Month: January 2023
REQUEST2021 Project Report
Full PDF Version of our REQUEST2021 Project Report available free of charge now on:
REQUEST2021 Project Report
BY THE REQUEST TEAM
ALAN NOAKE ~ CATHY MUMMERY ~ MATT WOOD ~ HELEN SMITH ~
DARCEY HOLMES ~ GEORGE STONOR ~ GENEVIEVE SCULLION ~ LUCY MORGAN ~ SAM PAYNE ~ ALEX MACIVER
THE FULL HARDCOPY PRINT EDITION OF THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE FROM LULU.COM
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REVEALING DATA PUBLISHED FROM KRILL PROJECT
PRESS RELEASE – JANUARY 2023
REVEALING DATA PUBLISHED FROM KENT SCOUTS KRILL PROJECT
- The T.A.S.K. (“THE ANTARCTICA SCOUT KRILL”) project was carried out by the Kent Scouts REQUEST2021 Antarctica expedition team in partnership with British Antarctic Survey to study and raise awareness of the importance of Antarctic krill to the Southern Ocean ecosystem.
- British Antarctic Survey loaned the team of Scouts a replica Nansen Net and all the other necessary equipment for capturing the krill samples.
- Twelve samples in total were taken by the team a year ago between the 7th and 13th January 2022 whilst on board the Bark Europa tall ship in the waters of the Antarctic peninsula.
After analysing the samples taken by the team, Prof Geraint Tarling FMBA, Ecosystems Science Leader, British Antarctic Survey, said:
“There were a small number of krill (Euphausia superba) captured. However, most interesting were the larger number of krill eggs. These are negatively buoyant and will quickly sink to beyond 500 m once spawned, so it indicates that there was a very recent spawning event during the period of sampling.”
Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, had sent the team off on their expedition with these encouraging words:
“You are truly following in the footsteps of many legends including the great Sir Ernest Shackleton who set off on his Quest expedition. You are also doing vital work in how we can protect the world around us, which is so important.”
[236 Words] For more information, please contact alan.noake@kentscouts.org.uk 07525 633435
High resolution images available upon request. ENDS
Notes to Editor:
About the Project
- Tarling, G. A., Ward, P., Fielding, S., & Noake, A. (2022). Mesozooplankton collected by the Bark Europa in Gerlache Strait, Antarctic Peninsula (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/6676EC60-9E37-45A8-B447-938256438E9F
- Taxonomic analysis of the plankton samples was carried out by Dr Peter Ward and the data curated by Petra Ten Hoopen of the Polar Data Centre at the British Antarctic Survey.
- The ReQuest2021 project was a wider programme of activity centred around the expedition to Antarctica to commemorate the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921-1922 which included two Scouts: James Marr and Norman Mooney. 100 years after Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Quest sailed to Antarctica a ten strong team of Scouts and leaders were recreating the original ethos of the expedition by undertaking their own voyage to the frozen south. The ten participants have been undertaking research projects whilst in Antarctica. Findings will be presented in a range of engaging formats including photography, soundscapes, reports, artwork and interactive forums.
- For more information about the ReQuest2021 expedition and the various research projects, please visit http://www.request2021.org.uk
- The ReQuest2021, Antarctic Research Project Team sailed on board Bark Europa tall ship from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula from 30th Dec 2021 to 20th January 2022.
- Over the past four years the ten Scouts have undertaken fundraising activities including a rowing challenge, grand auction and online merchandise sales to raise £140,000 for the expedition.
