On November 1st, the expedition KonTiki2 started. The expedition is the first attempt in our time to show how ancient mariners sailed the Pacific both ways. 

Two teams built two rafts and began their voyage from South America to the Easter Island and back – more than 5000 nautical miles. The teams are led by expedition leader Torgeir Higraff and chief scientist Cecilie Mauritzen, who will perform several types of research. Opera Software posts the voyages online, and a film crew produce a TV documentary.

This interdisciplinary scientific expedition is a unique opportunity for full-scale oceanographic research. It brings together the research fields of marine technology, marine biology, oceanography, anthropology and experimental archaeology.

Picture (Higraff/KonTiki2): The KonTiki2 expedition map. (1 November 2015)

The partners that are involved in the project are AMOS, NTNU's Department of Marine Technology, the Applied Underwater Robotics Laboratory (AUR-lab) and the Department of Biology.

One of the major goals is to quantify plastic content in the large ocean gyres.
The teams will also measure:

1. Climate change and ocean acidification
2. Marine litter: plastic and microplastic pollution
3. El Nino and operational weather forecasting
4. Marine life

Photo (Higraff/KonTiki2): On board of one of the KonTiki2 rafts. (1 November 2015)

Find out more about the project on the project's official webpage and Facebook.

Media coverage:

• Videnskab.dk: "Kon-Tiki 2 udfordrer Thor Heyerdahls teorier" (2 November 2015)
• Forskning.no: "Slik skal Kon-Tiki 2 utfordre Heyerdahls teorier" (27 October 2015)