This award to University of Washington's School of Oceanography provides instrumentation to significantly improve the oceanographic research capabilities of the research vessel Thompson, operated by UW as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System research fleet. The specific items supported with this award include spare parts for the new intermediate-depth multibeam sonar system, a data storage and management system for the shipboard LAN, a sub-meter precision GPS navigation acquisition system and first year service subscription, and three oxygen sensors for use with CTD and other instruments. These improvements will be of substantial advantage to marine scientists using these three ships in their research during 2003 and future years. ***
