Das Motto: Wir kommen nur weiter, wenn wir unsere Komfortzone
verlassen - minus 40°C ohne aktive Heizung? Wie weit kommen
wir mit passivem Design? Gleichzeitig stellen sich Fragen
zu unseren Lebensgewohnheiten.
Moderation: Annuscha Schmidt, Präsidentin Forum Energie
Zürich
Ploughmarks
on seabed (January 21, 2019)
While searching for the lost airship north-east of Svalbard,
an unexpected observation was made: deep 'scratches' can be
observed in the seabed. These are thought to be due to the
keels of partially stranded icebergs or ice sheets.
How old are they?
Most likely they come from the Ice Age (Pleistocene). In
the Western Spitsbergen these kind of bottom structures were
dated for 24 000 years (Zhao et al., 2017, Quaternary Science
Reviews161).
Soundings : taken from Nanuq (PolarQuest 2018)
Images : processed by Aleksandra Kruss (Norbit)
Photo
Peter Gallinelli // Obbola, Sweden 2015 
...
get your stuff connected.
The
catamaran with its manta net = the Mantamaran Aqualti. Photo
credit: Lucas Bernard
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