This 3-year award to University of Washington provides support for technical services during NSF-funded programs on R/V Thomas Thompson, a 274' general purpose research vessel, and R/V Clifford Barnes, a 66-foot coastal research vessel, both operated as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System research fleet. UW will provide two shipboard technicians on each cruise of R/V Thompson to support seagoing research projects and to maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. As part of the basic services, they will maintain and operate the multibeam sonar systems on R/V Thompson. For R/V Barnes, a technician is available to sail if desired by the chief scientist, though (s)he will often not sail due to space limitations; the technician will prepare and provide the appropriate shared-use instrumentation for use by the scientists, and provide remote support as needed if a technician does not sail. ***
