Kongsberg Discovery Technology Sets Sail On One Ocean Expedition Research Voyage

Kongsberg Discovery has helped transform the 111-year-old, three-masted sailing ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl into a research vessel for the upcoming One Ocean Expedition, departing from Bergen, Norway, on 11 April.

The almost 100-metre-long vessel, Norway’s largest sailing ship, has been fitted with an array of Kongsberg Discovery technology to help scientists monitor and understand unique ocean environments, including the waters of the legendary Northwest Passage.

Onboard systems now include 75 and 300 kHz ADCPs, EK80 Echo Sounders, an advanced hydrophone cluster, and the Seapath GNSS-aided inertial navigation system, while Blue Insight, a cutting-edge ocean data management and analytics platform, will process and share captured data with land-based teams daily. In addition, a wide range of equipment, such as weather stations, water samplers, situational awareness, and motion reference units, has also been integrated.

The One Ocean Expedition 2025-2026 is a 12-month voyage encompassing 26 ports across three continents. En route, the team will collect a wealth of data to help ascertain ocean health, monitor marine ecosystems, and assess the impact of climate change, building both knowledge and awareness of pressing issues.

Kongsberg Discovery’s technology will be put to work on a number of key assignments, including measuring ocean currents, with the ADCP, to help understand how marine life is affected by ocean movements, and recording underwater noise, using hydrophones, to ‘listen’ for pollution and monitor marine mammals, such as whales.

The One Ocean Expedition sets sail during One Ocean Week in Bergen, calling in at ports including Reykjavik, Nuuk (Greenland), Cambridge Bay (Canada), Seattle, La Paz (Mexico), Cartagena (Columbia), Cadiz, and Dublin. During its stop in Nice, France, vessel team members will participate in the 2025 UN Ocean Conference. Statsraad Lehmkuhl will return to Bergen in April 2026, in time for next year’s One Ocean Week.