Scripps proposes to operate the research vessel New Horizon to support NSF-funded scientific research at sea in the year 2005. NSF-sponsored projects account for 47% of the work of the vessel for the year. The ship will spend 2005 primarily in Southern California waters, with port calls exclusively in San Diego. However the schedule contains three voyages to Mexican waters in the Gulf of California and will support eleven very different scientific programs, some with more than one voyage. This is a five year cooperative agreement, and funding for the years 2006-2009 will be renegotiated and will depend on the number of days at sea in support of NSF-funded research programs requiring the use of an Oceanographic platform.
Broader Impacts: The primary impact of ship operations is on the education of many students, principally but not exclusively graduate students in the ocean sciences. The great majority of scientific parties on Scripps (and other UNOLS) ships contain students in their ranks. They form integral parts of the research teams. By going to sea they obtain firsthand experience of the conduct of seagoing research, they learn the difficulties that surround the gathering of meaningful observations from the real ocean, and they gain valuable preparation for leading their own research projects at sea in their future careers.
A second important impact is on public appreciation of ocean science. Research ships are novel, attractive venues for tours by school groups and other interested citizens. To the maximum extent feasible within the context of necessary work and constraints of new port and vessel security requirements, Scripps tries to accommodate all such outreach instances in port, in San Diego and elsewhere, for we know that this gives positive representation to science in general and to seagoing ocean science in particular. In an example of outreach to the general public through the education community, at the request of the education coordinator at the University of Rhode Island, a science teacher from Washington State participated in a cruise to Mexican waters with a Chief Scientist from Oregon State University on this ship owned and operated by SIO in a unique coordination of effort.
Scripps also frequently receives inquiries from the public about volunteering to work at sea on a research vessel, often as a result of having browsed the marine (www.sio.ucsd.edu/shipsked/) or general institutional (www.sio.ucsd.edu/) websites. They maintain information about volunteering on the site, pointing such inquirers toward scheduled chief scientists who may have need of volunteer assistance. They have university procedures in place to enroll volunteers on behalf of projects headed by UC-affiliated investigators, thereby providing appropriate insurance coverage, etc. In cases when volunteers and projects do connect successfully, strong educational experiences arise that can awaken a continuing interest in the oceans and ocean science.
Intellectual and Technical Merit : The intellectual merit of the proposed work is indirect. It derives from the intellectual merit of the individual research projects that depend upon the shipboard work at sea. For example, the two voyages into Mexican waters for Prahl will assay the abundance and distribution of a particular phytoplankton species (Emiliana huxleyi) at a site in the Guaymas Basin, to be compared to a sampling at Station ALHOA in the subtropical north Pacific under different seasonal oceanographic conditions, and will also examine the composition of a particular class of lipids (alkenones) found in these organisms. The compositions vary according to the ambient conditions (temperature) surrounding the live organisms. Thus the compositions of the same lipids found in sediments may serve as a means of inferring ocean temperatures and climate in the geological past. The 2005 cruises are part of a longer set of voyages to extend this research to other oceanographic locations and settings.
A technical/logistical factor of importance, reflected in the Prahl work, is that by virtue of being home-ported in San Diego, New Horizon affords a capability to conduct repeated (time series) of measurements in this region on an economical yet capable general-purpose vessel. The scheduled voyages for Smith (NSF support), Venrick (NOAA) and Hildebrand (Navy) are further examples of this need for repeated access to the same regional sites. An additional funded NSF repeat-sampling requirement has arisen under the LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) program (Ohman) and now awaits ship availability. This requirement will recur in future years
Intellectual merit. At Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and throughout the U.S. oceanographic research community, the observation, measurement, and collection of samples and data are accomplished at sea on a global scale by operations aboard seagoing research vessels. National Science Foundation (NSF) support for the operations of oceanographic research vessels enables NSF-supported scientists to project their ability to observe, measure and sample the planet worldwide, facilitating scientific endeavor across a broad range of disciplines including biology, chemistry, geology, geophysics, physics, atmospheric sciences, and many others. SIO-operated ships have played a critical role in the exploration of our planet since 1907, and continue to contribute significantly to the U.S. ocean research effort. Shipboard research, such as that provided by SIO-operated vessels supported by NSF, offers the transformative potential to understand societally-relevant issues, such as global change and the health of ocean ecosystems, on which human well-being may ultimately depend. This award supported the operation of the Research Vessel (R/V) New Horizon during the period 01 MAR 2005 through 28 FEB 2013. During this period R/V New Horizon carried to sea 161 separate and distinctive scientific programs, 77 of which were NSF-sponsored projects. Each scientific program assigned aboard R/V New Horizon was individually selected through peer review processes, and was directed by its own Principal Investigator with unique objectives, outcomes and intellectual merit. The scheduling of scientific programs aboard the vessel was conducted collaboratively within the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), which has established a system for prudent shared use of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet by NSF as well as other federal, state, and local agencies. During this award period, R/V New Horizon conducted 1,354 operational research days. Of those, 629 (46%) supported NSF-sponsored projects, with the remainder supported by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (376 days, 27%), the United States Navy (255 days, 18%), and Scripps Institution of Oceanography programs (92 days, 7%). Broader impacts. The spectrum of research projects enabled by these improvements to NSF-supported research vessels collectively achieves far-reaching broader impacts through the enhancement of infrastructure that is critical to the promotion of training and learning, increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in research, advancing scientific and technological understanding and informing policy making for the benefit of society. For example, research and research training are fundamental elements of the SIO mission that benefit significantly from the proposed improvements. Since 1903, Scripps has awarded more than 1,500 PhD and MS degrees to women and men from more than 47 countries. Our alumni include a college president, five college deans, 21 academic directors, 234 tenure-track professors at 93 universities in 19 countries, and 142 research scientists at 32 universities in 12 countries. In the five-year period ending in 2010, 630 graduate students and 253 undergraduate students obtained first-hand experience at sea aboard SIO research vessels. Practical experience aboard research vessels is a cornerstone of SIO’s exemplary research training program, and this experience has contributed to the Institution’s success in producing outstanding new research scientists. As shared-use resources for the U.S. oceanographic research community, SIO-operated vessels host scientists from throughout the country, and contribute similarly to the education and training missions of other institutions. As a charter member of UNOLS, SIO is actively involved in coordinating research vessel operations with scientists and funding agencies so that our capabilities can best meet the current and anticipated needs of the entire community. Through UNOLS, SIO ship operations and technical support personnel collaborate with ship operations departments at other institutions to broadly communicate best practices, lessons learned, and operational practices that benefit the entire U.S. research community. During the period of this award, R/V New Horizon served NSF and the U.S. scientific community by safely, capably and efficiently carrying out its mission to advance our understanding of the oceans, climate, and Earth.
