51. Sailing the World for Ocean Research

Matt Rutherford is one of the CO-Directors & Expedition Leaders of Ocean Research Project, which is a nonprofit whose mission is to observe the unknown and monitor humanity’s impact on the Ocean through dedicated interdisciplinary field expeditions. Two of the main projects they focus on is research on the melting glaciers in Greenland as well as marine plastic pollution. 

Greenland has a vast coastline and the surrounding waters are largely uncharted and under-monitored due to the harsh conditions and remote location. Therefore, the Ocean Research Project goes out and pursues the observations necessary for scientists to define the conditions for monitoring the effects of climate change on the Arctic marine environment.

Then the other project we talk about is marine debris, ORP has conducted multiple research expeditions in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. ORP completed its first marine debris research expedition in 2013. During this trip, its crew spent 70 days sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, collecting samples of plastic trash in the water and mapping out the eastern side of the North Atlantic garbage patch. They are now doing local work in the Chesapeake Bay and have helped increase the scientific community’s understanding of plastic pollution’s pervasive distribution across oceans from the sea ice to the seabed. 

Ocean Research Project: https://www.oceanresearchproject.org/ 

Articles:

Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea 

PCBs and PBDEs in microplastic particles and zooplankton in open water in the Pacific Ocean and around the coast of Japan

Mitigation strategies to reverse the rising trend of plastics in Polar Regions

Support ORP’s work:

https://www.oceanresearchproject.org/support-ocean-research/