NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, ROOM 730
27 JUNE 1995
A Ship Scheduling Review meeting was held at the National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA on 27 June 1995. The meeting was opened by the Chair of the Ship Scheduling Committee (SSC), Don Moller, at 0830 hrs. Present were the SSC Vice Chair, Robert Hinton; NSF Representative, Dolly Dieter; ONR Representative, Annette DeSilva; NOAA Representative, Scott McKellar and UNOLS Executive Secretary, Jack Bash. Also present were Rose Dufour, Scripps; Elizabeth Rios, Scripps; Norman Cherkis, NRL; Pat Dennis, USN/JOI; Captain Martin Mulhern, NOAA; Paul Dauphin, NSF; Geoffrey Johnson, Department of Commerce; and Mary D'Andrea, UNOLS (Appendix I).
UNOLS ship schedulers had provided via e-mail their proposed ship schedules for 1996 (also filed on Oceanic) and the estimated costs to support these schedules (see Appendix II). Also provided, where appropriate, were ship tracks (see Appendix III). The UNOLS Office developed an inventory of the ship time requests (Form 831) included as Appendix IV. This information was used as the basis of the review deliberations. The purpose of the deliberations was to ensure all funded science was assigned to the ship(s) that could provide the most effective and efficient platform. Recommendations for consolidation of schedules and lay-up periods were suggested in an effort to develop the most cost effective schedules possible while maintaining appropriate platforms for the science. This review was the first cut at the 1996 scheduling process. All funding decisions have not been confirmed. In some cases, additional cruises could develop. Below is a summary of the discussion concerning each of the ships in the order they were addressed.
LAURENTIAN - University of Michigan: The proposed cruises of Cuhel and Wimbush have been declined funding. The proposed cruise of Stoermer has been funded. The funding decision of the three Jude cruises has not yet been made. The combination of these funding decisions leaves LAURENTIAN with a very light schedule of approximately 79 days. The University of Michigan is encouraged to work with NOAA, EPA, and USGS to coordinate science programs and ship use to make the maximum efficient use of the facilities available.
BARNES - University of Washington: The proposed cruises of Devol, Jumars and Murray have been declined. A five day Murray cruise has been funded. The Kiel work remains pending. BARNES should still have a healthy schedule of about 150 days.
BLUE FIN - Skidaway: The schedule proposed for BLUE FIN should stand, with the exception of the two Wiebe cruises which were declined funding. A reasonable 115 day schedule remains.
CALANUS - University of Miami/RSMAS: The cruises of Reid and Torres have been declined funding leaving only the single 24 day cruise of Fell on the CALANUS schedule. Unless additional cruises are generated it is recommended that the Fell cruise be passed to SEA DIVER and CALANUS lay-up for
1996.
LONGHORN - University of Texas: The proposed cruise of Montagna has been declined. This leaves a light 87 days of funded cruises for LONGHORN.
PELICAN - LUMCON: The ten day cruise of Dagg has been declined funding leaving a light 80 day schedule for 1996.
CAPE HENLOPEN - University of Delaware: The five day cruise of Salmun has been declined funding. The pending Garvine and Boynton cruises have been funded and the NRL/ONR cruises remain pending but funding prospects look good. It should be noted that the NRL/ONR cruise of Marmorino is a multi-ship program that must be coordinated with the Davis NRL program. The Church work will not be funded for 1996. A healthy 203 day schedule appears likely.
EDWIN LINK - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution: The cruise of Young has been declined funding. The pending cruise of MacDonald should not be considered at this time. The LINK schedule is primarily dependent upon NOAA/NURP funding for 1996.
SEA DIVER - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution: The first Frank cruise on SEA DIVER's schedule is funded however the second one, indicated as funded, has been declined. Szmant's work also has been declined. As with LINK, the SEA DIVER schedule is dependent upon NOAA/NURP funding.
WEATHERBIRD II - BERMUDA BIOLOGICAL STATION: The cruise of Bates has been declined funding. Funding for the Sayles cruises remain pending. The OCE listed for Dickey is not valid. WEATHERBIRD II's day rate appears inordinately high at $7435 causing the BATS work to be excessively expensive. NSF program managers continue to evaluate the days scheduled for BATS.
ROBERT GORDON SPROUL - SCRIPPS: The funding decisions for Swift, Winant, Latz and Constable remain pending. The Dorman NSF work is funded, however, the ONR work needs to be sorted out. The ONR status of Orcutt/Constable is unknown. Jaffe should be listed as PI for the cruise listed as Ohman which is funded. Barbara Block has requested both SPROUL and POINT SUR. POINT SUR is the preferred ship for scientific reasons, however, SPROUL is the most cost effective. Scripps and MLML should work together to resolve this problem taking into consideration how the added days to POINT SUR's schedule will improve the day rate. SPROUL retains a solid schedule of between 140 and 155 days.
