Ships and platforms of opportunity – call Transarctic 2024

ARICE’s overall aim is to provide Europe with better capacities for marine-based research in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean with the existing polar fleet.

Within ARICE's Ships and Platforms of Opportunity programme, ARICE fosters the collection of environmental data for research purposes using the vessel traffic in the Arctic Ocean. Through the project’s established dialogue with the maritime industry, the project aims at supporting a “ships and platforms of opportunity programme” in this area.

The calls for ship-time on Le Commandant Charcot is the first joint initiative between ARICE and the maritime industry under this “ships and platforms of opportunity programme”. 

This is the fourth call for projects within this partnership.

“Le Commandant Charcot” is a polar expedition ship state-of-the-art icebreaker (PC2 Class) owned and operated by the company PONANT (France). The vessel is equipped with scientific laboratories and facilities.

The scientific berths are offered free of charge, travel and shipping expenses to the port of departure/arrival are at the participant’s cost.

ARICE manages the application process, the proposal's evaluation and shortlisting for a posterior logistic evaluation by PONANT.

Access is planned for a single Transarctic Expedition, from 06.09.2024 to 26.09.2024 (20 days) with space for hosting up to 20 scientists.

Itinerary:

Station time: 72h of station time is secured, including 24h at the North Pole during the 14 days of navigation in ice. For this particular expedition, the Applicants shall inform in their proposal:

• Expected station time, position and duration,
• Detailed description of activities planned during these station time,
• Detailed description of activities planned outside of station time,

Leg description:

• Departure Nome on 6/09/24
• Reaching Marginal Ice zone on 09/09/24
• North Pole stop around 15/09/24
• Leaving the ice on 23/09/24

The final itinerary of the ship will be co-defined by the Research team and Ponant’s operational team and captains.

Permits: The scientific teams must provide the Science Coordinator from Le Commandant Charcot with all relevant details of their planned activities with sufficient time in order to apply for permits. Countries involved are USA (Alaska) and Norway (Svalbard).

Access is regulated according to the Excellence-driven access mode. This mode of access is dependent on the scientific excellence, originality, quality, technical and ethical feasibility of an application evaluated through peer review conducted by a panel external to ARICE.

A technical ang logistical feasibility study will be carried out by PONANT to confirm the proposals area feasible with the ship’s infrastructure.

In preparation of their respective proposal, the applicants should consult the technical capabilities and availability of scientific equipment of the icebreaker "Le Commandant Charcot".

This information is available in Downloads.

Access will be provided to selected ‘user-groups’, e.g. teams of one or more researchers (users) led by a ‘user group leader’ of up to 20 members. Proposals for access will be accepted for evaluation if they meet all the following criteria:

1. Expertise: The designated cruise leader of a proposal must have the appropriate scientific/technical expertise to conduct on board research surveys, with proven excellent record (CV to be provided by all participants at the time of submission).
2. Outreach: Applicants must be willing to perform outreach activities related to their onboard research.
3. Dissemination: Only user groups that are entitled to and willing to disseminate the knowledge they will generate under the project are eligible to benefit from access free of charge. User groups must agree to comply with the ARICE data policy. The applicants must detail in their proposal the planned scientist-passenger interaction. A minimum of 1h per day should be dedicated to dissemination activity to the passengers.
4. Multidisciplinarity: Proposals must be multidisciplinary, taking into account the vessel capacities. 
5. Multinational: the user group must consist of researchers based at least at three different countries.

The non-fulfilment of any of the previous criteria implies the non-acceptance of the proposal for further evaluation.

1. Up to 20 scientific berths on board the vessel “Commandant Charcot” are provided free of charge by the company PONANT in the frame of a Transarctic Expedition in 2024.

2. Travel and shipping expenses to and from the port of departure/arrival to the institutes of origin must be covered by the applicants.  A contribution from PONANT for travel costs and logistics can be integrated in the project’s financial proposal.

3. Navigation in these extreme lands is at the mercy of weather and ice conditions. Navigation will be determined by the type of ice the vessel come across; itineraries may vary.

4. Grantees will not invoice the ARICE Consortium or PONANT for any additional or third-party costs, such as salary costs, equipment manufacture, repair and rental of equipment, consumables, sub-contracting and assistance, publication costs and overheads.

5. If the number of days is reduced by PONANT for any reason or if the vessels are prevented from working (e.g. by poor weather or technical difficulties) no form of compensation shall be payable in respect of any time lost. Please note that cruise schedules could change during the year.

6. Vessel users should note that installation and operation of any equipment that they bring on board the vessels is done at their own risk, even when it is carried on board or deployed from the vessel. Further details will be provided during the negotiation phase.

7. The Principal Investigator is obliged to comply with the cruise reporting within two months after cruise completion.

8. A contract will be signed between the institution of each participant and PONANT laying out terms and conditions of access, including the support granted, reporting, liability, applicable safety/security regulations and other topics under consideration.

Access will be provided to conduct research, with an exclusive focus on civil applications and comply with ethical principles. Access may be limited, amongst others, by the following: national security and defense, privacy and confidentiality, commercial sensitivity and intellectual property rights and ethical considerations in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

Proposal submission must include a single pdf file composed of:

This document should be short and concise, containing sufficient information to allow an external review procedure. A Times New Roman 12pt should be used with 14pt spacing. 

1. The CVs of PI and the participants who will board the vessel using the dedicated CV template. 
2. A letter from the PI’s-institution authorized-representative confirming that the PI is allowed to lead/participate in this cruise.

Proposals must be submitted to info@arice-h2020.eu 

Incomplete proposals or proposals not following the template will be rejected.

All templates and related call documents are available for download.

The evaluation of proposals will be based upon the information provided in the completed application form, which should be correct, sufficient and adequate for this purpose.

Proposals must be received by the 15^th of August 2023, 12:00 CET (noon). 

Following completion of a funded cruise the PI must submit.:

• a Cruise Report (within two months after completion of the cruise), a template will be provided.
• a Cruise Summary Report (CSR) https://www.seadatanet.org/About-us/News/A-new-tool-for-submitting-CSR-entries and
• the data generated together with sufficient metadata to Ponant Science science@ponant.com within 2 weeks after completion of the cruise.

The cruise report is designed to report on the science carried out during the cruise. It must explicitly refer to and comment on the fulfilment of the points of the work plan outlined in the proposal. A dedicated template is provided to download. 

All results/publications/presentations/publicity arising from an ARICE funded cruise should carry an acknowledgment to PONANT and to ARICE Grant Agreement no. 730965. 

References and/or a copy of every publication and/ arising from these cruises must be sent to science@ponant.com for the project records.

Following completion of a funded cruise the PI must submit.:

• a Cruise Report (within two months after completion of the cruise), a template will be provided.
• a Cruise Summary Report (CSR) https://www.seadatanet.org/About-us/News/A-new-tool-for-submitting-CSR-entries and
• the data generated together with sufficient metadata to Ponant Science science@ponant.com within 2 weeks after completion of the cruise.

The cruise report is designed to report on the science carried out during the cruise. It must explicitly refer to and comment on the fulfilment of the points of the work plan outlined in the proposal. A dedicated template is provided to download. 

All results/publications/presentations/publicity arising from an ARICE funded cruise should carry an acknowledgment to PONANT and to ARICE Grant Agreement no. 730965. 

References and/or a copy of every publication and/ arising from these cruises must be sent to science@ponant.com for the project records.

Personal information supplied to the ARICE Consortium will be stored by electronic means (e.g. database) for use only in connection with the handling of proposals. All personal data supplied to the ARICE Consortium shall be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. You have the right to access and update the personal information about you and to ask for such information to be deleted.

All applicants who wish to query the outcome of their application and/or regarding the treatment of personal data may contact ARICE at info@arice-h2020.eu

The information contained here and in the related documents is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge. ARICE disclaims any and all liability, including any express or implied warranties whether oral or written for third party services such as the access to a vessel out of the ARICE consortium.

General information for applicants (NEW, updated 16.06.2023)

Proposal template (NEW, updated 14.06.2023)

CV template

“Le Commandant Charcot”, Transarctic itinerary

Science operations “Le commandant Charcot”

Appendix to science operations

Inventory science equipment

CRUISE REPORT TEMPLATE (to be provided after cruise completion)

F.A.Q. will be continuously updated (includes answers to previous calls).