This 3-year award to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts provides support for technical services during NSF-funded programs on research vessels Atlantis, Knorr and Oceanus. All three vessels are operated by WHOI as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) research fleet. WHOI will provide two shipboard technicians on each cruise of Atlantis and Knorr, and one technician on Oceanus, to support seagoing research projects and to maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. In addition, the award supports some specialized services support on both WHOI vessels and other UNOLS vessels on which WHOI technical staff will provide support. Specialized services include multibeam sonar operations and piston coring support. The services supported here are expected to significantly enhance the operation of the research vessels via cost-effective and expert support of shared-use oceanographic instrumentation. ***