POINT SUR - MOSS LANDING MARINE
LABORATORIES: POINT SUR's schedule is constructed to permit the first three months of the year to be open. This time coupled with the time in December 1995 has been set aside for a mid-life overhaul of POINT SUR. If funding does not materialize for this work the schedule will be open for additional operating time. It appears that NPS funding will again be available for POINT SUR. The Ken Smith work has not been funded and Collins will probably not have sea time. There is no information on the Noble work. Kunze has not submitted a proposal and should not be considered for 1996. The work of Barbara Block should be coordinated as discussed above. A modest schedule between 110 and 125 days should be available for POINT SUR.
ALPHA HELIX - University of Alaska: The OPP funding for the work of Hunt, Estes and Cowan will not be known for several months. Weingartner is still pending but looks promising. ALPHA HELIX should have a reasonable schedule at 145 days.
NEW HORIZON - SCRIPPS: Funding for the proposed cruises of Ken Smith has been declined. The Spiess work should probably remain on NEW HORIZON in spite of the transit time. The Webb deployment should also be considered during this time period. For efficiency of operations the Brzeninski cruise should remain on NEW HORIZON and not be scheduled aboard MOANA WAVE. The Felbeck work should remain on WECOMA and only be considered if mid-life overhaul funding does not materialize. Considering the overhaul time, a schedule of about 158 days appears good.
MOANA WAVE - University of Hawaii: MOANA WAVE's schedule is centered around the HOTS work off Hawaii. Brzeninski will be scheduled on NEW HORIZON obviating the need for the Raleigh transit cruise. It is questionable whether or not the Taylor work should go on MOANA WAVE in 1996 because of the long transits involved. Additional suitable Western Pacific work would be necessary to make this cost effective. The Murray work could be a possibility and should be pursued through discussions with UW.
WECOMA - Oregon State University: Funding declines were announced for K. Smith, Banse, Trehu, and Chave. The proposed cruises of Siebenaller and Barth are funded. Richardson is pending, but looks promising for 33 days. There is no information on the Huyer cruise. The Webb recovery cruise needs to go 90 days after the deployment cruise (October seems most likely). The Felback cruise is dependent on the French and could be delayed. If NEW HORIZON does not get funded for a mid-life overhaul the Felback cruise will need to be re-evaluated for the most cost effective option. Based on the above information OSU should package the remaining work such that it is concentrated in a contiguous period for maximum efficiency with the potential of a partial lay-up in the year. A 125 day operating year is likely.
ENDEAVOR - University of Rhode Island: The DOE cruises scheduled on ENDEAVOR do not look promising and should not drive scheduling of other funded cruises. The CM&O Experiment tightly couples the schedules of ENDEAVOR, OCEANUS and SEWARD JOHNSON. The approximately 110 days of funded work on ENDEAVOR should be scheduled to permit the maximum lay-up at the end of the year. Possible additional work could come from funded Corliss work and remnants of the CAPE HATTERAS schedule. It was noted that Rossby may not be going on HUDSON as originally planned and could possibly be an additional cruise for ENDEAVOR or OCEANUS.
OCEANUS - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: The funding for the Waterbury work has been declined. As with ENDEAVOR, the DOE work should not drive scheduling decisions because of the low probability of its being funded. Funding for the Martin work remains pending. The Chave (WOCE) work will not exceed 30 days if funded. Approximately 145 days of ship time remain for OCEANUS. This should be concentrated in the later part of the year of 1996. OCEANUS is expected to be laid up in late 1995 and the first several months of 1996. Scheduling of the three Corliss cruises should be coordinated with ENDEAVOR, also some of CAPE HATTERAS' work could be appropriate for OCEANUS. It was noted the Chisholm will probably need 14 days rather than the 11 scheduled.
SEWARD JOHNSON - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution: The Cowen cruise has been funded permitting a solid schedule for the first half of the year. As noted above with ENDEAVOR and OCEANUS, the DOE work does not look promising at this time. Add 14 days of the pending NRL work for Saunders. It appears more cost effective to transfer the fall GLOBEC work to OCEANUS or ENDEAVOR. SEWARD JOHNSON should be scheduled for about 220 days in 1996. If the DOE funding falls out the second Capone work should be scheduled.
CAPE HATTERAS - Duke/UNC: Funding for the Riggs work has been declined. Because of the very weak schedule, CAPE HATTERAS should plan for a year's lay-up. Cutter, Martens and Friedrichs could be postponed or transferred to other ships. The Davis work needs to be coordinated with the NRL work of Marmorino on CAPE HENLOPEN.
