R/V Skagerak
Oceanographer Bengt Liljebladh and I went to inspect the new research vessel R/V Skagerak last Friday at Nya Varvet, Gothenburg. She has recently been commissioned to duty at the University of Gothenburg, and Friday was ‘open house’ where anyone interested was allowed aboard to visit Skagerak. I was working at Stockholm University when research vessel R/V Electra af Askö was commissioned, and I worked onboard Electra on a research trip to Alnö, Sundsvall back in 2017, so for me it was really interesting to see what kind of research vessel the University of Gothenburg has acquired and the facilities onboard. We met up with several former students from the University of Gothenburg, e.g., Martin Persson and Andrea Hultin, both working at Norconsult AB. Well onboard, we got a guided tour around the whole ship and got a chance to talk to most of the crew members. There are splendid opportunities onboard for teaching of students including laboratories, and beds up to 26 PAX(?). Initial rental price is 100 000 SEK per day. A questionnaire can be filled out, where you can state your interest in projects involving R/V Skagerak – the link to the questionnaire can be found here. Bengt was an excellent extra source of information as he was highly involved in the running of the old research vessel Skagerak plus the early design ideas for the new vessel, and he even came up with the original suggestion for the name Skagerak (spelled in the Danish way, it’s Skagerrak in Swedish). Erik is currently on a research trip to Spain collaborating with his colleague Jens Ormö on simulating meteorite impact craters in Jens’ impact laboratory and therefore couldn’t join us.