- Individual Projects: CLIMATE CHANGE (LUCY), PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENT (GENEVIEVE), 3D ICEBERG SIMULATION (GEORGE), COLLABORATIVE ARTWORK (DARCEY), OCEAN CURRENTS (SAM), ANTARCTIC SOUNDSCAPE (ALAN), MOTION SICKNESS STUDY (CATHY), PLASTIC POLUTION (HELEN), ELECTRICITY GENERATION (MATT), GEOMAGNETICALLY INDUCED CURRENTS (ALEX)
- Expedition participant names and locations they are from: –
- Alan Noake, Deal, Walmer, Sandwich & District Kent
- Cathy Mummery, Weald District, Kent
- Matt Wood, Malling District, Kent
- Helen Smith, Gravesham District, Kent
- Lucy Morgan, Sevenoaks District, Kent
- Genevieve Scullion, Deal, Walmer, Sandwich & District, Kent
- George Stonor, Faversham District, Kent
- Darcey Holmes, Thanet District, Kent
- Sam Payne, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- Alex Maciver, Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland
About Scouts:
- All genders, races and backgrounds are welcome at Scouts. Every week, it gives almost half a million people aged 6-25 the skills they need for school, college, university, the job interview, the important speech, the tricky challenge and the big dreams: the skills they need for life.
- Scouts helps members gain these skills by encouraging them to ask the big questions and listen with wide open minds. It helps them to take a deep breath and speak up, think on their feet, ignore the butterflies and go for it. With Scouts, young people don’t give up – they get back up and try again, often with the support of the friends they’ve made there.
- Our volunteers contribute more than 50 million hours of voluntary work each year to their local communities.
Alan Noake
Assistant County Commissioner, Global Projects & Community Impact (Kent)
District Appointments Secretary (Deal, Walmer, Sandwich & District)
Mobile: 07525 633435
alan.noake@kentscouts.org.uk
New Year’s Day (2022)
01/01/22 – New Year On The Drake (Author: Lucy)
The first day of the year arrived on the Bark Europa as somewhat of a non-event. As pointed out by our guide Sarah, it was unusual to spend New Year’s Day not really acknowledging that it was New Year’s Day at all – we had far more important challenges to be worrying about at the time!
One noticeable aspect of this day was that it was the beginning of the watch system. All of the voyage crew were split into three watches: red, white and blue. Each group included approximately ten people, with a couple of REQUEST2021 members in each. Red Watch began the first shift of the New Year: four hours of half-hour rotations, swapping between steering the ship, manning lookout, sail handling and warming up inside the deckhouse. Whilst this rhythm of four hours on, eight hours off, was something we would all get more used to with time, the initial shock of waking up at midnight and making our way out onto deck in the pitch black, bitingly cold wind to carry out a task which required both physical and mental concentration, was a huge challenge to overcome on the first day… especially at such an extreme angle. This day was quoted by many on the expedition as their “worst memory” of the trip and it had several of us questioning our choices. The worst part about it was not the tiredness, cold, hunger, physical strain or even boredom, but the raw, all-encompassing and persistent sea sickness. In most cases it takes several days for landlubbers like us to get their sea legs, and for some, these ‘legs’ never came at all! Most of the team began their shifts with strong entries onto the ‘chunder chart’ and we very quickly learnt the importance of locating yourself on the leeward side of the ship, rather than facing upwind should you need to make a hasty dive for the edge.
For most of the team, even standing up straight was a huge difficulty, particularly on the first day. Europa sailed at, what felt like, a very extreme angle and it was not unusual for plates, cups, belongings or even people to find themselves flying across the deckhouse with an unexpected jolt of a wave. The unfavourable winds, which forced us to sail close-hauled into the waves, made the rhythm of the rocking far more unpredictable and crew had to have their wits about them to avoid accidents. We were advised to always keep one hand ‘free for the ship’ should something need to be grabbed at the last minute for stability. It was not unusual to have only half of shift members remaining by the end of a watch and the eventual return to bed came with an unrivalled relief. Stripping off layer after layer of cold, wet clothing to crawl back into the warmth of a swaying bunk was something we spent much of the four-hour shift dreaming about. Not only was lying down the least sickening position to be in, but tiredness was also a side effect of the sickness medication. Consequently, the remaining eight hours off shift would primarily be spent cuddling a yellow bucket in the safety of a bunk. – What a start to the sailing experience!