GYRE - Texas A & M University: The work of Powell and Phillips has been declined. The Owens work is pending and the Nittrouer cruise should be scheduled aboard WECOMA. The work of Bryant/Silva is also pending. The funding status of the NOAA Wellington work is unknown.
Large ship considerations: Considerable discussion centered around the large ship schedules. Driving the concern was the coordination of the research tools to be used. Specifically, the coordination of HMR-1, OBS instruments and ARGO-II/JASON/AMS-120 vehicles. The schedules recommended below were predicated on coordination of these three facilities.
EWING - Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory: EWING has the strongest schedule in the UNOLS fleet. Funding for Toomey and the first Detrick cruise has been declined. The cruises of Boucot, Hall and Zelt will likely be submitted for the next panel and would be considered for 1997. If necessary Ryan could go aboard KNORR. The remainder of the schedule remains firm with approximately 300 operating days. To aid in the coordination of the OBS instruments and HMR-1 the schedule review group considered this schedule as in-place and adjusted the remaining large ship schedules around that of EWING. EWING will have approximately 300 operating days in 1996.
KNORR - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: KNORR completes its WOCE work in Mombasa in January 1996 and will work its way back to Woods Hole through the Atlantic. The cruises of Madsen and Michael are totally dependent on the full operational capability of Sea Beam. If the software problem with Sea Beam is not corrected by this time, these cruises will be assigned to another ship, probably THOMPSON. After Michael, KNORR will do the Cutter then Fornari work. Because the funding for Klinkhammer has been declined, KNORR will proceed to Woods Hole for shipment of JASON to Seattle and THOMPSON. If the Ryan work materializes KNORR will be considered for this cruise. There is also a potential for NUWC work in the Eastern Atlantic. It is unlikely that KNORR will be in position to do the Silva work in the Gulf if it were to be funded. KNORR will stand down upon returning to Woods Hole. Approximately 220 operating days are expected for KNORR in 1996.
THOMPSON - University of Washington: THOMPSON is scheduled to do the work of Devol then Hodell south of Capetown. From here the ship could go east or west to return to Seattle. The preferred route is east to possibly pick up the Murray work. This work, including its State component, will end in Papeete where the Forsyth MELT cruise will follow ending in San Diego. After MELT, THOMPSON will drop off the OBS then transit to Seattle. JASON will be picked up in Seattle for the Johnson/Tivey cruise in the Juan de Fuca area. The ship is scheduled for State work after this. The cruises of Lilley and Delaney have been declined. UW should work with the Navy for possible survey work. THOMPSON will have approximately 210 operating days in 1996.
MELVILLE - SCRIPPS: MELVILLE is expected to start the year with Sempere then Kevin Johnson's cruise. Bloomer's cruise would be next then transit to Hawaii. The Orcutt work will be done out of Honolulu. The timing for this work is critical in that there is a deployment on the first cruise then a pick up three months later. Several issues need to be resolved. Is MOANA WAVE capable of the pick up? If it is necessary to use MELVILLE, can the pick up wait five months? Answers to these questions will suggest whether Orcutt's deployment cruise goes early (before the stand down in Hawaii) or at the end of the stand down period. The later deployment option would suggest MELVILLE would return to Hawaii after completing the MacDonald and Lonsdale cruises. Haymond should probably go in early 1997 to permit adequate time for JASON and crew to complete the Johnson work on THOMPSON. The operating days for 1996 are about 280.
REVELLE - SCRIPPS: The REVELLE schedule was not addressed by the Review group.
ATLANTIS II - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Don Moller presented a schedule for AII which included a six month stand down at WHOI the first half of 1996. During this time ALVIN would be overhauled. The schedule went on to show ALVIN dives in the Atlantic, the Pacific off San Diego, then northern EPR. AII completes 1996 in Panama. It was noted by Dolly Dieter that the science programs, specifically those of Craig Smith and DeMaster, require that they be completed in early (Jan/Feb.) 1996. This then reverses the plan and would have AII and ALVIN end 1995 in San Diego prepared to complete required dive programs off California and the northern EPR followed by work in the Atlantic during the first half of 1996. The ship would finish up mid-year in Woods Hole and be retired. It should be noted that the number of ALVIN dive programs and timing of cruises to be run in 1996 have not been determined. Anticipated operating days are about 120.
As a final note Marty Mulhern suggested that NOAA's DISCOVERER will be in the Eastern Pacific completing WOCE work and could possibly be available for the Murray and/or Taylor work on an exchange basis.