I. Meeting Announcement
II. List of Attendees
III. Agenda

INTRODUCTION: The Ship Scheduling Committee met in the Board Room 1235 of the National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA on 15 July 1999 as per the Meeting Announcement Appendix I. The Ship Scheduling Review Group met immediately following the Scheduling Meeting to review the proposed schedules and make recommendations for schedule efficiencies. The minutes that follow reflect the deliberations of both meetings.

Mike Prince, Ship Scheduling Chair, called the meeting to order at 0830. Introductions were made around the room. The list of attendees is included as Appendix II.

MINUTES: The minutes of the September 1998 Ship Scheduling Meeting were approved as written. The agenda, attached as Appendix III, was followed except as noted.

WORK GROUPS: The Scheduling Committee divided up into groups to address special issues and double bookings. The groups included schedulers for Class I/II ships who discussed the coordination of ROVs in addition to scheduling conflict concerns, and the regional ship schedulers who discussed schedule conflicts.

PRESENTATION OF SCHEUDLES: The following comments were addressed in the open scheduling session and also include comments from the Ship Scheduling Review Group that met immediately following the Ship Scheduling Meeting. The Ship Scheduling Review Group included SSC Chair Mike Prince, Vice Chair Joe Ustach, NSF representative Dolly Dieter, ONR representative Tim Pfeiffer, NOAA/NSF representative CDR Beth White and UNOLS Executive Secretary, Jack Bash.

ALPHA HELIX - University of Alaska - No letter of intent was submitted and the schedule was posted very late so a review by the funding agencies was not possible prior to the meeting. Schedules need to be submitted in a more timely manner. Work for Kim, Cowan and Church are still pending.

BARNES - University of Washington - Light Schedule with the prospect of State funded work to be added.

BLUE FIN - Skidaway - The NOAA Sea Grant ship time has been funded. Paffenhofer's OCE number 9906939 is a decline. A 14 day NRL cruise for Miller should be added to the BLUEFIN SCHEDULE. No ship time request has been received for Hollibaugh, funding is unlikely for 2000.

CALANUS - University of Miami - A catamaran is now under construction for CALANUS replacement and should be ready for operations by July 2000. NOAA has funded 60 days of science for 2000. The NAVO work in the Florida Keys has been double booked with PELICAN. NAVO will evaluate which vessel provides the most cost effective option and will notify the respective operators.

GYRE -Texas A & M - Santschi (OCE 9906823) has been funded for two ten day cruises (April and August) in the Gulf of Mexico and should be added to GYRE schedule. GYRE is scheduled for a joint operation with EDWIN LINK for Navy LWAD work. An additional Navy fleet exercise cruise may be added.

CAPE HATTERAS - Review transits to see if they can be reduced. Anderson mooring cruise should be done on OCEANUS. Paerl cruise most likely won't go until 2001, if funded. C. Jones should be scheduled to eliminate transit - consider HATTERAS.

CAPE HENLOPEN - University of Delaware - No conflicts appear on CAPE HENELOPEN schedule. The Kirchman work has been declined. Reimers is funded, Boyd pending. The work of del Giorgio has not yet gone to panel and will likely be considered for 2001. The Sherrell work is carried forward from 1999.

LAURENTIAN - University of Michigan - A total of NSF 232 days are scheduled for LAURENTIAN, all are funded.

PELICAN - LUMCON - A schedule of 301 days was presented for PELICAN. This does not include two ONR proposed cruises of Fanning for 18 days (9 days in Jul and 9 in Nov). The funding decision for this work will be made in August. See comment in CALANUS above re NAVO Key West work. The proposed N. Rabalais LTER work is likely to be considered for 2001. The Schedule Review Group believes PELICAN's schedule is too robust. Alternative ships should be considered for a portion of this schedule.

POINT SUR - MLML - Light schedule with 150 days most of which is either funded or with a high probability of funding. Rosenfeld work is pending GLOBEC panel. Garfield cruise is part of the same project as Devers on the NEW HORIZON schedule. The 30 days for Dever/Garfield on a medium ship is still pending. Proposal number OCE9907884 is funded for 6 days on a medium ship. ONR work is all funded.

