Researchers Russ Hopcroft and Julie Hagelin from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks will each gain access to otherwise unattainable information about the habits of these species.  As the team rows more than 1100 miles in under a month, they will be gathering samples of zooplankton and recording  information related  to the feeding habits of baleen whales they will encounter along the way.    

We followed the team on our expedition blog. 

The expedition was made up of 4 crew members for 2 rowing positions. The team rotated, rowing 2 hours on / 2 hours off for 24 hours a day.

While attempting to become the first to cross the Arctic Ocean by rowboat, the crew volunteered to collect information for researchers studying the predator/prey interactions of whales and zooplankton.