8:30 am Call the Meeting: Bob Knox, UNOLS Chair, will call the meeting to order and provide an opportunity for introductions.
8:40 am Accept Minutes of the February 2000 Council Meeting.
8:45 am COMMITTEE REPORTS: Bob Knox 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 on activities since the February Council meeting.) Chairs will identify any important issues that need to be addressed further by the Council. The committee reports can be viewed on-line by clicking on: Committee Reports, June 2000. To download the document as a word document, click here: commrpt.doc.
9:30 am Federal Agency Reports:
Representatives of the Federal Agencies will be given an opportunity to report on activities of interest to the Council or to bring any issues before the council requiring their input or action.
10:00 am Morning Break
10:20 am Continue Federal Agency Reports and discussion
10:40 am Discussion of clearance problems and possible solutions with State Department representatives.
11:00 am Quality of Service Initiative: committee report and discusion - Tim Cowles, committee chair will introduce a session which will focus on the goals and strategies for instituting a Quality of Service Improvement program within the UNOLS fleet.
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Quality of Service Improvement: Continue discussion and establish goals, methods and assignments for furthering this intitiative.
2:10 pm Afternoon Break
2:30 am Emerging Issues in Acoustic Research - Frank Herr (ONR)
will discuss recent issues regarding field programs in ocean acoustics.
3:00 pm Long Range Planning for the UNOLS Fleet: Larry Atkinson will review FIC's activities related to fleet planning, such as the FIC report, UNOLS Biennial Review of Sea Going Oceanographic Facilities and FIC's effort to engage the ocean science community in the planning process for the replacement of research vessels. Agency representatives will discuss the fleet planning process being undertaken by the recently renamed Federal Oceanographic Facilities Committee (FOFC, formerly FOFCC). In addition a discussion of UNOLS role and FIC's role in the planning process for the future composition and capabilities of the UNOLS fleet will be held. This discussion should help to focus the efforts of UNOLS, FIC and the Council and determine how best to support the efforts of FOFC in completing the long range planning process for Oceanographic Facilities.
8:30 am Discussion on any ship scheduling problems in 2000 - Bob Knox will identify any potential issues related to ship scheduling in 2000.
9:00 am 2001 Scheduling - Discussion on the initial outlook for 2001 schedules and the status of the current scheduling process.
9:15 am Report on the Ship Scheduling System - Joe Ustach and Mike Prince will report on recent changes, the transit bank and a uniform definition of transit days. Plans for implementing future changes and improvements to the online scheduling and shiptime request systems will be reported.
9:30 Status of UNOLS Office Transfer.
9:35 am Nomination Committee Report - The first Councilterms of Bob Knox (Chair), Tim Cowles, Barbara Prezelin, and Tom Shipley are expiring in 2000 as well as the second term of Tom Royer (Vice Chair). The nominating committee will present their proposed slate of candidates to the Council and discuss any difficulties in preparing a complete slate.
10:00 am Morning Break
10:20 am Meetings and Travel - A discussion of the need to reduce the travel budget, how to conduct business with fewer meetings and how UNOLS and the UNOLS office should best utilize their resources. Discuss and decide on the number and type of meetings necessary to conduct UNOLS business.
10:40 am UNOLS Charter Clarification - Recommended changes to the charter will be discussed and approved for presentation to the membership for a vote at the annual meeting.
11:00 am Other UNOLS Issues (Items below will be addressed if not already discussed in earlier reports or discussions)
Seismic Acquisition Issues and UNOLS Fleet Capabilities - Follow up on the need for any UNOLS action in this area.
ADCP Improvements — Report by Charlie Flagg on plans to hold a workshop to improve the quality and availabilty of hull mounted ADCP’s in the UNOLS fleet.
New Ship Construction - Updates since the February Council meeting on the status of:
SEA CLIFF and ATV Report:
Winch and Wire Symposium: Report on plans to implement recommendations from the symposium.
DESCEND Workshop: Patty Fryer will provide an update on the report from the DEveloping Submergence SCiencE into the Next Decade, DESCEND workshop along with follow-on plans.
UNOLS/NMFS Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): Review the status of the draft MOU between NMFS and UNOLS.
Two-Year Review of the NOAA/OAR and UNOLS MOU: Review of the UNOLS and NOAA/OAR MOU is required every two years. The status of the MOU readoption by NOAA/OAR will be provided.
UNOLS Brochure: A status report on the UNOLS brochure update will be provided.
Review meeting calendars (below), and other business.
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UNOLS COUNCIL MEETING
Coast Guard Agency Report
21 June 2000
USCGC HEALY Update
After delivery on 9 November 99 by Litton-Avondale Industries,
HEALY underwent a period of fitting-out availability and repairs, and then
departed New Orleans on 26 January 2000 to conduct Machinery/hull and science
suite testing. Initial warm water trials were completed in
March and then ice trials were conducted from April to June in an area
near Baffin Island in the eastern Arctic. HEALY performed well, with icebreaking
performance exceeding design requirements of 3.0 kts through 4.5 ft of
ice. The maximum thickness of unbroken level ice encountered was 5.5 ft,
which HEALY transited at a continuous speed of 2.6 kts. Ice ridges of 45
ft were broken through in 3 rams. At the time of this meeting, the
warm water science trial and three legs of the science trials in ice have
been completed and the final fourth science leg has just begun. Dr. James
Swift reports that "Science systems are mostly working well…. Problems
[are] the same in general as those faced by each of the new large UNOLS
vessels as they came on line." Members of the AICC and RVTEC have been
major players in the planning of these tests and the Coast Guard is highly
appreciative of their efforts.
After completion of the last science trial
and a port call, HEALY will return to Seattle by transiting the Northwest
Passage and then formal commissioning will take place in late August or
early September. The first unrestricted science cruise is scheduled for
spring of 2001.
POLAR Class Update
POLAR SEA started Operation Deep Freeze 1999
in the Antarctic in early November 1998. Upon completion of that 5-month
deployment, the ship transited to the Arctic for a spring mission near
St. Lawrence Island in April 99. POLAR SEA is now undergoing a "Reliability
Improvement Project" yard availability in Todd Shipyards, Seattle. It is
anticipated that this work will be completed in August 2000 and that the
ship will be departing for Operation Deep Freeze 2001 in November 2000.
POLAR STAR completed major repairs to the centerline shaft and then deployed for Antarctic in mid-November 1999, completed Operation Deep Freeze 2000, and returned to Seattle in April 2000. Following an in-port period for voyage repairs, it will sail on an Arctic mission from late July to mid September.
Science Mission Planning
The first planning meeting for HEALY’s 2001
missions was held at the National Science Foundation (NSF) on 13 June.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Coast Guard and NSF.
The group began work on drafting a preliminary schedule that NSF program
managers can use to refine requirements with Principal Investigators. It
is anticipated that the schedule will be released in August after final
funding decisions have been made.
The Coast Guard Pacific Area Office has added a position
to its Icebreaker Science Liaison staff to handle coordination of science logistics
for HEALY cruises. The position has been filled with the hiring of Mr. Dave
Forcucci, who comes to the Coast Guard from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic &
Meteorological Laboratory.