Building a globally unique research vessel.

How can coastal and marine research become more sustainable and more innovative? The answer: by developing a unique, climate-neutral research vessel equipped with state-of-the-art digital technologies. The Coriolis will become a tool for coastal research and at the same time an innovation platform for more environmentally friendly navigation.

The Coriolis will be powered by hydrogen stored on board in metal hydride tanks that we developed at Hereon. In cooperation with DLR, we are developing a unique diesel-electric propulsion concept from fuel cells and membrane modules. As a part of the coastal research with the Coriolis, we will analyze which nutrients and pollutants are transported from rivers into the sea and how the expansion of offshore wind power affects the environment.

The vessel is planned to have a wet, an electrical, and an outdoor laboratory as well as a laboratory for hydrogen technology. Along with observation technologies with autonomous measuring devices, it will feature instruments for flow measurement and various other flexibly deployable systems. It will also feature a completely new information and data management system, as we want to exchange relevant environmental data with aircraft, other ships, and shore stations in real time and make such available immediately.

Update 09/11/2023: On Thursday, 31 August 2023, the pile launch of the Hereon research vessel Coriolis was celebrated at the Hitzler shipyard in Lauenburg.

Update 12/16/2023: In december 2022 the future name of the new research ship was found in an internal competition among Hereon staff. The ship will be called "Coriolis". The chosen name goes back to the mathematician and physicist Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis (1792-1843) and thus replaces the working title "Ludwig Prandlt II", which had been used until then.

Image: Hereon