Multimedia Gallery - NSF's Alaska Region Research Vessel will open up high latitude waters to researchers for discovery.

Illustration of NSF's Alaska Region Research Vessel.

February 20, 2009

NSF's Alaska Region Research Vessel will open up high latitude waters to researchers for discovery.

In Aug 2008, NSF announced a $2.5 million award to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to fund the first of four phases of construction of the research on the Alaska Region Research Vessel. This 236-foot, $123-million ice-capable vessel will be the first vessel in the U.S. academic research fleet capable of breaking ice up to 2.5 ft thick, and open up the ice-choked waters of Alaska and enabling researchers from around the world to go where they have never been able to go before. It will be owned by NSF and operated by UAF on behalf of the entire ocean sciences community, through the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. Funding for the remaining phases is contingent upon UAF satisfactorily meeting designated milestones. The estimated completion date for the vessel is 2011.

Credit: ARRV / NSF

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