by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 4:40 PM ET, Tue March 5, 2024
Viking is only in its third season of sailing to Antarctica—and, already, the cruise line is helping scientists make new discoveries. Most recently, Viking helped researchers identify a new, previously undiscovered penguin colony.
In January, its expedition ship Viking Octantis visited Astrolabe Island, a 3-mile-long outpost located near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Scientists onboard the vessel were conducting a visual and thermal aerial survey of a known chinstrap penguin colony—the first analysis of the group since 1987.
As the researchers were counting the charismatic, black and white birds on Astrolabe Island, they noticed another group of chinstraps on nearby Diaz Rock. As it turns out, that colony was previously unknown to science. The researchers hope to publish a paper about their findings in the future.
The researchers work for Oceanites, a nonprofit research program that specializes in Antarctic penguin monitoring. Oceanites is one of Viking’s many scientific partners, along with the Norwegian Polar Institute, the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and the Norwegian Institute of Water Research, to name a few.
Viking supports researchers in several ways. For starters, the cruise line provides transportation to and from the Antarctica peninsula aboard its two new expedition ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris. The cruise line also contributes equipment and funding. In this case, Viking provided Oceanites with the thermal cameras it used during its survey of the penguins.
During the 2021-22 Antarctic season—Viking’s first in the region—travelers exploring the Southern Ocean from the cruise line’s submarines spotted an elusive giant phantom jellyfish. In January 2023, Viking published its first scientific paper in the journal Polar Research about these sightings.
"From the thoughtful design of our expedition vessels, each with a well-appointed science lab, to our partnerships with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, our intention has always been to provide our guests and scientists with opportunities for meaningful discovery during each voyage,” says Torstein Hagen, Viking’s chairman. “We look forward to supporting other critical research opportunities on future voyages.”
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