MARE researcher sets sail for Venice on a sailing boat that collects plankton samples

When she needed a place to live in Lisbon, Giulia Sent found a yacht to call home. And when she decided to visit Venice, the PhD student at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) decided to go by sailboat. “I’m going home with my home,” she says, after applying two metaphors to the same word that refers both to the 10-metre vessel where she has lived for three years and to the place where her family lives in Venice. After preparing the sailboat, the researcher from the Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE) set sail at the end of May. Ahead of her lies a four-month round-trip journey that she will undertake mostly alone. Having been sailing since the age of seven, the enjoyable aspect is assured. But this personal initiative has not lost sight of its practical purpose – and so she has also secured her participation, on a voluntary basis, in the PlanktoSpace project, with the aim of collecting samples along the route that may help refine the study of plankton.

“I find it fundamentally contradictory for a scientist to sail so many miles at sea without seeking to contribute to the collection of data useful to scientific research. In an environment so difficult to monitor, every voyage represents a valuable opportunity to gather information,” replies the Italian scientist, who has been working on her PhD at MARE.

Giulia Sent makes no secret of the fact that her trip to Venice stemmed from a desire to visit her family, having made the entire journey on the sailing boat she bought in Spain. Three years ago, her familiarity with the sea and the cost of living in Lisbon easily convinced her to embrace a life afloat. And it was only a short step from buying the sailing boat Sara to planning the trip to Venice.

To carry out this personal project without losing sight of its scientific value and the need to secure funding, the researcher – who was once a member of the Italian national sailing team – decided to approach “dozens of researchers” internationally with the aim of securing support and ensuring the trip’s scientific value. The answer came via the PlanktoSpace programme, launched in partnership by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its US counterpart, NASA, with the aim of collecting plankton samples at various points around the globe.

“The programme had 20 kits to distribute – and I was allocated one of them!” replies the Italian scientist. “This kit contains a system for collecting and filtering samples that will need to be taken on specific dates, coinciding with the times when the satellites used to monitor plankton will be gathering data from the locations I pass through,” Giulia Sent adds.

The plans proposed by the PlanktoSpace project envisage weekly sample collection. Each collection will involve a total of 10 litres of Mediterranean water, which will be filtered to retain zooplankton and phytoplankton specimens. These filters containing animal and plant plankton will then be sent for analysis in France, so that researchers involved in PlanktoSpace can make comparisons with data collected at the same time and in the same location via satellites. “With DNA analysis, it will be possible to identify which plankton species predominate in the sample collection filters,” says Giulia Sent.

In addition to improving the monitoring that satellites currently carry out based on colouration and other indicators, PlanktoSpace could pave the way for tools that help distinguish species or alert aquaculture producers or those responsible for bathing areas to the presence of plankton varieties known to produce toxins, among other examples that may well emerge in the near future.

“Taking part in this programme could also prove useful for the PhD I’m currently working on. The topic isn’t just about plankton, but involves various parameters related to water quality. Furthermore, I will be able to attend PlanktoSpace working meetings and interact with researchers who are among the leading international experts in these fields,” says the researcher, who has been working in MARE’s Phytoplankton and Remote Sensing research group, coordinated by Vanda Brotas.

For the Lisbon-Venice-Lisbon route, Giulia Sent expects to travel at an average speed of five knots (less than 10 km/h) and to return to land whenever they have spent “three or four days” at sea. She will spend some time travelling with her boyfriend, and also with her family – but the vast majority of the crossing will be undertaken alone. Giulia admits she copes well with being alone, but she also knows that this time the challenge is different. “I’ve never undertaken such a long journey on my own,” she says.

Well before the journey began, the researcher spent time preparing the boat for the great crossing, studying almost everything there was to learn so she could deal with any breakdowns that might arise on board. The solar panels will provide power; the engine will be used in ports and near the coast; the radio and AIS tracking will also be useful, and the hold will carry provisions for 15 days, which will be replenished during stops at the various ports. There probably won’t be any internet most of the time.

“I’ll have time to be in my own head. Wonderful things happen in people’s brains when they’re bored and have no one to talk to. That’s the Giulia I don’t know and now want to get to know,” she says.

Despite limited communications, the researcher plans to share updates on the adventure through weekly posts on a blog and on the Instagram page Becoming_rv. At the same time, she has launched a fundraising campaign to convert the sailing boat Sara into a research vessel, with all scientific work to be carried out on a voluntary basis. And because setting an example helps make a difference, she didn’t forget to take her portable microscope on board, with the aim of taking part in some training sessions in Italian towns which, in return, will provide her with a place to moor the sailboat. For her return, an event is also planned at the Ciência Viva agency. “I hope to manage everything on my own,” she says. The sea and the wind will lend a hand.