Ponant Promotes Cruising with Scientists

Ponant says its new program with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) comes at a time when access to remote areas such as polar regions has been challenged by cuts to science funding.

Since 2021, Ponant Explorations Group has hosted more than 230 scientists across its fleet. Through this new alliance, WHOI scientists will now join select Ponant expeditions—many aboard the luxury icebreaker Le Commandant Charcot—to conduct fieldwork, test emerging technologies, and share their expertise through interactive guest programming.

The company will also provide grant funding to help support WHOI’s polar science work.

“At Ponant Explorations Group, we’re committed to advancing knowledge of the oceans and scientific research as part of our broader mission to explore responsibly and travel with care,” said Samuel Chamberlain, CEO, Ponant Explorations Group Americas.

The first expedition under the new partnership will take place on an October 31 voyage to Antarctica. On the sailing will be two WHOI-MIT Joint Program graduate students, Caroline Needell and Bailey Fluegel, guided by WHOI glaciologist Dr. Catherine Walker.

Aboard the world’s only passenger ship with Polar Class 2 certification—capable of navigating shifting glaciers and uncharted ice floes—Needell and Fluegel will deploy LiDAR technology to model the breakup rate of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They will measure of ice cliffs, the edges of glaciers, and ice streams that reach the ocean and whose geometry and shape are highly linked to stability. Such data is difficult or impossible to gather by satellite or other means but essential to understanding ice sheet evolution and its rate of change.

Throughout the voyage, guests will have the opportunity to observe the research process firsthand, visit the ship’s wet and dry laboratories, and participate in educational presentations about Antarctica’s geological history, global climate significance, and fragile ecosystems.

Ponant Explorations Group regularly hosts scientists and finances two PhD students. To date, the company has earned 10 citations in peer-reviewed publications for its support in data collection and research.