This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
A request is made to fund additional and back-up instrumentation for the R/V Blue Heron, an 86 foot Coastal vessel owned by the University of Minnesota and operated by the Large Lakes Observatory as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) research fleet. The request includes one item/system: 1) Mooring releases, a spare deck box to trigger the releases and additional floatation
Broader Impacts: The acquisition, maintenance and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding the base of potential researchers. The addition of a shared use mooring release system will enhance the ability of R/V Blue Heron to complete mooring experiments in the Great Lakes. This is the only UNOLS ship that operates in these waters.
