by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 12:20 PM ET, Tue December 5, 2023
HX (formerly Hurtigruten Expeditions) is back for another season of cruising to Antarctica. But, this winter, the expedition cruise line is amping up its focus on research during what it’s dubbed its “Season of Science.”
As its ships ferry travelers back and forth across the Drake Passage, the cruise line will also be supporting more than 20 different research projects and eight citizen science initiatives through its “Science & Education Program.”
HX is donating more than 1,150 cruise nights to third-party scientists conducting research on the White Continent and in the Southern Ocean, which marks an all-time high for the expedition cruise line. Scientists from more than 30 different countries will join HX’s cruises in the coming months on vessels MS Fridtjof Nansen, MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fram.
It’s all part of HX’s commitment to minimizing its footprint on Antarctica and the more than 250 other destinations it sails to, with the overarching goal of leaving “these places better than we found them," says Verena Meraldi, HX’s chief scientist. To that same end, Hurtigruten Norway—HX’s sister brand—is also building the world’s first zero-emission cruise ship, which it hopes to launch by 2030.
“It’s been almost 130 years since HX pioneered expedition cruising,” Meraldi says. “With this history, we have a profound responsibility to safeguard the places we explore.”
HX’s support of research has led to the publication of 17 scientific papers since 2019. Beyond that, guests benefit from being able to interact directly with experts in various fields.
“Scientists spend weeks onboard conducting research, often alongside our curious guests who are eager to understand the ecosystems they’re exploring,” says Meraldi.
HX is supporting a wide array of research projects during the 2023-24 season, including studies of baleen whale populations, sea-ice seal behavior and distribution, penguin colony monitoring and humpback whale bubble net feeding behavior. In addition, the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and several other partner institutions will continue a social science study on the effects of participating in citizen science activities while traveling.
Guests can get in on the action and help with research during their journeys, too. Cruisers can share their observations of birds, marine animals and cloud cover on citizen science platforms like iNaturalist, eBird, Secchi Disk Study, HappyWhale and Cloud Observer.
In 2023, HX travelers contributed more than 15,000 data points to these and other citizen science initiatives—and, this year, the company expects submissions to be even higher, reaching more than 16,000 observations.
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