This Major Research Instrumentation award to Old Dominion University in Virginia provides funds for acquisition of oceanographic instrumentation to outfit a 55-foot coastal research vessel for research and education projects in and around the Chesapeake Bay. Specific instrumentation to be acquired included a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth system (CTD), a precision depth recorder, an acoustic current profiler, a global positioning sytem, a box corer and a data logging computer system. The award also included partial support of a marine technician to integrate, install and oversee operation of the instrumentation during the initial three years. The project is supported by the Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF. Old Dominion University will provide cost-share support from non-federal funds for more than 30% of total project costs. ***