Global Pathways
This year Pole-to-Pole is currently developing a method that uses existing systems to provide the community with a better understanding of ocean function and science. Pole-to-Pole now has an agreement with a large commercial shipping company, Stena, to evaluate the potential of using their ships as platforms of opportunity and collect critical data in the course of their normal business. Using a grant from Stena, P2P will create a global strategy on how commercial shipping can join in and help monitor the ocean for the purpose of climate change and provide real-time data from all points of the globe.
Every day there are approximately 70,000 ocean-going ships on the water ranging from oil tankers, freighters, cargo ships, ferries, and more. Many scientists have wondered how these ships could cost-effectively collect information about the health of the ocean during the course of their normal businesses to better monitor the changes happening from anthropogenic influence.
While satellites have enabled global measurements of surface water chemistry and temperature it is limited to only the thin veneer at the atmosphere\ocean interface because electromagnetic energy attenuates in water. The only way to make measurements below the surface is on site. This could be a game-changer because it might one day allow near real-time monitoring of ocean conditions like we measure atmospheric conditions on weather maps we are all so familiar with. This fine temporal scale resolution will enable us to detect when we are getting dangerously close to tipping points and a runaway heating scenario.
Our long term goal is to take this and other data to create a global network of ocean protection that will allow maximal ocean function and optimal human sustainable use of its resources now and into the future. There are other potential uses of our commercial shipping industry that can be part of the regeneration of our oceans. The imperative end of modern ocean conservation science must be to maintain these contiguous individual systems so that the whole global ocean can operate providing vital benefits to humanity. Our global ocean provides all life support functions on earth.