Scripps proposes to continue operations of the research vessel Robert Gordon Sproul in support NSF-funded scientific research at sea in the year 2005. NSF-sponsored projects account for 40% of the work of the vessel for the year. The ship will spend 2005 along the Pacific coast from Mexico to central California, supporting eleven very different scientific programs, several of them involving more than one voyage. The total ship schedule in 2005 is 185 operating days. This is a five-year cooperative agreement, and funding for the years 2006-2009 will be renegotiated and will depend on the number of days at sea in support of NSF-funded research programs requiring the use of an Oceanographic platform.
Broader Impacts: The primary impact of ship operations is on the education of many students, principally but not exclusively graduate students in the ocean sciences. The great majority of scientific parties on Scripps (and other UNOLS) ships contain students in their ranks. They form integral parts of the research teams. By going to sea they obtain firsthand experience of the conduct of seagoing research, they learn the difficulties that surround the gathering of meaningful observations from the real ocean, and they gain valuable preparation for leading their own research projects at sea in their future careers.
In a particular educational effort during 2004 the ship supported a highly successful one-day experience of research at sea for a selected group of teachers participating in two-week summer workshop at SIO built around the scientific theme of plate tectonics and the practice-of-science theme of organizing and executing research at sea. The NSF ship operations program funded ship use; workshop funding was from the NSF/EAR/DUE/ERESE (Enduring Resources for Earth Science Education) program.
Scripps also frequently receives inquiries from the public about volunteering to work at sea on a research vessel, often as a result of having browsed the marine (www.sio.ucsd.edu/shipsked/) or general institutional (www.sio.ucsd.edu/) websites. They maintain information about volunteering on the site, pointing such inquiries toward scheduled chief scientists who may have need of volunteer assistance. They have university procedures in place to enroll volunteers on behalf of projects headed by UC-affiliated investigators, thereby providing appropriate insurance coverage, etc. In cases when volunteers and projects do connect successfully, strong educational experiences arise that can awaken a continuing interest in the oceans and ocean science.
Intellectual and Technical Merit: The intellectual merit of the proposed work is indirect. It derives from the intellectual merit of the individual research projects that depend upon the shipboard work at sea. For example, in 2005 the ship will support a NSF-funded effort (Checkley) to develop autonomous underwater instruments that sense zooplankton and their environment using a laser optical plankton counter. Development efforts of this kind are essential to create the future generations of instruments that can expand our ability to observe important ocean parameters, especially such hard-to-measure parameters as plankton distributions. Important biological and chemical variables have been terribly under sampled in the global ocean in the past because existing methods for these variables are so slow and labor-intensive. Successful developments of new systems mean that vessels can deploy and manage them when and where needed, multiplying the observing power of the ships by orders of magnitude. In this example, and in virtually every other significant development of new ocean observation methods, the work begins with small-scale local tests of candidate sensors and systems, only building to full-scale use and deployments much later. R/V Sproul has supported innumerable such tests, and is of a size, adaptable capability, scheduling flexibility and operational cost that make her an ideal, platform for such work, now and in the future.
Intellectual merit. At Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and throughout the U.S. oceanographic research community, the observation, measurement, and collection of samples and data are accomplished at sea on a global scale by operations aboard seagoing research vessels. National Science Foundation (NSF) support for the operations of oceanographic research vessels enables NSF-supported scientists to project their ability to observe, measure and sample the planet worldwide, facilitating scientific endeavor across a broad range of disciplines including biology, chemistry, geology, geophysics, physics, atmospheric sciences, and many others. SIO-operated ships have played a critical role in the exploration of our planet since 1907, and continue to contribute significantly to the U.S. ocean research effort. Shipboard research, such as that provided by SIO-operated vessels supported by NSF, offers the transformative potential to understand societally-relevant issues, such as global change and the health of ocean ecosystems, on which human well-being may ultimately depend. This award supported the operation of the Research Vessel (R/V) Robert Gordon Sproul during the period 01 MAR 2005 through 31 AUG 2013. During this period R/V Robert Gordon Sproul embarked on 299 separate and distinctive scientific research cruises, 83 of which were NSF-sponsored projects. Each federally-supported scientific program assigned aboard R/V Robert Gordon Sproul was individually selected through merit-based peer review, and was directed by its own Principal Investigator with unique objectives, outcomes and intellectual merit. The scheduling of scientific programs aboard the vessel was conducted collaboratively within the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), which has established a system for prudent shared use of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet by NSF as well as other federal, state, and local agencies. During this award period, R/V Robert Gordon Sproul conducted 710 operational research days. Of those, 197 (28%) supported NSF-sponsored projects, with the remainder supported by the United States Navy (388 days, 53%), Scripps Institution of Oceanography programs (63 days, 9%), the U.S. Geological Survey (16 days, 2%), the State of California (12 days, 2%), the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (5 days, 1%), the U.S. Environmental Administration, (3 days, <1%), NASA (1 day, <1%) and other sponsors (35 days, 5%). Broader impacts. The spectrum of research projects enabled by these improvements to NSF-supported research vessels collectively achieves far-reaching broader impacts through the enhancement of infrastructure that is critical to the promotion of training and learning, increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in research, advancing scientific and technological understanding and informing policy making for the benefit of society. For example, research and research training are fundamental elements of the SIO mission that benefit significantly from the proposed improvements. Since 1903, Scripps has awarded more than 1,500 PhD and MS degrees to women and men from more than 47 countries. Our alumni include a college president, five college deans, 21 academic directors, 234 tenure-track professors at 93 universities in 19 countries, and 142 research scientists at 32 universities in 12 countries. In the five-year period ending in 2010, 630 graduate students and 253 undergraduate students obtained first-hand experience at sea aboard SIO research vessels. Practical experience aboard research vessels is a cornerstone of SIO’s exemplary research training program, and this experience has contributed to the Institution’s success in producing outstanding new research scientists. As shared-use resources for the U.S. oceanographic research community, SIO-operated vessels host scientists from throughout the country, and contribute similarly to the education and training missions of other institutions. As a charter member of UNOLS, SIO is actively involved in coordinating research vessel operations with scientists and funding agencies so that our capabilities can best meet the current and anticipated needs of the entire community. Through UNOLS, SIO ship operations and technical support personnel collaborate with ship operations departments at other institutions to broadly communicate best practices, lessons learned, and operational practices that benefit the entire U.S. research community. During the period of this award, R/V Robert Gordon Sproul served NSF and the U.S. scientific community by safely, capably and efficiently carrying out its mission to advance our understanding of the oceans, climate, and Earth.
