Funds are requested to continue support for Ship Operations of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Research Vessel Weatherbird II in 2005. This proposal covers year 1 of 5 of the cooperative agreement for Jan 2005 to Dec 2009. The RV Weatherbird II is a general purpose research ship owned and operated by the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR), Inc., a Bermuda-based United States registered not-for-profit research and education institution. Funding will be renegotiated each year and will be dependent upon the number of days at sea in support of NSF funded research programs.
Intellectual Merit The mission of the ship is to support funded science research. The vessel is scheduled for 144 days at sea in 2005 with 52 individual cruises. All but 4 of these days are in support of National Science Foundation funded science. The R/V Weatherbird II primarily supports scientific research in the oligotrophic subtropical gyre of the North Atlantic Ocean. This region is an important modulator of the oceanic cycling of biogeochemical (N, P) and radiatively (e.g., CO2) important elements, air-sea heat and salt transport, and climate. The ease of access to these deep waters has allowed R/V Weatherbird II to significantly contribute to national efforts to improve our understanding of ocean processes.
Four nationally and internationally important oceanographic time-series programs are supported by R/V Weatherbird II operations, including: (1) Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) research program begun in 1988; (2) Hydrostation S begun in 1954; (3) Ocean Flux Program (OFP) begun in 1978, and; (4) Bermuda Testbed Mooring (BTM) begun in 1994. All four of these research programs have funded ship days in 2005. In addition, R/V Weatherbird II operations support several other NSF funded research activities.
Broader Impacts of R/V Weatherbird Ship Operations The R/V Weatherbird II supports scientific research and technology development that improves scientific knowledge of societal relevant environmental issues. The oceanographic time-series and other scientific research programs directly contribute to improved understanding of such global issues as: (1) global climate change; (2) the complex interaction and feedbacks between climate phenomena, global warming, ocean biogeochemistry, and ecosystem variability and health, and; (3) the variability of greenhouse gases such as CO2, the exchange of CO2 between ocean and atmosphere, and variability of carbon sources and sinks. R/V Weatherbird II operations are an important contributor to education, training and public outreach. Many undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students have received training or conducted their research using the R/V Weatherbird II. The scientific data for the BATS, Hydrostation S, BTM and OFP research programs also support education and training, being widely disseminated through easy online data access. The R/V Weatherbird II and its crew regularly contribute to public outreach efforts. For example, the ship is part of the regular weekly BBSR educational tour to the general public. The vessel is also open for general inspection and informational tours on our annual Marine Science Day in September, when approximately 2000 visitors to the Station learn about marine research and the ongoing projects associated with it. The vessel has also played host to media and outreach organizations in 2004 and likely in 2005.
I. Project Activities and Findings: a) Research Operational funding for the R/V Weatherbird II and for the R/V Atlantic Explorer, which replaced it in 2006, have supported scientific research, marine education and technology development that improves scientific knowledge of societal relevant environmental issues. Many of the major research projects that have used these vessels are oceanographic time-series efforts (www.bios.edu/research/time_series.html). For example, the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) is an oceanographic time-series project funded by NSF. The BATS program, begun in 1988, is now in its 24rd year and focuses on low frequency variability of the ocean (www.bios.edu/research/bats.html) over annual to decadal timescales. This is a truly unique program and our understanding of the Sargasso Sea ecosystem is continually improving due to this research. Time-series measurements are a major focus of U.S. and international ocean science research plans and ocean-observing networks supported by NSF. The two NSF-funded stations (Bermuda and Hawaii) are central to national and international plans for a network of ocean time-series stations and are being used as models for time-series research efforts by others. In addition, these two sites are important training and testing grounds for both the national and international efforts to study biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. The Hydrostation "S" sampling program has been conducted at roughly biweekly intervals for the past 55 years (www.bios.edu/research/hydrostation.html). This is the longest continuously running ocean time-series program in the world. This long-term record has proved to be immensely valuable, showing a clear increase in sub-surface temperatures of nearly 1°C over the past half century. Vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and oxygen are available for the entire period; the data from the first 30 years are available at the BIOS website (www.bios.edu). Another important time series program in the waters near Bermuda is the Ocean Flux Program, which measures the sinking flux of particles at several depths below 500 m, has been ongoing for three decades (http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/conte/ofp/). In conjunction with the surface tethered particle interceptor traps (PITS) that are deployed monthly at BATS, this is a one of a kind dataset on particle fluxes in the Sargasso Sea. These major time-series programs have spawned numerous ancillary research projects and process-oriented studies in the past and this number looks to grow substantially in the future. Since the R/V Atlantic Explorer took over servicing these time-series programs in April of 2006, there has been a steady increase in the number of requests for berths on the core BATS cruises and other process cruises in the region. The strategic location of an operational base in Bermuda with easy access and short transits to the deep ocean, have proven the importance and value of operating a research vessel here. b) Education The R/V Atlantic Explorer operations are important contributors to education, training and public outreach. Given the proximity of Hydrostation "S" and BATS to Bermuda, these cruises serve an important educational role in training future generations of potential oceanographers. At a time when fewer and fewer new scientists are going to sea, the importance of recruiting these new scientists and providing sea-going training experience is critical. The R/V Atlantic Explorer also contains the only classroom in the UNOLS fleet that has been designed primarily for undergraduate education. II. Justification and Cost NSF Award OCE-0505888 in the amount of $17,321,852 (cumulative amount) has supported the day to day operations of the R/V Weatherbird II and for the R/V Atlantic Explorer beginning in April 2006. The award period was 01 March 2005 to 29 February 2012. R/V Atlantic Explorer is a 170ft, 861 Gross Ton oceanographic research vessel, and part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS see: www.unols.org). Four nationally and internationally important oceanographic time-series programs were supported by R/V Weatherbird II and R/V Atlantic Explorer operations, including: (1) Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) research program begun in 1988; (2) Hydrostation S begun in 1954; (3) Ocean Flux Program (OFP) begun in 1978, and; (4) Bermuda Testbed Mooring (BTM) begun in 1994 and completed in 2007. In addition, several other NSF funded research projects have been supported which utilize time series data or take advantage of easy access to the deep ocean off Bermuda.
