Transglobalcar’s circumnavigation of the Earth is traversing both geographic and magnetic poles, in a continuous trajectory and using the same scientific instruments for the entire scientific programme on board. This is of unique interest for a variety of studies and a record making feat for some of them.
From ice thickness at the North and South Poles to the flow of cosmic radiation coming from distant regions of our universe, from light pollution to the study of human physiological changes in extreme environments, the expedition’s scientific programme includes the measurement of crucial parameters for understanding the unprecedented change our planet is undergoing in the last 5 to 10 years, thus contributing to the search for global solutions.
Driven by a passion for discovery, the Transglobalcar expedition crew is committed to make local and global impact, benefiting communities along the way with communication and outreach activities.
Stay connected with the expedition’s progress, discoveries and updates through their official website and social media channels.
"It all began on a normal school day at 12:30 pm, the lunch break bell had already rung its symphony while I was enjoying some fine gourmet sandwiches that my beautiful mother had prepared that morning. We embarked on this journey with no prior knowledge about particle hunting and were completely ignorant of the concept of citizen science, but we all shared one powerful tool in common: the love of science."
"I was fortunate to be selected for a great team, and together with our teachers, we had a Zoom meeting with the people responsible for the project. They enlightened us about the project and introduced us to the Credo application. The research has deepened my interest in topics I've explored, such as the fascinating story of Fridtjof Nansen, who aided scientists in their quest to understand our Earth. I am really grateful."
"My journey alongside the CREDO detector has helped me deepen my relationships with my teammates and teachers while continuously pushing my personal boundaries farther every step of the way, filling my mind with a strange clarity and an aspiration to learn about and discover the 'organs' that science reaps for a better understanding of our world's 'barely glimpsed mysteries'."
"My adventure with the project launched by CERN started on a random Thursday at school when our physics teacher suggested a group of students participate in this exciting venture. Five of us accepted the challenge, myself included. I was particularly thrilled to be part of this journey, especially because physics has always been my favorite subject. To be honest, although I had a vague idea that CERN specialized in nuclear research, I didn’t know much about its specific work."
The expedition will deploy a series of portable cosmic muon detectors on its vehicles, which use open source hardware and software. The first to join the trip on the leg to the North Pole is named Erebus, after the glorious ship which took part in the Ross expedition to Antarctica in 1843. These detectors have been adapted to endure the environmental extremes encountered in the hottest and coldest parts of the world, promising unparalleled insights into cosmic ray activity throughout the expedition.
Follow the cosmic radiation measurement in real time during the trip.
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that originate from various sources beyond our solar system, often from distant galaxies or supernovae. Since the beginning of the 20th century, adventurous expeditions have made attempts at measuring the deluge of cosmic radiation sweeping our planet at the pace of a few thousands per second per square centimetre. These charged particles coming from the cosmos are not very different from the atomic particles studied at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN – except for their energy, which are extraordinarily high, essentially inaccessible even to the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.
Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912 by Austrian physicist Victor Hess (1936 Nobel Prize for Physics). Over 100 years later, they continue to be a new frontier in science. High-energy cosmic rays interacting with our atmosphere have travelled from remote regions of the cosmos for hundreds, thousands or even millions of years. Their energy is so high that it cannot be generated by supernovae, pulsars or even black holes – so where do they come from? Their origin is not yet understood, but studying them can reveal the information they carry from those far away regions of the universe and about their own nature.
The flow of cosmic radiation is particularly intense at the Earth’s poles, as these charged particles are attracted by the planet’s high magnetic field. While cosmic radiation is well studied at the South Pole, where it is “easier” to establish permanent observatories (Antarctica is a real continent, unlike the North Pole which is just frozen sea), measurements above the Arctic circle are extremely rare. In 1933, physicists Compton and Lemaitre organised 8 voyages around the earth, from the Arctic to the Antarctic circle to measure cosmic radiation, reaching a maximum latitude of 78°N. The northernmost measurement of the cosmic radiation was carried out by the Polarquest expedition in 2018 at 82°07’N and is still unbeaten. Transglobal car expedition is set out to beat that record and reach the highest latitude possible: the North Pole.
Cosmic rays influence the formation of clouds (see CLOUD chamber experiment at CERN!), and the earth’s global cloud cover has a crucial impact on climate. Understanding how cosmic rays affect cloud formation is important to understand how our atmosphere was formed, and to better model the Earth’s climate. A recent study also shows relation between cosmic rays flux and earthquakes.
In the past 40 years the extent of the Arctic sea ice has strongly decreased and there is growing evidence that the ice cover is also thinning. A melting Arctic has a demonstrated impact not only on the polar region, its ecosystems and local populations, but is now recognized as one of the main causes of the acceleration of global warming.
The extent of the Arctic ice cover is very well monitored by satellites. However, ice thickness observations – which use different techniques, such as satellites, drifting buoys or in situ – are still scarce and subject to uncertainties, hindering the compilation of consistent data sets.
To date, in situ measurements are still the only means of accurate snow thickness observation and they are invaluable for the validation of airborne and satellite measurements.
The Transglobal car route is ideally suited to carry out extensive and rare in situ measurements of sea ice and snow thickness in the high Arctic Ocean at as many individual sampling sites as was possible under satellites overpass. These measurements will give unique insights into the present state of sea ice in one of the most difficult to reach regions of the Arctic Ocean.
