The Global Planning Meeting provided a forum to gather approximately 200 thought-leaders/champions/key stakeholders. Schmidt Ocean Institute was proud to contribute to the first planning meeting for the UN Decade of Ocean Science. GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) is the only organization with a mandate to map the ocean floor.

Seabed 2030 is a global initiative aimed at creating a detailed, freely available map of the entire ocean floor by the year 2030. The groups met at the Royal Society, making Schmidt Ocean one of more than 100 organizations to formally support the initiative. The million square kilometer milestone is a big one for Schmidt Ocean, accounting for 3% of this mapping contribution and the discovery of 14 new underwater features. According to the Seabed 2030 Project, about 32 million square kilometers or 15% of the ocean has been mapped. Schmidt Ocean Institute announced it has as come together with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project for the joint signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to share all of its collected mapping data with the project. John Cobb / The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. Image courtesy of GC Rieber ASA Image courtesy of GC Rieber ASAĭecemSchmidt Ocean Institute Director of Operations Eric King and The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 former Acting Director Graham Allen sign the Seabed 2030 Memorandum of Understanding at the Royal Society in London. The Polar Queen, now Falkor (too) before refit. The new vessel is also ice-rated and can cover more of the globe, extending Schmidt Ocean Institute’s reach.

The new ship –re-named Falkor (too)- is 363 feet in length, compared to the 272-foot Falkor, built in 1980. The new vessel was purchased from GC Rieber Shipping ASA as the Polar Queen and was built in 2011 as an offshore industry vessel, used most recently to construct offshore wind farms in Europe. The new ship is significantly larger and can travel further than Schmidt Ocean Institute’s existing research vessel, Falkor, which has been operating since 2012 and was the world’s first year-round philanthropic research vessel made available for free to scientists. Schmidt Ocean Institute announced today it has acquired a new research vessel that will expand the organization’s philanthropic science program and capability to explore the Ocean.

Battlefield v image