The vessel has been funded by the Werner Siemens Foundation and is operated by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPI) in Mainz.

[3] The design of the vessel with a glass fiber reinforced composite hull, and up to nine hours of battery mode autonomy, facilitates contamination-free sampling of seawater and air.

The air lab of Eugen Seibold is equipped with instrumentation for the analysis of atmospheric aerosols, including particle number concentrations and size distributions, as well as soot abundance and its microphysical properties.

The lower atmosphere and surface ocean are analyzed from the euphotic, light penetrated zone and the export layer down to 1000 meters water depth.

Major chemical and biological exchange processes including degradation of organic matter take place in this so-called twilight zone.

Abundance and properties of atmospheric aerosols in the continental outflow and remote ocean affect climate through the ocean-atmosphere exchange, marine clouds, and radiative forcing.

[7] All main climate zones and marine provinces will be sampled over the following years; transects from the tropical to polar North Atlantic, extending into the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific are projected.

Lithium iron phosphate batteries, with a capacity of about 65 kWh, facilitate emission-free operation including navigation and scientific work of at least nine hours.