SPP 2520:  Infrastructure area - Research Vessels

• Subject Area: Geosciences ; Biology ; Chemistry ; Physics
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 551436379

The newly established infrastructure priority program (SPP) 'Research Vessels' allows for a uniform application procedure for the German research vessel fleet and the initial analysis of samples and data. Scientific activities within the framework of SPP will address emerging questions and future challenges related to vessel-based research along the following five research themes: (1) Ocean in a changing climate, (2) Ocean interfaces and biogeochemical cycles, (3) Ocean-lithosphere dynamics, (4) Ocean-biosphere interactions, and (5) Ocean-based new technologies and innovation.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, USA

Projects

• ALONGate3_4 – A LONG-term observatory of the North Atlantic Gateway to the Arctic Ocean. Part 3 & 4: new LTER sites, deep-sea transects and Benthic Lander Observatory System (BLOS) Deployment and Recovery (Applicant Brix, Saskia )
• Budget of a complete section of oceanic lithosphere at the Vema fracture zone (Applicant Stracke, Ph.D., Andreas )
• Cold-water corals off Argentina and Uruguay (SW Atlantic): Present and past (Applicant Wienberg, Claudia )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Friedrich, Oliver )
• Do oceanic subduction zone systems have multiple arc/backarc cycles? (Applicants Hoernle, Kaj ;  Kopp, Heidrun )
• Eastern Mediterranean Sea – Process study (Summer) (Applicant Browning, Ph.D., Thomas )
• Geophysical study in the German North Sea on multi-layered reservoir and barrier systems and fluid-migration systems by means of high resolution 3D seismic measurements (Applicants Berndt, Christian ;  Ehrhardt, Axel )
• HADALquake - Exploring impacts of seismic driven mass wasting’s for hadal life and element cycling: Conditions pre and post the recent earthquakes in the Kermadec and Tonga Trench systems (Applicants Brandt, Angelika ;  Wenzhöfer, Frank ;  Zabel, Matthias )
• HESS EVOLUTION - Origin and Evolution of Hess Rise (NW Pacific) (Applicants Dannowski, Anke ;  Geldmacher, Jörg )
• Joint Amazon River Plume Mixotrophy Study (Applicants Dittmar, Thorsten ;  Kiko, Rainer ;  Koschinsky, Andrea ;  Loick-Wilde, Natalie )
• Multi-scale geophysical investigation of subduction to strike-slip transition, New Zealand (Applicant Crutchley, Gareth )
• Nature of the Iceland Plateau and northeastern Iceland shelf, Northeast Atlantic (Applicants Bohlen, Thomas ;  Geissler, Wolfram ;  Schramm, Bettina )
• Observing the “ladder of migrations” to the deep sea (Applicant Taucher, Jan )
• Sources and sinks of hydrocarbons in the Baffin Bay and their dynamics in a warming climate (Applicant Römer, Miriam )
• Spatial and temporal evolution of plume-ridge interaction and its geo- and biological impact on the Foundation Segment (Pacific-Antarctic Ridge) – SPRINTER (Applicants Brandl, Philipp ;  Brandt, Angelika ;  Perner, Mirjam ;  Sander, Sylvia Gertrud )
• The Agulhas Slide: Why is there a Mega-Slide on a low sedimentation margin? (Applicants Barrett, Rachel ;  Huhn-Frehers, Katrin ;  Krastel, Sebastian )
• Tracking the footprint of an extreme harmful algal bloom event: integrative assessment from open ocean to coastal area approach and its connections to the Atlantic Ocean – Data Analysis with Focus on Hydrography and Bio-Optics (Applicant Wollschläger, Jochen )
• Western boundary circulation, AMOC, Tropical Instability WaVES (Applicant Brandt, Peter )
• Winter Insights: Revealing Oceanography, Climate History, and Environmental Pollutant Concentrations in the Northern Baltic Sea (Applicants Kanwischer, Marion ;  Mohrholz, Volker ;  Moros, Ph.D., Matthias ;  Papenmeier, Svenja )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Oliver Friedrich