ARICE-PONANT Call for Ship-time Proposals for Polar Research

As part of its Ships and Platforms of Opportunity Program, ARICE has opened its third call for ship-time proposals to access the Polar Expedition Ship Le Commandant Charcot.

While the first two calls offered ship-time for cruises in the Arctic Ocean, this third call will allow scientific teams to access the Southern Ocean in the 2023-2024 Antarctic season and beyond.

Submissions are due by December 20, 2022 at 12:00 CET. ARICE manages the application process and shortlisting, with logistic evaluation by PONANT.

Selected projects will be able to carry out research within any field of polar science, including marine-based and terrestrial sciences (i.e., including geology and biology in the North Antarctic Peninsula, Bellingshausen Sea, Margarite Bay, Weddell Sea, Snowhill Island, Charcot Island and Peter 1st Island, Svalbard or the Canadian Peninsula), and social sciences (restrictions may apply).

Le Commandant Charcot is a polar expedition ship state-of-the-art iceabreaker (PC2 Class) owned and operated by the company PONANT (France). The vessel is equipped with scientific laboratories and facilities and offers to host up to four scientists to participate in their regular cruises to perform scientific projects.

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework, ARICE works to provide opportunities for marine research and better data collection in the Arctic using the existing polar fleet. WOC organizes and operates the ARICE Industry Liaison Panel and links ARICE to WOC’s global SMART Ocean-SMART Industries (SO-SI) program, which engages ocean industries in data collection. WOC has been active in the Arctic since 2012, with the Arctic Business Leadership Council Meeting in Iceland, the first-ever business community meeting with the Arctic Council. WOC is also a current partner on the EU Arctic projects Blue Action and PolarNet 2.

Read more about the application process and the ARICE project.