Many nations have a particular interest in understanding the Arctic environment with its potential for change because highly industrialized countries reach into high northern latitudes and Europe / N. America are under the steady influence of and in exchange with the Arctic environment. In addition considerable living and non-living resources are found in the Arctic Ocean, its deep-sea basins and their adjacent continental margins.

Modern research vessels capable of penetrating into the central Arctic are few. A new state-of-the-art research icebreaker is therefore urgently required to fulfill the needs of polar research and to document multi-national presence in the Arctic. This new icebreaker would be conceived as an optimized science platform from the keel up and will allow conducting long, international and interdisciplinary expeditions into the central Arctic Ocean during all seasons of the year.

Since March 2007 the German Federal Ministry for Science and Education (BMBF) is funding a portion of the preparatory work for AURORA BOREALIS. In this project the final engineering work for the development of the vessel is carried out under the coordination of the Alfred Wegener Institute.

For further information, please visit the AURORA BOREALIS homepage www.eri-aurora-borealis.eu.