A request is made to provide funds to purchase equipment for the establishment of a Potential Fields Equipment Pool. It is intended that the Potential Fields Pool Equipment (PFPE) effort would continue as a long-term service to UNOLS ship operators. The equipment would include needed spare parts and related electronics needed to repair broken gyros on behalf of all UNOLS operators running BGM-3 gravimeters on their ships for academic research, as well as to purchase a portable magnetometer system that could be used by any UNOLS operator for marine magnetics surveying. The services and equipment includes:
1) Repairs to BGM-3 gyros 2) Acquisition of Lockheed-Martin spare BGM-3 electronics boards $ 3) Acquisition of 1 complete surface towed Marine Magnetics SeaSPY magnetometer system & winch (including shipping) 4) Gyro equipment cabinets, tools, shipping cases 5) Shipping and Telephone costs (yearly) 6) Recalibration of s/n210 BGM-3 sensor
The principal impact of the present proposal is under criterion two, providing infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). 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.
(PFPE): A Proposal to Provide Shipboard Geophysical Equipment and Spares to the UNOLS Vessel Operators $200,000; 9/12009 to 9/31/2011 (1-Year No Cost Extension Granted in August 2010) PIs: James Kinsey and Daniel J. Fornari – WHOI Introduction The Potential Fields Pool Equipment (PFPE) Facility at WHOI, under the direction of Kinsey and Fornari, with important consultative support from Mr. Randall Herr, has, over the past 3 years, provided substantive operational, technical and equipment support for BGM-3 gravimeters installed on UNOLS vessels (Melville, Revelle, Knorr, Atlantis, Oceanus, Langseth) and the Coast Guard ship Healy. This effort represents a continuation of several funded grants from NSF’s-Oceanographic Instrumentation Program, which provided support for acquisition and refurbishment of the gravimeters (NSF-OCE 0705964). Under this grant we provided key spare parts, real-time consultation support for troubleshooting, and repairs to various components of the gravimeters in order to better support their operation. As part of this effort we also installed a BGM-3 gravimeter on the U. Washington (UW) vessel T. Thompson in spring 2011 and coordinated that effort with UW marine operations and shipboard technical personnel. The specific results of this proposal have been: Refurbishment of BGM-3 Gyroscopes: At the time of the proposal submission, only 6 spare gyroscopes were available to UNOLS operators. To ensure a continued supply of the gyroscopes necessary for operating the BGM-3 gravimeters, we requested funds to refurbish 11 gyros. Those gyros have all been refurbished and returned to the operators as spares. In addition, the surplus funds from this proposal were used to refurbish an additional 4 gyros, and with funds from a supplement approved in Aug. 2010 we arranged to refurbish an additional 6 gyros, using US Dynamics, a US corporation specializing in these instruments.. Purchase of Electrical Components: The manufacturer of the BGM-3, Lockheed Martin, offered to sell us their remaining inventory of BGM-3 electrical components. PFPE purchased this equipment, tested all the boards (with assistance from R. Herr) and has used this inventory to restock the spares for each sea-going gravimeter in the UNOLS fleet. The remaining spares are stored at WHOI and sent on an as needed basis to the operating institutions. Failed boards are returned to WHOI for future repair. We implemented a repair capability using electrical engineering talent within WHOI’s AOPE department. Calibration and Integration of an additional gravimeter: Seven gravimeters were purchased from Fugro in 2007 using funding from NSF-OCE 0705964, however funds in that grant only allowed us to calibrate and install six of them. This proposal requested funds to calibrate the 7th sensor, integrate it into a leveling table, and use it as a seventh permanently deployed gravimeter. Sensor calibration and integration occurred in Fall 2009. In March 2010 the sensor was deployed on the R/V Marcus Langseth after its original sensor suffered from a power failure. In early 2011, this sensor was installed on the R/V Thompson. The number of permanently deployed gravimeters in the UNOLS fleet will increase from six to seven (Table 1). Acquisition of a Towed Magnetometer and Portable Winch: In discussions with various UNOLS operators and based on use demand, acquisition of a portable high precision marine magnetometer system was deemed as an important priority. A complete system, including a Marine Magnetics SeaSPY magnetometer and a portable winch, was purchased and is available through the WHOI-MISO facility as part of the PFPE inventory. Science Cruises Directly Benefiting From this Award: This NSF award provided the equipment necessary to keep these gravimeters functioning and thus allow the community to obtain hundreds of thousands of miles of gravity data. Much of this data has not been looked at yet (illustrating the need to implement a central repository of this data in a standardized format) however there have been cruises over the duration of this award that used marine gravity data to enhance their scientific investigations. This section summarizes four of these cruises. All of these cruises occurred within the last year (one is occurring at the time of writing), so results, when available, are preliminary. While this award did not fund these science activities per se, the award did provide the fund necessary to maintain the gravimeters employed on these cruises and provide the technical and operational expertise necessary to enable the scientists to obtain these data. Science Cruises Supported by PFPE Activities R/V Atlantis; Guaymas Basin; Fall 2009; D. Lizarddle (WHOI) R/V Revelle; Chatham Rise, NZ; Winter 2010; J. Collins (WHOI) R/V Melville; Galapagos Rift; Spring 2010; K. Harpp (Colgate U.) CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent; Arctic; Summer 2010; D. Hutchison/J. Childs (USGS) CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent; Arctic; Summer 2011; D. Hutchison/J. Childs (USGS)
