University of Gothenburg

The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Infrastructure (SLC) is located at Goeteborgs Universitet (University of Gothenburg, UGOT). The Lovén Centre is the largest Swedish marine research infrastructure unit and financed by UGOT. SLC operates two research stations at the Swedish west coast (Kristineberg and Tjärnö). Including “resident scientists” a total of ca 150 persons work all year-round at the SLC. With excellent lodging (total of 165 berth places) and restaurant facilities the SLC hosts national and international student courses, summer schools, workshops and conferences.

The Lovén Centre will be responsible for the new regional class research vessel “Skagerak” to be delivered in spring 2018. “Skagerak” is a 50 m long multi-purpose vessel equipped with advanced multi-beam echosounder, sediment profiling echosounder, ADCP and ferry box (among many other instruments). With a maximum capacity for 16 scientists and classified according to Finish / Swedish ice class I B the ship can operate almost year-round in the Baltic Sea and during summer season in the northern North Atlantic up to the Marginal Ice Zone of the western Svalbard area. The Lovén Centre operates three ROVs (500, 700 and 2000 m depth rated, respectively) and expects delivery of a recently ordered 3000 m depth rated AUV.

UGOT are involved in WP2 Transnational Access. Access to Research Vessels and related infrastructure:

• Research Vessels and larger sea-going infrastructure

• RV Skagerak [Regional]

• Deep-sea ROV Ocean Modules Offshore V8 [2000 m depth rated]

• Smaller ROVs

• HUGIN 3000 AUV (Kongsberg Maritime) [3000m m depth rated]

• Work-shops and qualified personnel for training courses on mobile underwater systems (ROVs, AUVs, Glider)

• Hosting facilities for project workshops, General Assembly meetings etc. at the research stations Kristineberg or Tjärnö at the Swedish West coast (maximum of 100-150 participants)

UGOT will also undertake activities in WP4 Call Management and Proposal Evaluation, WP5 Stakeholder Engagement, and WP6 Education and Training. UGOT are involved in activities related to data management, data harmonization and standardization.

Modality of access [RV Skagerak]: The vessel will be available as a platform for use of the Ocean Modules V8 Offshore ROV and the Kongsberg Maritime HUGIN 3000 AUV.

Support offered [RV Skagerak]: If necessary, additional support and collaboration can be facilitated with experienced personnel from private companies (e.g. experts in hydro-acoustics).

Outreach to new users [RV Skagerak]: We will also utilise our three websites and social media platforms to announce the calls. The establishment of SWEdish REsearch Vessel CONsortium is a joint effort aiming at these goals with the intention to receive financial support from the Swedish research Council. This platform will also be used to spread information about Eurofleets+ calls.

Calls will be targeted also to collaborations like SMaRC funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.

Modality of access [Ocean Modules VS Offshore]: All potential users of the ROV are obliged to submit applications for ship-time via a web-portal (http://skagerak.gu.customer.i8t.com/). The ROV system is mobile and containerized, thus operations are possible world-wide including the Arctic and Antarctic depending on sea- ice conditions. The ROV will be available year-round according to an annual cruise plan.

Support offered [Ocean Modules VS Offshore]: The technical support, preparation according to user demands, mobilization and demobilization is done by a private Offshore company with long-lasting experience in the field of ROV operations. Lovén Centre’s personnel will provide further technical support if required. Our warehouse facilities and the Robotics Lab workshop in Gothenburg harbour can be utilised for storage of user equipment pre and post survey.

Outreach to new users [Ocean Modules VS Offshore]: The ROV is part of a larger MUST (Mobile Underwater System Tools) project. In MUST three Universities (Stockholm University, Chalmers Technical University and Gothenburg University) jointly cooperate to further develop the utilization of ROVs and AUVs in Sweden. This consortium has a considerable network of collaboration partners which will be used for dissemination of upcoming calls.

• Driemel, A., Fahrbach, E., … Klages, M., et al. (2016). From pole to pole: 33 years of physical oceanography on board of RV POLARSTERN. Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. Doi:10.5194/essd-2016-64

• Soltwedel, T., Bauerfeind, … and Klages, M. (2015) Natural variability or anthropogenically induced variation? Insights from 15 years of multidisciplinary observations at the arctic marine LTER site HAUSGARTEN. Ecological Indicators. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.10.001

• Bergmann, M., Gutow, L. and Klages, M. (2015). Marine Anthropogenic Litter. Edited by Melanie Bergmann, Lars Gutow, Michael Klages, 06/2015; Springer. ISBN: 978-3-319-16510-3

• Wulff, T., Lehmenhecker, S., Bauerfeind, E., Hoge, U., Shurn, K., Klages, M. (2013). Biogeochemical research with an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: Payload structure and Arctic operations. Oceans’13 MTS/IEEE Conference, Bergen, June 10-13, 2013