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Sikuliaq embarks on its first journey to Antarctica

The research vessel Sikuliaq will begin a long journey to Antarctica this week, marking a new era for the Seward-based ship and its crew.

The ship, which has been owned by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by the �ֻ�ֱ�� College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences since 2014, has largely been used in waters around �ֻ�ֱ�� and the Pacific Northwest for the past decade. Starting early next year, the vessel’s duties will temporarily shift to Antarctica for the first time.

The 261-foot ice-capable ship will support three research projects that were previously scheduled for vessels whose contracts with NSF have concluded. The charter for the research vessel Laurence M. Gould expired in 2024, and NSF ended its lease with the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer earlier this year.

The research vessel Sikuliaq has been assigned to those projects largely because of the ship's ability to traverse frigid ice-filled seas: It’s the only vessel in the U.S. Academic Research Fleet rated to navigate ice up to 2.5 feet thick.

“We can work in Antarctica because the ship was designed to operate in polar waters,” said Marine Superintendent Doug Baird.

The ship departed Dutch Harbor on Nov. 14 for a 10-day transit cruise to Honolulu, where it will mobilize for a 3-week NSF-funded research project in the South Pacific to study influences on shifting levels of ocean heat near the equator.

After that project, the ship will travel south to French Polynesia and then on to Punta Arenas, Chile, where staging will begin for a series of research projects that will last through March 2026. A coring project on Antarctica’s Seymour Island will evaluate the effects of a mass extinction event during the Cretaceous Period, along with work in the Weddell Sea to study summer sea ice. The final cruise will evaluate the ecology of the ocean bottom off the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula by using divers to collect invertebrate samples.

Katrin Iken, a professor of marine biology at UAF, is one of dozens of scientists who will work aboard the ship in Antarctica. She will be part of the dive team collecting samples, a throwback to similar work she did in Antarctica as a Ph.D. student and postdoctoral researcher.

“Aside from being an exciting project, it’s going to be a fun opportunity for me to, in a way, go back to my roots,” Iken said. “This was just everything coming together to close a loop.”

The crew is also eager for the opportunity to travel to the “deep south,” Baird said.

“Crew are very excited — they like the idea of winter in the tropics and getting to go to Antarctica,” he said. “We’ve had temporary relief crew members tell us they want to go if we need them.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Doug Baird, ddbaird2@alaska.edu

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