Galathea 4 is a global marine research expedition and hence will expand the knowledge about the open ocean.

Galathea 4 will be a fully equipped sailing laboratory and workshop, where new ideas and collaborations will be achieved.

Galathea 4 is organized by Danish reseachers across universities and institutions and will strengthen marine research and education.

Participating research groups will be selected by a research board.

The overall mission is to expand our understanding of the role of large marine ecosystems. This opens for possibilities within a broad range of scientific topics: Sea/air interactions, anthropogenic substances, marine snow, life communities in open waters and deep ocean.

It is thus the goal to achieve a better understanding of weather formation, fate of pollutants from land, exchange of carbon and nutrients between land, open waters and the deep sea.

The expedition will in total last one year, with visits in many ports, and this will allow many research groups to participate in a few or several strechtes.

It is the ambition to contribute to opening science to the public by being on-line 24/7 with current information and video.