UNOLS COUNCIL MEETING

Wednesday-Thursday, July 1-2, 1998
W. Alton Jones Campus
Whispering Pines Conference Center - Sycamore Lodge
University of Rhode Island
West Greenwich, RI  02817-2158

Meeting Agenda

Call the Meeting:  Ken Johnson, UNOLS Chair, will call the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m., 1 July 1998.

Accept Minutes of the February, 1998 Council Meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:  Ken Johnson will provide a brief summary of the UNOLS Committee written reports and open the floor to a question/answer period.  (Prior to the meeting, Committee Chairs submitted written reports for distribution to meeting participants.)  Chairs will identify any important issues that need to be addressed further by the Council.

AGENCY and OTHER REPORTS:  Reports from agency representatives on funding outlooks, facility updates, and special projects:

• Department of State - Tom Cocke
• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration - CDR Elizabeth White
• National Science Foundation - Don Heinrichs
• Naval Oceanographic Center - CDR Jim Trees
• Oceanographer of the Navy - Pat Dennis
• Office of Naval Research - Pat Dennis
• Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education - Capt Dan Schwartz
• United States Coast Guard - J. Berkson

UNOLS ISSUES:

NSF Academic Research Fleet Review - Don Heinrichs will provide a report on the June 8-10 NSF Fleet Review Meeting and plans for the follow-on meetings in September and November.

FOFCC Meeting Report - Ken Johnson will provide a report on the 30 June FOFCC meeting.

National Ocean Conference - Ken Johnson and Jack Bash will report on the National Ocean Conference in Monterey, CA.

Ship Scheduling Process - Don Moller will lead a discussion on ship scheduling process issues.

Interchangability of Ships - Ships in similar size classes are becoming more specialized in capabilities and training.  Transfer of cruises depending on these specialized capabilities places an increasing burden on science parties.  How should we respond - encourage cross training, recognize explicit specialties (biogeochemistry, moorings, MGG/Swath mapping, etc.)?

UNOLS Annual Meeting - The Annual Meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, 17 September.  Suggestions for kenote presenter and agenda items will be discussed.

AGOR 26 Construction Update - Pat Dennis will provide an update on the Navy’s construction of AGOR 26, SWATH research vessel.

Airships and Aerostats - Jim Hain (Associated Scientists at Woods Hole) will report on applications of airships (blimps) and aerostats (tethered balloons) for oceanographic research (Enclosure 1).

Science Mission Requirements (SMR) - Larry Atkinson will review the status of SMR development for an East Coast Research Vessel and a vessel for work in Alaskan waters.

UNOLS Town Meetings - Ken Johnson will report on the Town Hall Meeting held on 12 February at the AGU/OSLO meeting in San Diego.  Should we hold another Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Conference in December, 1998?

Antarctic Support Association (ASA) Logistic Support - ASA is exploring the possible option for a U.S. Oceanographic research facility to provide the functions of managing, planning, staffing and maintaining logistics support of PALMER and GOULD.

Customer Satisfaction Survey - The last customer satisfaction survey was conducted in 1995.  Is it time to re-survey the community?

CORE/UNOLS MOA - Discussion on whether the CORE/UNOLS MOA needs to be revisited and redefined.

SEA CLIFF and ATV Retirement  Plans - Pat Dennis will review plans for the future of DSV SEA CLIFF and ATV following their retirement from the Navy.

Ship Scheduling Improvements - Jack Bash will report on the progress of the improvements to the UNOLS ship scheduling process.

AGOR Z-drive Thruster Status - Bob Knox and Dick Pittenger will review the latest status of any AGOR Z-drive issues.

New Ship Construction - Update on Skidaway’s construction of R/V SAVANNAH.  Update on plans for replacement of CALANUS.

Long Range UNOLS Issues/Public Outreach - At the last Council meeting public outreach was identified as an area needing greater attention by UNOLS.  Review recent public outreach activities and discuss other methods for reaching out to the community.

UNOLS Office Transfer - Discussion on plans for transfer of the UNOLS Office.  The current UNOLS Office grant with the University of Rhode Island will expire on 30 April, 2000.

UNOLS Charter Review - Clare Reimers will review the recommended revisions to the UNOLS Charter and structure as prepared by the ad hoc committee (Enclosure 2).

UNOLS Council Membership - Dennis Hansell, Nominating Committee Chair, will report on nominations for UNOLS Chair and Council members.  The terms of Ken Johnson, Tom Royer, Dick Pittenger and Bob Wall are expiring.

 Applications for UNOLS Membership :

• The University of Minnesota, Duluth has applied for UNOLS Membership.  A copy of their application is        included as Enclosure 3.
• The New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium and the Southern California Marine Institute applied for UNOLS Membership in 1997.  Discussion on the status of their applications.

UNOLS Brochure - Update on plans for updating the UNOLS brochure.

Calendar for UNOLS Meetings:

Adjournment