San Jose State University proposes to support technical services on R/V Point Sur, a 135? general purpose UNOLS research vessel operated by the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System research fleet. They request support for basic services and operation of a towed, undulating vehicle as specialized services. They will provide one technician on each seagoing research project of R/V Point Sur to support seagoing research projects and to maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. The budget in this proposal is for the first year of a 3-year continuing grant.
The funds provided by National Science Foundation were used to support oceanographic research conducted on the R/V Point Sur. The R/V Point Sur is owned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is operated by Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML). The supported research took place exclusively off the West coast of the United States and ranged primarily from San Diego, California to the Oregon/Washington boarder. The Oceanographic Technical Services proposal (OCE-0917849) was a three-year proposal (2009-2011), which provided funding for the marine technician group on the R/V Point Sur. This group consisted of two technicians who are paid full time from this proposal. A third person, (Marine Superintendent) who was primarily responsible for managing the group, was also funded by this proposal at a reduced level (10%). The two primary individuals associated with this program are sea-going marine technicians and help support the technical aspects of the vessel. The third person, functioned as a relief technician and went to sea as needed. While at sea, the marine technician’s primary responsibilities include the following: serving as liaison between the ship’s crew and the research party, operating shared use equipment such as the CTD/Rosette, ADCP, UDAS and echosounding systems, assist with over the side operations, and instruct scientists in the safe and proper operation of the ship and scientific equipment. In additiona to the safe deployment and operation of oceanograhic instrumentation, the Marine Techncians also provided assistance to the chief scientist of a cruise, in the training and education of graduate and undergraduate students. This assistance usually took place during day cruises where students sailed on the vessel as part of an academic course or seminar. Various different gear and techniques were discussed and demonstrated. Although this is a technical support program and does not conform easily to public outreach and education, there are several ways in which support of the R/V Point Sur operations will do exactly that. The Moss Landing Marine Laboratories has been successful in advancing the California State University's Center for Integrative Coastal Observation, Research and Education program (CI-CORE) and the Alliance for Coastal Technologies program (ACT). As a key partner in both these efforts MLML has been funded (at no cost to NSF) to provide instrumentation for the underway measurement of surface water parameters (temperature, salinity, fluorescence, oxygen, and turbidity) from a number of our vessels. As part of the CI-CORE program these data will be formatted and made available on our web site for educators, scientists, policy makers and the public. Our hope has been to demonstrate the utility of this approach and export our methodologies to other UNOLS vessels such that a large number of ocean measurements taken as part of their normal science missions, can be linked into a network of ocean observations. Images from cruises, together with data will provide a unique opportunity to share in the science of discovery and the processes contributing to the variability of the coastal ocean. At MLML, this data and images will be used in support of our Teacher's Education Program, providing marine science curricula to local K-12 educators. In addition, the support provided from this funding has been used to broaden the educational experiences of undergraduate and graduate students that sail on the R/V Point Sur. The ship’s technicians routinely work closely with students in supporting scientific cruises and the funding support proposed here will help ensure that cruises are completed safely and that the researchers on board will have access to the latest oceanographic instrumentation and support.
