This project will support NSF funded research programs by providing a safe, efficient, and economical platform for studies conducted off the coast of central California, particularly in Monterey Bay at the head of the deep undersea Monterey canyon. This is year one of a five-year cooperative agreement, and in CY2005, 114 days out of 180 will be used to support five different NSF sponsored research programs. For each subsequent year of the cooperative agreement, funding is dependent upon the number of days at sea in support of NSF research, and budgets are renegotiated. The intellectual merit of the research programs being supported on the Point Sur have been determined and the ship serves as the platform for the NSF awards. The ship continues to serve scientists from other institutions around the world, as well as institutions associated with the Monterey Bay Crescent Ocean Research Consortium.
Broader Impacts Although this is an operations grant, requesting funds for science support activities and not one that would conform easily to public outreach and education, there are several ways in which support of the R/V Point Sur operations will do exactly that. The Moss Landing Marine Laboratories has been successful in advancing the California State University's Center for Integrative Coastal Observation, Research and Education program (CI-CORE, www.mlml.calstate.edu/cicore/) and the Alliance for Coastal Technologies program (ACT, www.actonline.ws/). As a key partner in both these efforts MLML has been funded (at no cost to NSF) to provide instrumentation for the underway measurement of surface water parameters (temperature, salinity, fluorescence, oxygen, and turbidity) from a number of vessels, including the R/V Point Sur. As part of the CI-CORE program these data will be formatted and made available on their web site for educators, scientists, policy makers and the public. Issues to be overcome relate to securing Chief Scientist approval for this data distribution. Their hope is to demonstrate the utility of this approach and export methodologies to other UNOLS vessels such that a large number of ocean measurements taken as part of their normal science missions, can be linked into a network of ocean observations. This is an ambitious element of the CI-CORE program made possible through collaboration with Laboratories. Images from cruises, together with data will provide a unique opportunity to share in the science of discovery and the processes contributing to the variability of the coastal ocean. At MLML, this data and images will be used in support of a Teacher's Education Program, providing marine science curricula to local K-12 educators.
Another element of their program is teaching cruises in which MLML and Consortium faculty schedule time aboard the R/V Point Sur for educational missions. Not only do Consortium campuses take part in these cruises, but MLML makes additional space available for local groups to participate as well. Every year, scores of students are provided with unique opportunities through the operation of the Point. Sur.
The Research Vessel Point Sur has been highly successful in supporting all funded science cruises through the 2005-2012 cooperative agreement period. The vessel completed three NSF-sponsored inspections and has maintained ABS classification for Load Line, Hull, and Machinery. Point Sur has also been successful in maintaining a Letter of Designation with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) as an Oceanographic Research Vessel. Point Sur served the scientific community admirably during this period. She proved to be a sturdy research platform that can be relied upon to help the scientific community and students more fully understand the diverse disciplines in which they are studying. During the reporting period, this dependable workhorse of a ship lent herself to assist the National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), United States Geological Survey, (USGS) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and the Central California Oceanographic Co-operative, in their endeavors to further our understanding of earth sciences. Point Sur continues to be a well-equipped vessel for her size. Her sampling equipment includes; Conductivity, Temperature, and Salinity (CTD) measuring and water sampling devices, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) device, and the Underway Data Acquisition System (UDAS). She is equipped with Trawl, Hydro, and CTD winches, fore and aft deck cranes, Capstan, Stern A-Frame, and Starboard Gallows Frame. Point Sur also has a relatively low transom, which allows for easier mooring launches and recoveries. Some of the more noteworthy cruises during this reporting period allowed the scientific community, by using the CTD system, to assess sediment transport and its effects on kelp forest ecology. Some fascinating work was accomplished over several seasons in the Columbia River. As a result of multi-year-funding research grants, scientists had the resources to provide definitive new information on the alteration of rates of biogeochemical processes associated with the unique stratification, turbidity, mixing environment and nutrients of a river plume. This was an exciting dual-ship, and later three-ship, operation that included; CTD sampling and microstructure profiling, and deploying and tracking down drifter buoys in omnidirectional currents, sometimes in excess of 6 knots! Later in the reporting period, scientists embarked on Point Sur were able to study the cross shelf current structure associated with the Columbia River by using the newly refreshed, and calibrated (75 kHz. and 300 kHz.) ADCP units. The Santa Barbara Channel was the exclusive venue for work conducted using the CTD system to collect water samples for assessing the concentrations of dissolved organic material, and for determining phytoplankton growth rates. During this cruise the scientific party also used a drogue to track the water masses of interest. In an area just south of Santa Barbara, Point Sur was able to service two shallow- water moorings, which allowed the moorings to continue to collect valuable data to be utilized later. Using the shipboard CTD system, researchers were able to compare and calibrate data collected by these moored instruments. During the reporting period, the Point Sur made two trips to Alaska to support studies of the kelp forest along the Aleutian Island chain and also to service moorings for the Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) program. These trips proved the ability of this vessel to support projects far from its home port. Of the many cruises the Point Sur is fortunate enough to participate in, few are more rewarding than using the platform as a training and education tool. During the reporting period, Naval Post-Graduate School students used the CTD and XBT systems to become more familiar with oceanographic field sampling and were successful in collecting samples for their thesis work. Moss Landing Marine Laboratories also conducted cruises for instructional purposes. During these cruises, students from the many California State Universities were exposed to various types of sampling equipment and scientific instrumentation. Because these were day cruises, up to 40 students were able to participate on each cruise. In conclusion, the R/V Point Sur participated in many cruises, trained many young and energetic graduate and undergraduate students, and contributed significantly to the body of oceanographic knowledge that is so important to our future.
