This proposal is a request for funds for Shipboard Operations on the RV Blue Heron, an 86ft-research vessel that is owned by the University of Minnesota and operated by the Large Lakes Observatory (LLO). The award will cover the 2018 to 2022 field seasons, with annual reports providing detailed information for the 2019 to 2022 seasons. During the 2018 calendar year, two NSF-peered reviewed funded projects have requested the ship for 22 days: * Samuel Kelly (Univ. of Minnesota): 9 days, 'Collaborative research: Coastal inertial-band dynamics: separating forced and free responses in a natural laboratory' (OCE/PO-1635560). * Tedy Ozersky (Univ. of Minnesota): 13 days, 'Ecosystem-scale responses of coupled C-N-P cycles to dramatic shifts in benthic communities: the Upper Great Lakes' (OCE/CO-1737368).
Intellectual Merit: Work done aboard the R/V Blue Heron is in support of NSF funded research programs. The intellectual merit for these research programs is normally reviewed separately as part of a research proposal to NSF. Kelly's project (OCE/PO-1635560) will quantify coastal kinetic-energy pathways using realistic numerical simulations and extensive direct observations of winds, turbulence and near-inertial waves along lacustrine coastlines and rough coastal bathymetry. The project will improve our understanding of near inertial motions throughout the coastal ocean and in large lakes. Ozersky's project (OCE/CO- 1737368) will study the effects of invasive zebra and quagga mussels on the biology and chemistry of the Great Lakes. The impact of benthic communities on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in freshwater systems at the ecosystem level are understudied and the mechanisms for how these nutrients are affected by the introduction of dreissenid mussel invasives are unclear. Ozersky's work will advance the understanding of the ecology of the Great Lakes and improve models of sediment-water column interactions in aquatic ecosystems.
The two projects will involve students in all aspects of the research. In addition to facilitating research projects on the Great Lakes, the R/V Blue Heron has numerous educational or 'class cruises' during the year (9 during 2017), enabling undergraduate and graduate students to participate in work on a research vessel with equipment typically used on larger, ocean going, research vessels. Beyond the class cruises, undergraduate and graduate students participate on almost every RV Blue Heron cruise as research assistants and, sometimes, chief scientist. Additionally, we have hosted Chief Scientist Training cruises over the last four years, during which early career scientists (senior graduate students, post-docs, and 1st year faculty) are educated about UNOLS and directly immersed in planning and undertaking a scientific expedition. Dockside, we give tours to University of Minnesota students, undergraduates from other institutions and have established a dock-side monthly tour and seminar series for members of the general public. Over the last five years, approximately 4,500 members of the public have toured the vessel as part of the seminar series. Regarding specific broader impacts, Kelly's project (OCE/PO-1635560) will help improve the interpretation of numerical models used in coastal settings. Ozersky's project (OCE/CO-1737368) will create online content for educators and the public, and will host outreach events at Duluth's Great Lakes Aquarium, Milwaukee's Discovery World Science Museum and Chicago's Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
