GONORTH-Utforske polhavet

The "GoNorth 2022" project will organise, launch and partly fund the infrastructure of a research expedition to the oceanic areas north and west of Svalbard in October-November 2022. The project will use the research vessel Kronprins Haakon as its platform. The expedition will be in two parts - one covering the oceanic areas north of Nordaustlandet and Kvitøya and into the Nansen basin, the other covering the oceanic spreading ridge west of Svalbard, the Knipovich Ridge. The cross-disciplinary program will be organised through ten different research projects, covering the sub-sea geology, the sea floor, the water column and the surface sea ice. These projects are funded by the Research Council, EU, private companies, NRC-funded Centres of Excellence and partner funding. The projects are listed in a separate attachment. Education is an important part of the program. Organising and funding such an expedition is a challenge, mainly because of the high logistics and infrastructure costs. While the total budget for the 2022 expedition adds up to approx. 70 MNOK, logistics and infrastructure amount to approx. 30 MNOK or almost half of the costs. The mission of the "GoNorth 2022" project, is to organise and fund the infrastructure needs, thereby serving the entire portfolio of research projects on board. It is the goal of GoNorth to be scientifically excellent, economically feasible and useful for the future management of the Arctic Ocean. The program shall bring Norway to the forefront as a responsible manager of the environment and the natural resources. As most projects onboard have received their funding though NRC/EU, they have also been evaluated by scientific panels and are required to report according to the requirements of their calls. Reporting on scientific issues from the projects is therefore outside the scope of "GoNorth 2022".