This award will support NSF funded research programs by providing a safe platform for studies conducted primarily on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. This proposal covers year 1 of a 5-year cooperative agreement, from January through December 2012. Funding will be re-negotiated each year and will be dependent upon the number of days at sea in support of NSF funded research. In 2012, 69 operational-sea days out of 112 are funded by NSF. The intellectual merit of the proposal lies in the peer-reviewed proposals from the science sections that have been funded. Cape Hatteras is in compliance with USCG, University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) regulations and is owned by the National Science Foundation.
