Marine Research Facilities

NIOZ - MRF

The Marine Research Facilities (MRF) branch of NIOZ represents the national task of the institute to facilitate sea-going research of external parties of the marine sciences community in the Netherlands, such as universities and other institutes.
NIOZ-MRF advises the Earth and Life Sciences Board (ALW) of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) on the technical, logistical and financial aspects of the sea operations of the National Programme for sea research.
Scientists who have secured science funding from ALW, are offered help and technical support with the cruise planning, preparation and execution of their sea going work on board the NIOZ research vessels as well as on other research vessels.

Royal NIOZ - RV Pelagia

For research cruises, MRF can offer ship time on the research ships owned and operated by Royal NIOZ, the ocean going R/V PELAGIA, and the R/V NAVICULA for Wadden Sea and near coastal work, but can also procure ship time on the basis of ship time exchange or charter.

Royal NIOZ has entered an Agreement with international partners in Europe, such as BMBF (Germany), IFREMER (France) and NERC (UK) for barter exchange of a wide range of ocean facilities. This OFEG (Ocean Facilities Exchange Group) has as a primary objective to exchange ship time and major marine equipment on a bartering basis without the need to exchange money. This arrangement has significant advantages. It allows scientists access to a wider range of facilities and equipment than would otherwise be possible, and also it reduces wasted time, and therefore wasted costs on long transit passages.

NIOZ-MRF maintains an equipment pool with CTD- and auto-analyser systems, current meters, sediment traps, and other moored instrumentation, boxcorer, pistoncorer, gravity coring, multicorer and vibrocorer systems, core scanner, seismic systems, as well as scanfish, nets and other biological sampling sytems. In the pool (deep sea) winches and cables are available as well as dedicated and multifunctional laboratory and compressor containers. For more detailed information on the use and technical details/development of sea-going equipment look into Marine Technology.

NIOZ-MRF advises ALW on long-term investments for the marine equipment pool, in consultation with the financial department and technical services of NIOZ and the equipment pool advisory committees on CTD systems, Auto-analyser systems, Moored instrumentation systems, Bottom sampling and seismic systems and Biological sampling systems. In these advisory committees scientists and technicians from all Dutch scientific groups involved in sea-going research participate.

Every year the Long Term Investment Plan on seagoing Marine Facilities is updated and submitted for advise to the NWO Committee for Marine Facilities (CMF).

More information can be obtained from the co-ordinator MRF, Dr. Erica Koning.

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