This project will support NSF funded research programs by providing a safe, efficient, and economical platform for studies conducted in the Laurentian Great Lakes. This is a five-year cooperative agreement, and in CY2005, 25 days out of 68 will be used to support NSF sponsored research for two different awards. For each year of the cooperative agreement, funding is dependent upon the number of days at sea in support of NSF research, and budgets are renegotiated. The intellectual merit of the research programs being supported on the Blue Heron has been determined by the science programs. The Blue Heron will serve as the platform to support these projects. Although the Great Lakes dominate the northern boundary of the United States and constitute 20% of the world's freshwater, our understanding of these water bodies is limited. The work envisioned in the programs supported on this ship will increase understanding of natural processes in the Great Lakes.
Broader Impacts In addition to facilitating research projects on the Great Lakes, the Blue Heron has numerous teaching and class cruises during the year, enabling undergraduate and graduate students to participate in work on a research vessel with equipment typically used on larger, ocean-going research vessels. One of the programs on the Blue Heron will cooperate with the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College while sampling, thereby involving the Native American community and community college students in the research.
’ to provide support for the following NSF grants: Sterner, OCE-0352291 ‘The nitrifying of Lake Superior and its intersections with the P and Fe cycles.’ Colman, OCE-0421091 ‘Acquisition of high resolution-imaging instruments for sediment research at the Large Lakes Observatory’ Werne, OCE-0452927 ‘Linking archaeal membrane lipids and ecology in great lakes: Understanding the TEX86 paleotemperature proxy’ McNeill, OCE-0527196 ‘Singlet Oxygen’s role in the photochemical-biochemical degradation of dissolved organic carbon’ Colman, OCE- 0623607 ‘Testing the hypothesis of eastward Lake Agassiz discharge at the beginning of the Younger Dryas using marine seismic-reflection methods’ Minor and McCallister, OCE - 0825600 & 0825403 ‘Collaborative Research: How important is "old" Carbon in Lake Superior? A radiocarbon investigation’ Austin and Matsumoto, OCE – 0825633 & 0825576 ‘Collaborative Research: The role of ice in the response of large lakes to a changing climate’ Finlay and McKay, OCE-0927512 & 0927277 ‘Collaborative Research: Sources and sinks of stoichiometrically imbalanced nitrate in the Laurentian Great Lakes’ Katsev, OCE-0961720 ‘Transient diagenesis in organic poor sediments: Lake Superior’ This award (OCE-0505092 – Ship Operations, R/V Blue Heron) paid for fuel, food, crew salaries and fringe benefits, supplies, utilities, insurance, maintenance and repairs to the ship, and shore support that allowed the research vessel to operate and provide services to the various science programs mentioned above. The R/V Blue Heron also receives operational funds from NOAA, the State of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota to pay for additional research cruises and educational cruises on board the vessel. University funds facilitated 64 educational cruises between 2005 and 2012. These cruises mostly were composed of UMN students but some cruises included high school students and extension educators. The ship averages about 3 dockside tours per year (for classes or other large groups) and has had ~10 cruises over the past eight years for participants in scientific meetings (the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, the International Association of Great Lakes Research Annual Meeting, and the American Quaternary Association Annual Meeting) and other groups (again, paid using institutional funds). The research cruises, including the NSF funded cruises, also have a large educational component. In general, half of the science personnel on the research cruises are undergraduate or graduate students gaining valuable experience. More advanced graduate students will sometimes lead the science party as the Chief Scientist on a cruise. Between 2005 and 2012 over 50 publications, Master’s degree theses, Ph.D dissertations and abstracts to meetings resulted from samples or data collected on the research vessel Blue Heron. We expect the number of manuscripts to increase as more samples are analyzed and results are published.
