On Friday, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing announced a partnership in ocean research at the United Nations in New York.

"We are turning our skippers into agents of ocean science data collection," Maite Fandos, Barcelona's deputy Mayor for Quality of Life, Equality and Sport and FNOB president, said during the press conference according to UNESCO.

According to ENN, climate change has been named a key priority in U.N. member organizations' 2015-2016 agenda. Although sailing communities are already known to support ocean and sea conservation for obvious reasons, the site reports that the new partnership represents the first of its kind in the unification of scientific and sailing communities. The idea of working together began at the 2011 Barcelona World Race, when sailing teams agreed to collect data in the minimally-explored Antarctic Ocean.

As part of the new partnership, the Under the Sailing team will gather information on ocean salinity, surface temperatures and also collect meteorological data during the 2014 Barcelona World Race, which begins Dec. 31. In addition, One Planet One Ocean will study water quality and measure microplastic pollution levels, according to UNESCO.

"The partnership between UNESCO and FNOB will first organize a major conference at the end of the year and report on very import [sic] climate change, plastic pollution, acidification et cetera," Mathieu Belbeoch of IOC-UNESCO said Friday. "What is important as a skipper is reaching remote places that don't see many ships ..."

In addition, every team will also send an Argo float, which are used by Global Ocean Observing System, out in Cape Good of Hope and Cape Horn, more bodies of water with little information available. Each float weighs 30 kilograms (66.14 pounds) and can find useful climate change data such as information on ocean temperature, salinity and currents.

"This race gives us a unique opportunity to put these instruments in the ocean," Belbeoch continued. "In addition, the skippers will also help us to tell the story and humanize the science side of what we do ... [and] the ambassador ship of the race will be equipped with a weather station to transmit real time weather information to the teams racing so there will be a benefit to the skippers."

Belbeoch described the partnership as "long-term."

"To be honest I have been sailing the last 12 years doing six world tours, and it is true I am a real witness of the globe and the earth and ... am a scientist by formation," Jean-Pierre Dick, a sailor from France, said about the importance of the project. "...This is not a single observation done by only one project, but it is 1,000 floats every year that are gathering information. The fact that skippers can help the system and put floats in a remote area is a key and interesting participation that we can do."

Dick added that he values studying climate change as both a sailor and "a human being."
---

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

Related