RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

摘要

Research vessels have made much progress since James Cook set off in the Endeavourto record the transit of Venus across the Sun. Today many governments own a vessel dedicated to multi-disciplinary marine scientific research. The UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) owns three vessels, two of which are operated by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and two by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The impending end-of-life of its two current vessels has prompted NERC to design a new polar research vessel, to be operated by the BAS, for which it is currently in the process of soliciting feedback on the concept design. It is hoped that interaction with the scientific user community early on will ensure thatthe vessel meets current and future requirements when it is eventually deployed in both polar regions and used to resupply the UK's Antarctic stations.