Triaxus Operational Support - Phase (1 of 4)

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

A request is made to fund new and replacement instrumentation for the R/V Oceanus, a 177? research vessel operated by Oregon State University as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) research fleet. The R/V Oceanus is a general-purpose research vessel owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by Oregon State University. Until 2012, the vessel had been operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution but was then retired. OSU determined that the vessel was in better material condition than their ship R/V Wecoma so they took Oceanus and retired Wecoma. The mission of the ship is to support funded science research in the Pacific Northwest. R/V Oceanus completed 205 days in 2015, 126 (61%) of which were for NSF. In 2016, the vessel is scheduled to sail 196 days with 77% (151 days) of the schedule for NSF. With this proposal, OSU provides technical descriptions and rationale for the acquisition of the following Oceanographic Instrumentation: 1) Triaxus Cable Housing $6,000 2) Altimeter $3,286 3) Triaxus Computer System $5,000 $14,286 Broader Impacts The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 13-589). It provides infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). The acquisition, maintenance and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding the base of potential researchers.