SEA DIVER - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution - The 16 day LWAD cruise has been dropped from SEA DIVER. The Phinney work has been funded. The Gruber work has been scheduled very late in the program year, earlier scheduling should be considered.

SPROUL - McDougal/ONR is a decline. ONR believes that Checkly has a proposal under review at ONR that requests 10 days on SPROUL. SIO shows a Checkly NOPP cruise on NEW HORIZON. Should verify if these are the same proposal and what the current status is with the PI. Yayanos NSF/LEXAN proposal is pending. Davis/NOPP should be changed to NSF Funded. Consideration should be given to consolidating NEW HORIZON and SPROUL schedules.

URRACA - Smithsonian - The Glynn cruise of 15 days is the only NSF funded work scheduled for URRACA.

WEATHERBIRD II - Bermuda Biological Research Station - No conflicts were noted on the 130 days of funded work on WEATHERBIRD II. The ship will be in Norfolk, VA in the September time frame for a shipyard period and could be available for a short cruise.

NEW HORIZON - SIO - Hunter/NOAA cruise is funded for NEW HORIZON. Davis/NOPP should be changed to NSF funded cruise. The Devers/Garfield et al CoOp project (OCE9907884) is funded for 6 days. The 30 request is still pending. SIO is considering scheduling Spiess on NEW HORIZON again next year in order to make large ship schedules work. Program manager prefers a large ship for this work. SIO will check with Spiess. Verify status of Checkly/NOPP to see if this is declined or still pending (see note under SPROUL). Sohn is still pending. Has the 3 day ancillary Zunberge cruise been scheduled? Consideration should be given to consolidating NEW HORIZON and SPROUL schedules.

WECOMA - Oregon State University - Huyer, Cowles and Rosenfeld are pending the outcome of the GLOBEC panel in August. Cowles Jul/Aug cruise is earlier than requested but this is necessary in order for WECOMA to be in Hawaii at the proper time for the HOME projects. At 191 days WECOMA schedule is light as are the schedules of other West Coast Intermediate and Regional vessels.

SEWARD JOHNSON - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution - The NOAA Garzoli and ONR DeFerrari cruises have been funded.

EDWIN LINK - The ONR DeFerrari cruise has been funded. Several pending cruise remain unresolved at this time.

ENDEAVOR - University of Rhode Island - NAVO Onslow Bay cruises should go to CAPE HATTERAS. Caron cruise is ancillary. LWAD in May with OCEANUS has to be considered. Harbison is a decline. C. Jones should be scheduled to eliminate transit - consider HATTERAS. Field is a two ship operation with OCEANUS.

OCEANUS - WHOI - Anderson mooring cruise to be done on OCEANUS. Tucholke cruise with EWING needs to go earlier - work with EWING on this. OCEANUS will provide the OBS's for the Tucholke cruise. LWAD in May with ENDEAVOR has to be considered. Price cruise needs to be reviewed as a possible barter with European ship. If Price is to remain on OCEANUS the transit back to WHOI should be changed to St John's to start the Rossby cruise. ONR cruise off New Jersey in June. Possible GOMEX cruise in July. Check on 2 cruises for Olson (OCE98-19206). Field is a two-ship operation with ENDEAVOR. C. Jones should be scheduled to eliminate transit - consider HATTERAS.

LONGHORN - No schedule was received for LONGHORN.

ATLANTIS - WHOI - The ATLANTIS and MELVILLE schedules will need to be reworked to avoid conflict on the East Pacific Rise. The Manahan cruise should to be added. Lutz work is funded for 10 dives. The Garcia work off Hawaii has been funded but not scheduled. ALVIN will require an overhaul that will start before the end of the year.

KNORR - WHOI - The KNORR schedule remains fluid depending on the outcome of funding for the Navy Mceachern LWAD work in the Mediterranean. If possible the ship should schedule the work of Dick and the Dutch in the southern seas. The Prod Drill work of Austin will be dependent upon successful testing of that instrument. The Ledwell cruise should be for 40 science days. Zafiriou should be moved to OCEANUS.

