UGA/SkIO R/V Savannah Ship Operations - CY 2018-2022

University Of Georgia Research Foundation Inc, Athens GA

Investigators

Abstract

Overview: This request is to fund the first year, 2018, of a five-year cooperative agreement for Ship Operations of the Research Vessel Savannah. Built at the Maine shipyard of Washburn and Doughty and delivered to the UGA/Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in 2001, the 92-foot coastal research vessel was designed to provide researchers with a versatile platform to conduct primarily federally-funded oceanographic research and educational activities in the southeastern U.S. With its moderate draft, the R/V Savannah is capable of working in a variety of environments, from coastal rivers and estuaries to the outer continental shelf and beyond. The ship funds will support a variety peer-reviewed NSF funded projects. A technical Description: Over the past 17 years, and in the next five, the R/V Savannah has continued and will continue to demonstrate its ability to host a large number of scientific cruises with a broad spectrum of mission requirements by providing a vessel with excellent range and endurance for its class, robust overboard handling systems and the capacity to berth 16 scientists plus 6 crew. For example, federally-funded projects over the past two years used the R/V Savannah to assess the role of vitamin B-12 and nitrogen availability on the regulation of oceanic dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethylsulfide (DMS) across a 250 nautical mile transect from the inner continental shelf to the Sargasso Sea; to study soluble iron fluxing in continental shelf margins using benthic lander deployments to 2500 meters and sediment collections to 1000 meters off the North Carolina capes; to quantify the cryptic diet of the globally significant pelagic tunicate Dolioletta gegenbauri on the mid-shelf of the South Atlantic Bight, and to measure the health of fish stocks from northern Georgia waters to south Florida. The R/V Savannah has also supported Navy ship trials and shock tests, ONR glider operations and the maintenance of meteorological data buoys as well as a variety of educational programs. All of the aforementioned projects were federally funded by NSF, ONR or NOAA. 2018 and years following will have some continuing projects and new research activities, mostly supported with federal funds. Purposefully designed with a large science berthing capacity, the R/V Savannah is well suited to provide learning opportunities in ocean and estuarine environments and to demonstrate oceanographic research methodologies to diverse student populations. In 2017, the R/V Savannah hosted 30 undergraduate, 40 graduate students, 23 high school science teachers and students, and 19 observers across 25 cruises. In collaboration with Savannah State University, the R/V Savannah continued to host the two-day Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) cruise (OCE-1460457) in 2017, giving students from all over the U.S. the opportunity to experience life at sea aboard a working research vessel by conducting standard sampling regimes across the continental shelf to be used in student research papers. The state of Georgia and Skidaway Institute of Oceanography regularly provide 5+ days per year, to support beginning investigator and graduate student research. To better inform and educate the public about advances in ocean sciences, the R/V Savannah is open to the public for guided tours each year, including the annual UGA/Skidaway Institute of Oceanography Marine Science Day which draws 1800-2500 participants annually. The Statement of Merit Review: This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.