OGS Explora - Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale
Original (non-English) name
OGS Explora - Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale
Acronym
OGS Explora - OGS
Citation
Abstract
The research vessel OGS Explora is the only ocean research vessel with a capacity owned by a public entity currently existing in Italy. OGS has acquired in 1989 and important scientific activities were carried out with it, among which we remember the ten research campaigns in Antarctica, an Arctic campaign at the Svalbard Islands, various campaigns for crustal seismic data acquisition in the Mediterranean and numerous multidisciplinary research projects in the Mediterranean. The ship also served the needs of the offshore industry (exploration for hydrocarbons, deployment of telecommunication cables, etc.) with ad-hoc service contracts. Surveys on behalf of foreign countries were also carried out (projects UNCLOS - United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) in order to collect data for delimiting the extent of the exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
The R/V OGS Explora infrastructure is the most complex among those existing in OGS as it involves a wide range of professionals for the management of electronic and mechanical instruments (navigation and positioning, multibeam, multi-channel seismic, gravimetry, magnetometry, samples of the seabed, physical oceanography, marine biology, wet and dry laboratories, analysis and quality control of data), the logistics and maintenance of the naval platform. Management requires the finding of significant financial resources necessary to ensure the efficiency and functionality of the infrastructure.
The main objective of the vessel OGS Explora is to enable the geophysical and oceanographic research of the scientists of OGS, of the scientific European and international community. In this context, the collaboration with international researchers, also outside Europe has always been intense, especially in the many Antarctic expeditions.
The secondary objective, but that became in recent years a priority for contingent situation, is the service for companies operating offshore, both in the Mediterranean area and in the Atlantic (Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Fær Øer Islands).