Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) requests funds for oceanographic instrumentation that is needed to carry out NSF-supported scientific research. Working within the collaborative framework of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), the proposed instrumentation will be maintained by the SIO ship operations department for use by NSF-supported scientists from institutions nationwide who require these seagoing facilities. Instrumentation is requested for RV Sally Ride, a 238-foot, Navy-owned vessel built in 2014. The vessel completed 282 funded days in 2019, only 13 of which were for NSF. In 2020, the ship is scheduled for 254 days with 102 of them in support of NSF-funded science. With this proposal, SIO provides technical descriptions and rationale for the acquisition of the following Oceanographic Instrumentation:
1) Virtual Desktop Infrastructure R/V Sally Ride $178,129 2) CTD Rosette and CTD Cart System R/V Sally Ride $90,487 3) Acoustic Release System R/V Roger Revelle and R/V Sally Ride $46,730 $315,346 Broader Impacts The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 13-589). It provides 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.
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.