Two oceanographers from the Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer, which belongs to Sorbonne Université and the CNRS, have launched the VELA LAB project. The idea is to use leisure sailing boats to collect data on the ocean, making observation less dependent on traditional scientific expeditions.
The project is setting out into the Atlantic Ocean to test measuring instruments adapted to sailing boats. It also aims to identify the technical, scientific and human conditions needed to create, in the future, a permanent, participatory ocean-observation network.
To involve the public, the team has launched an online survey of sailors to learn about their motivations and the conditions under which they would agree to carry scientific instruments on board. The initiative responds to the climate emergency and to the limits of conventional research campaigns.