The John's winter cruise must be scheduled as per the request. Coordinate John's and Dick cruises. Ballard is funded but not scheduled.

THOMPSON - THOMPSON begins the year with a class cruise to Hawaii, followed by a cruise by NAVO that has not yet been defined and may not be funded. If this cruise is on THOMPSON, there will need to be a transit or cruise to return THOMPSON to the west coast. Check the status of the C. Tynan cruise with NOAA. The Johnson and Nittrouer Prod Drill cruises are dependent on the Prod Drill being tested and proven to work. If the Johnson cruise is intended to be the testing cruise it will need to be moved earlier. The Levin and Rona cruises are dependent on an ROV schedule that will work. Trehu should be moved from EWING to THOMPSON or an intermediate and Fisher should be removed from EWING and stay on THOMPSON. Fisher needs to be scheduled in late summer and needs to be later than presently scheduled on THOMPSON. THOMPSON's schedule, along with REVELLE and MELVILLE need to be evaluated to determine if there is sufficient work for full schedules on all three vessels.

REVELLE - SIO - REVELLE will transit to Hawaii after finishing ASIAEX cruises and will stay in Hawaii with a 70 day non-operating period waiting for HOME projects. REVELLE will then transit to the coast of Central and South America for Becker and Chadwell. Spiess will be moved to the NEW HORIZON schedule if this is acceptable to him and the program manager. If the NAVO work in Hawaii is funded REVELLE could be available for some or all of that work during the non-operational period. See note about evaluating large ship schedules in the Pacific.

MELVILLE - SIO - Need to verify ROV schedule to ensure there are no conflicts for the Fornari cruise. Need to verify that Popp can go later. Melville will be the vessel used for ONR's ASIAEX in 2001 and will be available for E. Silver and P. Fryer in 2001. This change in schedule is designed to make REVELLE available for both the HOME projects in Hawaii and Chadwell off the coast of South America. Need to evaluate MELVILLE, REVELLE and THOMPSON Schedules to determine if there is enough funded work for full schedules on all three vessels in the Pacific. Schouten will have to be postponned until 2001 due to conflicts with the ROV Schedules.

EWING - LDEO - Five days of New Zealand work is to be added. Fisher and Trehu should be moved to THOMPSON. The Tucholke work must be coordinated with OCEANUS. Tucholke on EWING should be 25 days. OCEANUS is to provide OBSs. A mid-life overhaul should be considered for the end of the year.

RON BROWN - NOAA - The BROWN schedule includes only NOAA work. Time is available in the spring to add other work.

NOTES IN GENERAL

The ROV schedule as modified needs to be refined and verified as being possible and acceptable to PI's and Program Managers, so that affected vessels can adjust there schedules as needed. The funded Ballard ROV cruise is not scheduled.

The Prod drill needs to be tested and proved operational before the three affected cruises can be completed.

Some NAVO work still needs to be defined and a plan for dealing with the consequenses of less than full funding for NAVO work needs to be formulated.

LWAD 00-2 needs to be scheduled and a decision needs to be made regarding whether or not the KNORR will be available for LWAD 00-3 in the Med.

Need to determine if partial or full lay-ups are necessary for any vessels.

Letters of Intent - A discussion was held concerning the value of the letters of intent. The committee had mixed feelings about the value of this newly tried effort. A consensus was reached that it should be tried for a second year perhaps using the new scheduling tool and a format more closely resembling the normal schedules and reevaluated then.

New On-line Scheduling Format - Comments were offered on the on-line form for producing schedules. Favorable remarks were advanced by those who used the new system. Jack Bash explained that several changes were to be made to the form including a place to add a URL for linking the PIs on the schedule to their ship time request.

Schedule Meeting Dates - The Committee discussed the pros and cons to the mid July date for the scheduling meeting. It was agreed that this date was as early as it could be and later in the month of July would be preferable.

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 1430 hrs.

Ship Scheduling Review Group - The Ship Scheduling Review Group met immediately following the Ship Scheduling Meeting. Their deliberations are reflected in the minutes above. Many of the schedules are light. Schedulers should work to consolidate schedules for more efficient use of the resources. This group adjourned at 1800 hrs.