European Ocean Research Fleets - uefiscdi

A. Description of existing fleets and their management
© Marine Institute
– Accessibility for academic research
Accessibility for academic research in days per year is
also essential to estimate present and future requirements
on a European scale. This assessment does not
take into account times spent for stock assessment,
polar supply activity, naval research, student courses
and non-academic research. This may also result in
estimation of spare time which might be used for research
if additional running costs were available, either
through basic or through project funding.
RV Celtic Voyager, a Regional Research Vessel
The ships’ names, the hosting countries and some
basic technical information were extracted from the
EurOceanic database. Where available, some general
and technical information was drawn directly from the
responsible national operators.
The resulting table summarises general features necessary
to identify the most important indicators for planning
future investments and potential synergies.
These general features are:
– Class
The classification chosen is coherent with that of the
US academic Research Vessel fleet operated by University
National Oceanographic Laboratory System
(UNOLS):
Global vessels are large (>65 m) and currently
operate on an at least multi-ocean scale, e.g. RV
L’Atalante, RV Discovery, and RV Meteor;
Ocean vessels are large enough (>55 m) to currently
operate on an ocean scale, e.g. RV Le Suroit,
RV Pelagia, RV Poseidon;
– Ships’ usual region of research
How many ships are operating in certain regions?
This information is particularly important for the Regional
class of vessels.
– Major technical capabilities
From a technical point of view, this category describes
the type of research that can be conducted onboard,
e.g. the maximum depth reachable within different
fields, the size of the Remotely Operated Vehicle
(ROV) or other special capabilities such as the icebreaking
capacity, etc.
– Major technical facilities
This category covers non-standard permanently installed,
or permanently allocated, large equipment including
mobile equipment.
The resulting table Large exchangeable instruments
and their foreseeable evolution (see Appendix 2, page
43), regardless of some gaps, can be used to achieve
the goals of the present study; it provides some elements
of comparison with the US academic Research
Vessel pool (UNOLS) and can generate some general
conclusions.
© Ifremer
Regional vessels currently operate generally on a
European regional scale, e.g. RV Alkor (Baltic Sea),
RV Celtic Voyager (Celtic Seas), RV Bilim (Eastern
Mediterranean and Black Seas);
– Age
It is essential to give an estimate as to when the ship is
likely to be taken out of service and eventually replaced.
Normally, this period is about 30 years. In some cases
a vessel may have undergone a major refi t and therefore
could be in service for an extended period.
RV Heincke loading AUV AsterX during the ALLEGRO cruise,
March 2005
14 | European Ocean Research Fleets