Ocean Research Project's Schooner Marie Tharp Stops in Newport Before Ambitious Maiden Voyage to Map Greenland's Uncharted Glacier Fjords

Newport, RI, June 20, 2022 --(PR.com)-- The Ocean Research Project team led by famed sailing explorer Matt Rutherford (first person to solo non-stop voyage around the America’s) and Nicole Trenholm, Oceanographer of the Ocean Research Project and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Ph.D. student, are making final preparations of their organization’s flagship SRV Marie Tharp, custom-built to navigate uncharted polar territory in an extensive two-month mission in southern Greenland.

The data collected during Marie Tharp’s maiden voyage will be used to enhance the accuracy of regional climate model estimates on glacial melt due to global warming – one of the key objectives of the expedition’s interdisciplinary research project, GO-MARIE (Glacier-Oceans Mapping and Research Interdisciplinary Effort).

“We want to extend our mapping past 2022,” says Trenholm who will be joined by a rotation of ocean science experts on legs of the journey. “This is an urgent mapping endeavor as the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the global average leading to unprecedented land-ice melt.” Utilizing Marie Tharp, autonomous instrumentation, and satellite remote-sensing observations, the Trenholm and science partners will be able to map the seabed gaps and observe the water quality characteristics across the glaciated coastline.

The Ocean Research Project team invites all media and supporters to come visit the crew and the vessel to learn more about the mission and details about the expedition.