23. May 2006 14:06
Green light for development of the European Polar Research vessel AURORA BOREALIS
The German Science Council Wissenschaftsrat has given the go-ahead for development and eventual construction of the European Research Icebreaker Vessel Aurora Borealis.
The project, originally proposed by the European Polar Board a Committee of the European Science Foundation, has been positively reviewed by the Wissenschaftsrat a scientific commission appointed by the German Federal President. The presidential Commission found that it reached the highest scientific priority for developing this large-scale infrastructure for Basic research in Germany.
The WR recommendation calls for six million Euros to be made available immediately from the German government to solve important technical questions. The total cost of construction of the vessel is estimated at 355 Million Euros, of which Germany is expected to contribute over 30%.
The Chairman of the ESF European Polar Board Professor Carlo-Alberto Ricci expressed his congratulations to the Aurora Borealis team:
‘The recognition of the Aurora Borealis project at the highest level in the German government is a very important step. It underlines the key role that the ESF European Polar Board played in developing a scientific perspective document for deep Arctic Ocean research and the recommendation to develop the European level facility Aurora Borealis.’
‘We now hope that this research vessel will be implemented by a group of countries under the guidance of the ESF European Polar Board and the new European Polar Consortium, and that the facility will support the European Polar Research community for the next few decades. The International Polar Year in 2007-2008 will be an excellent time to secure an agreement on the construction of this unique vessel with a group of European Countries.’
Professor Joern Thiede, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and former chair and current member of the European Polar Board, strongly welcomed this major development:
‘The research icebreaker, designed as a European cooperative project, will not only be equipped with state-of-the-art technology, but will also have a drilling platform. The ship is designed primarily for operation in the Arctic and will be the first of its kind capable of working in the Central Arctic Ocean during winter. With Aurora Borealis it will be possible to retrieve sediments from depths down to 4000 metres and even from below a continuous ice cover.’
Sediment deposits from deep below the Arctic Ocean seafloor, currently unexplored, provide a key to the understanding of the region’s climate history and its effects on the global environment over millions of years. Global climate change is especially noticeable in the Arctic. In recent decades, the annual average temperature has been rising significantly. Glaciers have been moving much faster than previously observed and permafrost soils have thawed. Aurora Borealis will contribute to the understanding of such processes, especially within a global context.
The Aurora Borealis is identified on the European Commission’s ESFRI list of opportunities for European Infrastructure of interest for development during Framework Programme 7. It is hoped that the project will also be endorsed on the EC ESFRI Roadmap recommendations later this year to secure financing partial from the European Commission. Work will now start on a consortium to define European commitments to constructing and managing the vessel.
Notes:
The Wissenschaftsrat is co-funded by the Federal Government and the governments of the 16 Länder. It consists of two commissions, the Scientific Commission and the Administrative Commission, which meet in the Plenary Assembly to take decisions, in particular for the adoption of recommendations and reports.
The Scientific Commission has 32 members. They are appointed by the Federal President, with 24 scientists being jointly proposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft or DFG (German Research Foundation), the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (MPG), the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and the Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren or HGF (Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres), and another eight persons of high public standing jointly proposed by the Federal Government and the Länder governments.
The Administrative Commission has 22 members, with the representatives of the 16 Länder having one vote each, and the six representatives of the Federal Government a total of 16 votes. The Plenary Assembly thus has 54 members eligible to cast a total of 64 votes. The decisions of the Wissenschaftsrat are taken in the Plenary Assembly and have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority; consequently, there is a strong incentive to seek solutions by consensus.
Contact
Paul Egerton
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