{"id":5391,"date":"2026-07-27T09:58:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T07:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/?p=5391"},"modified":"2026-08-20T13:56:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:56:22","slug":"polar-connect-2026-expedition-sets-course-for-the-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/polar-connect-2026-expedition-sets-course-for-the-arctic\/","title":{"rendered":"Polar Connect 2026 expedition sets course for the Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In July and August 2026, the&nbsp;<strong>Polar Connect 2026<\/strong>&nbsp;expedition will take place aboard the Swedish icebreaker&nbsp;<em>Oden<\/em>, marking another important step in the long-term effort to establish a secure, resilient and high-capacity digital connection between Europe, North America and East Asia through the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Building on the work carried out during the 2025 expedition, Polar Connect 2026 will collect critical data to support the planning of a future submarine fibre-optic cable across the Arctic Ocean. By investigating potential cable routes, the expedition will provide valuable knowledge for developing alternative, resilient digital infrastructure that complements today&#8217;s heavily utilised global data routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seabed surveys for future Arctic connectivity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expedition will focus on seabed mapping and environmental data collection in the central Arctic Ocean. Activities include multibeam bathymetric mapping, geophysical surveys and oceanographic measurements to support cable route planning and improve understanding of the Arctic marine environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These investigations build on the seabed surveys conducted during the Canada-Sweden Arctic Ocean 2025 expedition and represent another important milestone in assessing the technical feasibility of an Arctic fibre route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In parallel, Polar Connect continues to explore how future fibre-optic infrastructure can support oceanographic, climate and geophysical observations through advanced sensing technologies and continuous data collection. Such capabilities could enable long-term environmental monitoring and scientific observations in remote areas of the Arctic Ocean that are otherwise difficult to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collaboration across science and infrastructure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond scientific and technical survey work, the expedition provides a platform for knowledge exchange and international collaboration. Researchers, infrastructure specialists and operational experts will come together aboard&nbsp;<em>Oden<\/em> to discuss the technical, scientific and strategic aspects of Arctic connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expedition brings together expertise in Arctic operations, seabed investigations, digital infrastructure, data management and environmental research, supporting Polar Connect&#8217;s ambition to develop an Arctic route that serves both global connectivity and scientific discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Arctic expertise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat provides Arctic operational expertise and access to the research icebreaker&nbsp;<em>Oden<\/em>, enabling field operations in one of the world&#8217;s most challenging environments. Their decades of experience in polar expeditions and access to unique research infrastructure play an important role in supporting the practical investigations carried out as part of Polar Connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover is-light\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-100 has-background-dim\" style=\"background-color:#dde8f1\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick facts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">24 July \u2013 10 August 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Area: Central Arctic Ocean<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vessel: Swedish icebreaker Oden<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Objective: Seabed mapping, data collection and cable route studies for future Arctic fibre-optic infrastructure<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Funding: Co-funded by the European Union through CEF Digital<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Expedition Coordinator: Ulf Jonsell, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Partners: the Swedish Research Council\/Sunet, NORDUnet, DTU, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, DeiC and Global Connect<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ncwm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-13.53.44-1024x680.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5447\" style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-13.53.44-1024x680.png 1024w, https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-13.53.44-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-13.53.44-768x510.png 768w, https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-13.53.44-1536x1020.png 1536w, https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-08-20-at-13.53.44.png 1734w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In July and August 2026, the&nbsp;Polar Connect 2026&nbsp;expedition will take place aboard the Swedish icebre [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polarconnect"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5391"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5450,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5391\/revisions\/5450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polarconnect.net\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}