Operation Area of the Vessels

German Research Vessels Portal

In the field of basic marine research, Germany has a very efficient fleet of research vessels at its disposal. As universal platforms, the vessels facilitate research in all marine science disciplines and in the waters of all oceans.

This portal provides a platform for scientists working at publicly funded research institutions (universities, institutions of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, institutions of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Association, institutes of the Max Planck Society, and subordinate federal authorities) to submit cruise proposals for the research vessels POLARSTERN, METEOR, SONNE, MARIA S. MERIAN, ALKOR, HEINCKE, and ELISABETH MANN BORGESE. Proposals for secondary use of RV POLARSTERN are accepted also from scientists who are employed at a research institution outside Germany.

The decision on which research groups will be allocated access to the research vessels is made in the framework of a uniform evaluation procedure based on scientific criteria. For further information, please refer to the subpage "Evaluation".

Important note: The "Cruise Proposal Preparation Instructions" are updated consistently and the ship proposals must be composed in accordance with the current version.

Short cruises of one to three working days aiming at the test of scientific equipment under development can be requested directly at the ship operators (see subpage "Contact").

Information for potential secondary users:

All cruises recommended by the GPF to be included in the scheduling process that could not be scheduled yet by the ship operating institutions are listed in the following overview:

> Overview table of approved but not yet scheduled cruise proposals

News and Announcements:

Research Capacities RV SONNE 2024/2025

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In connection with a necessary transit from Fremantle (Australia) to Wellington (New Zealand), there are research capacities available on RV SONNE in the time period from December 25, 2024 to January 13, 2025 (as at February 16, 2023, subject to change). The direct transit from Fremantle to Wellington takes 13 days. Depending on the proposed research program and resulting deviations from the direct route up to 6 working days can be applied for.

Cruise Proposals in this context can be submitted until June 30, 2023 (10.00 a.m.) via the Submission System of the Portal deutsche Forschungsschiffe following the link https://www.portal-forschungsschiffe.de/en/cruise-proposals/submissions. Further information on preparing cruise proposals can be found following the link https://www.portal-forschungsschiffe.de/en/cruise-proposals/guidelines.

Attention: Please add the letter “T” to your acronym in the following way: “Acronym – T”. Please be also aware of the maintenance closure of the submission system: June 06, 2023.

The submission system is open. Cruise proposals could be submittedvia the submission system of the Portal deutsche Forschungsschiffe following the link https://www.portal-forschungsschiffe.de/en/cruise-proposals/submissions. Further information on preparing cruise proposals can be found following the link https://www.portal-forschungsschiffe.de/en/cruise-proposals/guidelines.

The Review Panel German Research Vessels meets twice a year in winter (January/February) and summer (June/July). If a cruise proposal should be discussed on a specific GPF meeting, please take a lead time for submission of approx. 5 months into account for regular cruise proposals. Cruise proposals that do not undergo external review (preregistered cruises in context with coordinated programs, cruises financed by other departments than the BMBF, equipment tests, and educational cruises) should be submitted with a lead time of at least 3 months.

All proponents are kindly requested to utilize the flexible year-round standing open call, and to submit, if feasible, completed cruise proposals also distinctly earlier than at the recommended latest submission dates listed above.

Current GPF Panel sessions:
11th GPF meeting: February 02/03, 2023
Feedback to proponents: from March 06, 2023

12th GPF meeting: July 04/05, 2023
Feedback to proponents: from August 07, 2023

The submission system has been open permanently since December 2021. Next planned maintenance closure: June 06, 2023. Please note: During maintenance, all proposals in "work" status that are not finally submitted will be deleted.