On 8 October 2025, the German Research Vessel SONNE left the port of Antofagasta for an almost six-week expedition off the Atacama Desert. The objective of Expedition SO315 “CARNIVAL” is the recovery of sediment cores and water samples along the northern Chilean continental margin. It brings together an international team of 34 geo- and bioscientists with the aim to explore the paleoceanography of the Humboldt Current System and the significance of land-ocean coupling as a driver of paleoclimatic variability in the Atacama Desert in the late Quaternary. Its research aims are tightly associated with CRC 1211 and complements ongoing research in Project A4.

Before leaving port, students of the CRC’s partner institutions Universidad Católica del Norte and the Universidad de Antofagasta were invited to visit the SONNE research vessel. After an introduction to the scientific background of the expedition by paleoceanographer Dharma Reyes Macaya (University of Cologne), Captain Oliver Meyer showed the students around the vessel.

After three weeks out at sea, Expedition SO315 has made good progress. A sediment core comprising 18 m of laminated sediments from the Bay of Mejillones and a sediment core of 11 m length from > 3500 m water depth on Iquique Ridge are amongst the highlights so far.

Expedition SO315 is a collaborative effort between the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. You can learn more about the SONNE and follow Expedition SO315 here.

Best wishes from the southeastern Pacific,

Patrick Grunert (chief scientist) on behalf of the entire SO315 team