Norway Plans New Polar Research Vessel

Written by Anita Thorolvsen Munch, Journalist

Published: 10.10.2007

lance-ingress (Ingressbilde)

The Norwegian Government has allocated funding for the construction of a new ice-protected research vessel. This is the first Norwegian vessel of its kind in a hundred years.

In its 2008 budget draft, the Norwegian government allocated NOK 5 million to the projecting of a new ice-protecting research vessel in Norway. A new vessel of this kind could help Norwegian researchers become world leading within research on ice.

The new vessel will be operative in four years at the earliest and will be used for education and research purposes. Norway has not built any ice-protected research vessels since Roald Amundsen's Maud and Fridtjof  Nansen's Fram nearly one hundred years ago.

The new research vessel is intended to operate all-year-round, including the long polar winters - both in the Arctic and the Antarctic. It will also replace the two ice-protected research vessels Norway uses today: Lance and Jan Mayen, which both have their homeport in Tromsø

"We are pleased - and we expect that the government also finances the construction of the ship," said head of the Norwegian Polar Institute, Jan Gunnar Winther.

The Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway, will be in charge of the projecting phase. The estimated cost of the vessel is NOK 500 million.

Institute of Marine Research

The Norwegian Polar Institute

Last updated: 24.04.2008

Tips en venn Utskriftsvennlig versjon

Mer om " Klima og miljø "

Mer om " Hav og is "

Det norske IPY-sekretariatet, Norges forskningsråd, Postboks 2700 St.Hanshaugen, 0131 Oslo - Redaktør: Kristen Ulstein