Citizen Science projects engage people in scientific research, involving them in a broad range of activities to produce scientific knowledge, from mapping natural phenomena to analysing historical documents.
Citizen Science allows the collection and processing of data on a scale that would be impossible with traditional research methods. This is particularly relevant for monitoring environmental factors at the local and global level, as technologies like smartphones and personal computers open up innovative and effective methods and techniques.
Above all though, Citizen Science fosters public awareness and interest in scientific research, empowering communities to take ownership of the questions and problems being addressed, which often directly affect them and their communities.
The Transglobal Expedition Crew advocates for the involvement of all people in Citizen Science. During the journey, they will join and champion two fascinating Citizen Science projects expanding the frontier of knowledge for science and society.
Particle Hunters is an international Citizen Science project created by the Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory (CREDO). By joining the “Transglobal Expedition” team in the competition, citizens will co-create the world’s largest detector for cosmic radiation, looking for signs of dark matter and studying their potential influence on earthquakes and cancer.
Globe at Night is an international Citizen Science project by NSF NoirLab to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution on society, including effects on human and animal health, and on our cultural heritage. The Transglobal Crew invites citizen scientists everywhere to join them in measuring and submitting their night sky brightness observations.
The Transglobal crew will not just carry out experiments but be the guinea pig of a physiology experiment. The purpose of this study, in collaboration with Hôpital de la Tour, Meyrin (Geneva canton), are biological changes in humans exposed to the extreme conditions of the North and South poles. Extreme cold, lack of sunlight (or the 24 hour long daylight, according to the season) and the seasonal variations characteristic of these environments influence the circadian cycle and the production of melatonine, thus perturbing sleep, body temperature and hormone production. In particular, the production of thyroid hormones such as thyroxine and triiodothyronine are crucial for the body temperature regulation. The crew’s response to the isolated conditions of this regions will also be measured. Isolation is proven to have an impact on the muscular system, which can also be affected by prolonged immobility.
The crew will undergo various medical examinations before and after the expedition, measuring various parametres in their blood as well as RMN-I to assess changes in the muscle system. A control group will also undergo the same measurements.
The data gathered from this programme will benefit research into human physiology and educate the public about the effect on our bodies of exposure to extreme climatic and physical stress.
Exactly four months after the Transglobal Car Expedition reached the North Pole the expedition made its way to Geneva, Switzerland. The Transglobal Citizen Science School forum, hosted at CERN and sponsored by the Goodgear Around the World Association, PolarQuest, and the MW Shakhnovskiy Foundation, brought together three teams from Lebanon, Georgia, and Uganda, with a total of around 20 future scientists participating. The generous support of Olga and Vasily Shakhnovskiy, through their family foundation, made this event possible for students from Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, covering all travel expenses to Switzerland and France.
The Citizen Science School Forum at CERN was organized to inspire the next generation of scientists by immersing them in the world of research and discovery. To this end, students were not merely visitors to CERN but active participants, having conducted their own scientific research prior to their arrival at CERN through various citizen science initiatives.
One of the key projects, CREDO, offered students the opportunity to explore one of the theories of Dark Matter. One idea is that it is made of “super-massive particles” born in the early Universe. If this theory proved to be true, while we cannot see such particles directly, we know that at the end of their life they would produce very high energy photons. Interacting with the atmosphere, such photons would create “super-preshowers” of low-energy particles. We are unable to see dark matter particles, but we can observe these super-preshowers – and that is exactly what our citizen scientists did. Equipped with smartphones, the student teams became particle hunters, contributing to the world’s largest cosmic radiation detector by capturing the remarkable number of 404,000 cosmic radiation particles.
Another project, Globe at Night, aimed to raise awareness about light pollution. The citizen scientists engaged in this initiative by measuring the brightness of the night sky, collecting extensive data that highlights the impact of artificial lighting on our environment. Their contributions added valuable data to a global effort to understand light pollution.
At CERN, our citizen scientists were able to engage directly with the scientific processes that power some of the world’s most advanced research. By building Cloud Chambers, analyzing cosmic ray data, and visiting pivotal CERN sites like the Synchrocyclotron, the CERN Control Center and the Antimatter Factory, they saw firsthand how theoretical concepts translate into real-world applications. The students showed remarkable curiosity, showing their deep understanding of the subject matter.
They interacted with not only CERN scientists but also the Transglobal Expedition crew. Among other things, the crew talked about their record of taking the northernmost measurement of cosmic rays. The students also learned about other aspects of the expedition, including the expedition’s use of satellite guidance to make their way in the melting polar ice shelf and the ice thickness in situ measurements, another first in polar science, that the crew has been carrying out while crossing the Canadian Arctic towards the North Pole and back via Greenland. They also got some information on the challenges the expedition crew had to overcome on their journey, travelling around 10,000 km in 4 months, and having had to adapt to extreme climate.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the Geneva program was its potential to inspire. By interacting with scientists and the Transglobal crew, contributing to scientific research with their own citizen science projects, and exploring the inner workings of CERN and the Transglobal Car Expedition, the students were encouraged to further pursue science.
At the end of the event Nakirijja Betty, supervisor for the Uganda team, expressed how much this experience meant to her and her students:
“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to travel here and see the different machines that physicists have made. In our country, we know about the theory part of it, but for the first time, my students and I were able to see the equipment that follows these theories. And I am sure, this experience is going to change a student’s life”.