The RV Anna Weber-van Bosse has been launched in Spain. In a year’s time, the new flagship of the Dutch research fleet will be ready for use. Construction of the ship is now about halfway through.
Source article, picture and video: NIOZ.
During the first year, the almost 80-metre-long hull was built in the hall at Armon Shipyards’ yard in Vigo, Spain, to roughly eight storeys, but the ship will be even higher.
Gert-Jan Reichart, head of NIOZ’s Ocean Systems Research department and responsible for the scientific side of the project, says: ‘The ship did not fit in the assembly hall of the shipyard in its entirety, which is why, among other things, the bridge will be built on top of it outside the hall in the coming period. Then the extra fun period for the scientists will begin and it will be time to start building in the laboratories and technical equipment.’
Research that was not possible before
The capabilities of the Anna Weber exceed those of the Pelagia, the Netherlands’ ocean-going research vessel for the past thirty years.
Reichart: ‘This will also allow us to organise scientific expeditions to places for which we were so far depending on foreign ships. There will be new equipment on board, for example, that we did not have ourselves until now. Such as a whole series of sensors under the ship in a gondola and also in a so-called drop keel, which protrudes metres under the ship. There will also be an underwater robot, with which you can work right down to the ocean floor.’
Moreover, the Anna Weber is a light ice class ship. ‘That means we can work on the edges of sea ice with it. We couldn’t do that before either.’
Also read: RV Anna Weber-van Bosse will be able to perform top-notch research
More boarders and classroom at sea
The new ship will be larger, and that means it will be able to carry more expedition-members. The number of places for scientists will even be doubled. ‘On the Anna Weber, there will be room for 25 scientists. That means we can run several projects side by side and also do bigger experiments. It also makes it possible to take journalists along, for example.’
In other areas, the possibilities will also increase. For example, the Anna Weber will have a classroom at sea, a room with a direct online connection, Reichart says. ‘In it, a lecturer can teach from the sea and perhaps show students much more than in the regular lecture hall ashore. Students can immediately start working with the collected data, think along and participate in experiments. In this way, students can virtually participate in expeditions.’
Also read: Construction of RV Anna Weber-van Bosse ready for kick-off
Making plans
Reichart calls on scientists to start making research plans and writing and submitting proposals to NWO now.
‘A year passes in no time, people can really start thinking now about what they would like to do on the Anna Weber,’ states Reichart. ‘These can be both small and large projects. Several projects running at the same time, will become possible.’
Reichart hopes to make an expedition to Indonesia with the ship one day, following the example of the ship’s name-giver, scientist Anna Weber-van Bosse herself. ‘It is a very interesting area from an oceanographic perspective, the connection between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. There is a lot of international interest in cooperating with us, including from Indonesia.’
Also read: Spanish shipyard to build new NIOZ research flagship Anna Weber-van Bosse
