Scripps Institution of Oceanography proposes to support technical services on four research vessels, all operated as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) research fleet. Ships to be supported include R/V Revelle, R/V Melville, R/V New Horizon and R/V Sproul. As part of their basic operations they will provide one (Sproul, New Horizon) or two (Revelle, Melville) technicians on each seagoing research project to support basic services, including multibeam sonar operations, and they will maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. They also propose to provide several elements of specialized support for investigators, with separate charges. Specialized support requested for 2009 includes 1) reference quality hydrographic support, 2) seismic reflection profiling and related mitigation of impacts on marine mammals, 3) management of the service contract and maintenance for HiSeasNet (Internet connectivity at sea from research vessels) for UNOLS vessels using C-band or Ku-band service for 7x24 access to satellite-based ship-shore, and 4) support of CTD operations on USCG Healy. The budget in this proposal is for the first year of a 3-year continuing grant.
This grant provided funding to enhance the productivity of marine research activities conducted on the four oceanographic ships operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), as well as research vessels operated by other state and federal organizations within the USA. The services provided are categorized as Basic Activities, both ashore and at sea, and Specialized Support Activities. Basic Activities are provided to all scientists sailing on the four research ships operated by SIO. Specialized Support Activities are those directed toward instruments and services beyond the level of Basic Activities. Specialized Support Activities typically require extra technical personnel at sea, as well as highly trained and experienced technical staff ashore who assist with the maintenance, calibration, repair and logistics of the instruments during both the mobilization and demobilization phases of the research cruise. An extra level of data quality analysis is provided to the scientists under Specialized Support Activities. A brief description of the four research ships operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography follows. Research Vessel (R/V) Robert Gordon Sproul,built in 1981, is 125 feet in length and has a beam of 32 feet. The ship carries a crew of 5 and has berthing for a maximum of 12 scientists. It can operate for up to 14 days straight. R/V Sproul generally operates within a few hundred nautical miles of home port. R/V New Horizon was built in 1979 and underwent a midlife refurbishment in 1996. The ship is 170 feet in length and 36 feet wide. A crew of 12 operates the ship and up to 19 scientists can sail on each cruise. Although most cruises are from just a few days to a couple of weeks in duration, the ship can stay at sea for up to 40 days. The general work area stretches from Canada to Central America and out as far as Hawaii. The two larger ships work globally and may be gone from home port for years at a time. They have sailed from the Arctic to Antarctic ice ages and most everywhere in between. R/V Melville was built in 1969 and underwent a midlife refurbishment in 1992, including a complete replacement of the propulsion system. The ship is 279 feet long and 46 feet wide. It is crewed by 23 persons and has berthing for up to 38 scientists. Cruises are typically three to six weeks in duration. The newest ship is R/V Roger Revelle, built in 1996. The ship is 277 feet long and 52 feet wide. It is crewed by 22 persons and has berthing for a maximum of 37 scientists. Cruises are similar to those on R/V Melville. Figure X shows the track lines of the research cruises conducted on the four SIO ships in 2011. As stated above, the areas of operation for the ships are similar in the other two years of this grant (2009 and 2010). Besides funding for salary and travel expenses for technical staff to participate on research cruises, this grant funded the maintenance and repair of commonly used oceanographic instrumentation . This set of instruments collects data and samples that span the four general disciplines of oceanography: biological, chemical, geological and physical. The instruments are loaded on a ship at the request of the scientists sailing on a specific cruise. This may be moving with a fork lift from the staging area to the dock along side the ship in home port, to securely packaging and shipping half way around the world to load on one of the larger ships in a foreign port. As soon as the instrument is no longer needed on a particular ship then it is returned to the home port for check out, maintenance and preparation for its next use. Although use on SIO ships takes priority, the instruments are also available, on a not-to-interfere basis, for use on other US academic research vessels. Capable and reliable oceanographic technical support is vital to the health of the U.S. oceanographic research community. The U.S. academic research fleet has played a critical role in the exploration of our planet, and continues to contribute significantly to the U.S. ocean research effort. Shipboard research offers the transformative potential to understand global change and monitor the health of ocean ecosystems on which human well being may ultimately depend. The spectrum of research projects enabled by shared-use technical support services collectively achieves far-reaching broader impacts through the enhancement of infrastructure that is critical to the promotion of training and learning, advancing scientific and technological understanding and informing policy making for the benefit of society.
