Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis

The Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis is a project to build "the most advanced icebreaker in the world" by a consortium of fifteen parties. from ten European nations.

The project is coordinated by the European Polar Board, an expert board of the European Science Foundation.

The first, preparatory phase of the ship development is to be completed in 2012 when actual construction works should begin, followed by sea trials and testing procedures. In 2014 the new European polar research vessel will set sail with an operational lifetime of 35 – 40 years.

Participants

participants

participant		location
European Science Foundation	ESF	France
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar und Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association	AWI	Germany
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche	CNR	Italy
Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide	PNRA	Italy
Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique - Institut National des sciences L’Univers	CNRS-INSU	France
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute	AARI	Russia
Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor	IPEV	France
Merentutkimuslaitos (Finnish Institute of Marine Research)	MTL	Finland
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research	NWO	Netherlands
University of Bergen	UIB	Norway
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung	BMBF	Germany
Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique	FNRS	Belgium
Bulgarian Antarctic Institute	BAI	Bulgaria
Fundaţia Antarctică Română	FAR	Romania
Aker Arctic Technology Inc.	AARC	Finland

External links

• Focus On AURORA BOREALIS, ESF website
• AURORA BOREALIS, AWI presentation
• audio: Professor Jörn Thiede on the European Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis