European Network of Excellence project
Jacobs University participates in new program on deep sea cabled obervatories

Jacobs University's OceanLab joins the European Deep Sea Observatories Network of Excellence (ESONET) associating 50 partners (research centres, universities, industrials and SMEs) from 14 countries. More than 300 scientists and engineers participate to its activities. It took three years to prepare the project.

[ Apr 23, 2007]  The aim of the four year ~ 20 Mill Euro ESONET project is to create an organization capable of implementing, operating and maintaining a network of multidisciplinary ocean observatories in deep waters around Europe from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea. The Network of Excellence (NoE) will structure the resources of the participating institutes to create the necessary critical mass, remove barriers and through a joint program of activities arrive at durable solutions for this future organization.

Long-term observatories are crucial for European scientist to maintain world class science that was developed through past and present framework programs. It is closely linked to the EU HERMES program, with its training programs from Jacobs University. Only long-term observatories allow continuous observation of large numbers of parameters collected through power intensive sensors. This capability is crucial for observing natural processes that are either very episodic or statistically require long time series to detect because they are hidden by noise of higher frequency.

Within the program, Jacobs University's OceanLab group is responsible for the further development of internet operated vehicles, the link to simular US/Canadian programs and for the training and outreach program within ESONET. Beside Jacobs University, MARUM (Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften), Alfred Wegener Institute and Max Planck Institute in Bremen participate in ESONET.

For detailed information please visit:
www.ifremer.fr/esonet/esonet-noe/index.htm
www.eu-hermes.net
www.deepseacam.com/about/
www.neptunecanada.ca/

Contact:
Jacobs University Bremen
Dr. Laurenz Thomsen
Professor of Geosciences
Email: l.thomsen@iu-bremen.de

ESONET project The goal of the ESONET NoE (Network of Excellence) is the lasting integration of European research on deep sea multidisciplinary observatories. Over the initial 4 years, the approach will be to merge the programmes of members Organisations through research activities addressing the scientific objectives and networking activities specially designed for integration and spreading Excellence. ESONET will make a significant contribution to the development of a thematic strategy for the protection, conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment.