UNOLS Ship Scheduling Meeting

Wednesday September 25, 2002

Held at

The National Science Foundation, Stafford I≠ Room 1235

Arlington, VA

 

Meeting Summary

 

0837 Meeting called to order by Joe Ustach, Ship Scheduling Committee chair, and introductions made around the room. The agenda is attached as Appendix I and a list of those attending is attached as Appendix II. Cruise tracks for some vessels are attached as Appendix III.

 

Linda reviewed a list of bio-complexity projects and would like to make sure that these programs are identified as such on schedules.

 

BLUE HERON: Proposal number for Johnson is 0241669, NOAA and NSF pending work is still pending.

 

WEATHERBIRD: ok as is, 144 days total

 

BARNES: 109 days total, some state money pending, NSF work all ok.

 

SAVANNAH: H. Seim NSF proposal is declined and should be removed from the schedule after verifying which project is being shown on the schedule. Remove Allison, who is scheduled on Pelican (learned subsequently this project is not funded).

 

URACCA: Check on status of request for Philip Hastings. Brown ODP (OCE0203830) should be shown and is funded. Glynn's NSF work is funded. STRI work is funded.

 

LONGHORN: Young/NSF 10 days, Rayborn/Navy 11 days and Rabalais/NOAA transferred from Pelican schedule. Rayborn may end up going on TOMMY MUNRO, need to verify PI's plans. Also Wang/NRL is transferred, should be David Wang and is funded. Add Campbell 2 days of NOAA work. Should remove NAVO work or show as non-op, and Paul Taylor is from NAVO. Institutions, funding agencies and status should be checked and corrected.

 

WALTON SMITH: NAVO is pending and should be shown as non-op or removed. Otherwise all funded making a schedule of 195 days. P. Reid has 14 days of Navy funded work and 35 days of NSF work. The NSF work is a biocomplexity project which should be indicated on the schedule (purpose or comments).

 

PELICAN: Shipyard through the first part of April. Start with 56 day for Byrne. If the shipyard work is delayed then the Byrne work could be transferred to LONGHORN and PELICAN would pick up LONGHORN Schedule after coming out of the yard. Allison/Navy funding status should be double checked, ONR indicated this is funded, but PI states that ONR did not fund the project. Goni is involved in a cruise in Nov. in PNG so will need to avoid scheduling conflicts. Wang is David Wang and not Paul and is funded.

 

GYRE: Still need to remove DiMarco from schedule. Still need to add one day NOAA funded work for Campbell. Need to submit LOI as a schedule, verify grant info, link to STR's etc.

 

CAPE HENLOPEN: Boyd NRL work is funded. Sommerfield NOAA work is still pending. Gibson EPA work will be funded. Total days 157.

 

CAPE HATTERAS: Remove 40 days of NAVO. Would have time to do Greg Cutter, but he would need more time and would prefer a larger ship. Cutter needs to go in August. Funding agencies to decide total days and ship scheduled. With the removal of NAVO and the addition of Cutter, the schedule is approximately 100 days after the refit period.

 

POINT SUR: Will need an undulating vehicle for early cruises which may be supported by URI and/or UDEL. Need to put in a ship time request for Triaxus testing and add to schedule. Need to change Halanych to 7 days and check with ONR on the number of days for some of the Navy cruises. Boyd/NRL is funded, but not scheduled. Contact Boyd.

 

SPROUL: Change Pineda to OCE and mark as Biocomplexity. Hildebrand is funded. Check on Kauperman and Berger to see if they have funded work.

 

ALPHA HELIX: Musgrave NASA days are for mooring recovery and will be funded. Most of the pending work will probably be funded. Strom would like the 12 May cruise and July cruises moved two weeks to a month later if possible. Overlap between Musgrave and Strom is more important. Wecoma cruise should start first, but in July, it starts second. Strom is about 7 days earlier in starting than Wecoma. Coyle funding determined in November, but is looking positive. Jaeger is pending, but only one day.

 

WECOMA: Move Weingartner 15 July cruise and the second Musgrave NASA cruise from ALPHA HELIX to WECOMA and move Musgrave GLOBEC cruise to start before Strom. Need to check with Musgrave on acceptable dates for NASA mooring recovery and whether or not a UNOLS vessel will be used (see ship time request). Equipment requirements for Huyer will need to be worked out if moved to NEW HORIZON. Barth and the two cruises afterwards need to move three days later? One Hickey cruise should be shown as NOAA funding.

 

NEW HORIZON: Moving Dale and Huyer July cruises from WECOMA. Will find out today if Stein receives a permit and will stay on schedule. If not consider scheduling Hammond in January. Look at whether or not it makes sense to cover any HOTS cruises. Need to work out equipment for Huyer. Keep Smith cruise at same time as Chave Cruise on THOMPSON.

 

SEWARD JOHNSON: Christeson cruise needs to be coordinated with Ewing, starting port for SEWARD JOHNSON is Bridgetown and for EWING it will be from the location of the shipyard. Any changes will need to be scientifically justified and approved by the program manager. Ledwell NSF project is funded. Johnson's Navy cruise could be funded and combined with Mazel for a 12 ≠ 14 day cruise. Total days to be determined after PIs consult and get approval from Navy. Will look at moving Youngbluth Sept. cruise from SJII to SJ to make room at the end of SJII schedule. Devol is funded and the time shift is acceptable to the PI. Ocean Exploration work is ok as scheduled and will be funded.

 

SEWARD JOHNSON II: Mediterranean work is fine as is and Dave Hebert is ok with time as scheduled. Carney Ocean Exploration work is ok as is and will be approved for funding. Youngbluthπs September cruise will be moved to SEWARD JOHNSON and other work moves earlier. Youngbluth's 2^nd (earlier) cruise is deferred until 2004. Approximately 261 day schedule.

 

ENDEAVOR: Lingevitch NRL work is funded but should be fewer days (8 days?), contact the program manager for the proper number. Remove Greg Cutter/NSF cruise. Schedule is down to approximately 177 days. Jan, Feb and Sept 27 through Dec are open with shipyard in Nov/Dec. During the week of 17 ≠ 23 April both ENDEAVOR and OCEANUS are in port and available for NSF inspections. Add Gschwend and Polzin from OCEANUS schedule which will bring the total up to approx. 190 days.

 

OCEANUS: Remove Taylor. Ledwell and Pluedemann are funded and will be combined so as to split the cost between NSF and NOAA. 17 ≠ 23 April both ENDEAVOR and OCEANUS in port and available for NSF inspections. Gschwend and Polzin will be transferred to ENDEAVOR which will make OCEANUS schedule 209 days.

 

EWING: Scheduled for shipyard in late 2002 and early 2003. Levander is a two ship operation with SEWARD JOHNSON involving OBS deployments. Can't be started any later and having to go to Barbados to start would be a scheduling problem. Directed to re-evaluate the transit and port stops for the schedule starting with the end of McNutt's cruise through the end of the year. Possible conflict with the Jumbo Piston Core (JPC) for Norris cruise and Ballard's 10 July cruise on KNORR.

 

KNORR: Ballard may need a JPC which could be a conflict with EWING (see above). 2 July transit needs to increase by a couple of days and funding should be "other" instead of NSF. McCartney mooring recovery will be deferred until 2004 unless scheduled on another vessel.

 

ATLANTIS: McClean and Sheppard cruises should be shown as funded. Kelly cruise on the mid Atlantic needs to be coordinated with a French submersible cruise to the same location. Need to fit in a cruise to test the NERC ROV (JASON IIB). This will need to happen before May if possible. Cary and Luther would prefer separate, shorter cruise in the fall and will defer to 2004 if not possible. Linda Goad will check with program managers. Consider rearranging schedule to conduct JASON IIB tests and possibly McCartney rescue in the March time frame. John Freitag will check on possibility of moving INSURV dates and/or place (location can change with the same dates).

 

THOMPSON: Show Smith and Duennebier programs on the schedule with Chave's first cruise. Show Becker and Jones days as operational, reduce Kelly to 11 days, same total days. Show Becker's institution as RSMAS. Show Becker and Fryer as ODP cruises. Quay may move to be part of Laske's transit to Hawaii. Consider making student cruise a transit to Hawaii?

 

KILO MOANA: Post Shipyard Availability (PSA) scheduled for Jan 1 ≠ Feb. 18. Need to move Prahl cruise into February at the PI's request. Moved trip to Alaska earlier by two weeks to accommodate dates for Bruland. This leaves the April HOTS cruise uncovered. HOTS cruises scheduled include Jan, Feb, Oct, Nov and Dec.

 

BROWN: Plueddemann moved to OCEANUS. NOAA to consider the feasibility of using the open slot for rescue of McCartney moorings if a suitable rescue vehicle can be found and other options do not work out.

 

REVELLE: Wheeler will load and unload in San Diego. Otherwise schedule is unremarkable, which is remarkable.

 

MELVILLE: There is a possibility of commercial work just after the Slowey cruise that could be used to fill in the time before Incze cruise in Japan. Brink cruise depends on getting clearance from Vietnam, also if Brink needs a SeaSoar, which one will be used.

 

Late 2003 early 2004 schedules for large ships and a list of deferred projects was examined. A complete list of deferred projects and projects that were scheduled outside of requested dates or on a different class vessel will be compiled. A spreadsheet of funded projects will be circulated by the UNOLS office.

 

At the end of 2003 ships are located:

q        THOMPSON in Honolulu at the end of Dec. 2003 after INSURV

q        Melville in Brisbane Nov. 01, 2003 for 30 day overhaul

q        Revelle in Acapulco on Jan. 24, 2004

q        Atlantis at Easter Island Jan. 17, 2004, to do Pockalny after Karson

q        Knorr Dec. 4, 2003 at WHOI

q        EWING in Progresso, Mexico on 23 Dec.

q        BROWN in Eastern Equatorial Pacific in Nov 2003

 

The following cruises were deferred or are funded for early 2004 work:

 

Early 2004 Schedules for large ships or ROVs:

ROV required

q        Polkany to Atlantis after Karson

q        M. Tivey mid-atlantic ridge

q        McCartney ROV or Rescue vehicle

q        Moorings for Carpenter

q        Debbie Kelly 2^nd cruise 0221890

q        Sohn ROV/Knorr by Mexico

q        Youngbluth June cruise with submersible

q        Chadwick, 0137760 (Need to verify project)

q        Embley Ring of Fire 2 cruises (may or may not need ROV) ≠ Japanese connection. Need to determine Embleyπs current plan.

 

No ROV

q        Kiel Pacific NW cruise moved from THOMPSON 2003 schedule.

q        Nittrouer and company at Fly River PNG (Jan and April 2004) What is current plan?

q        A16 South leg for CLIVAR (50 days), Will RON BROWN do any or all of this leg?

q        P2 line San Diego to Japan CLIVAR leg (72 days previously done in 5 legs, see WOCE page: http://whpo.ucsd.edu/whp_data.htm ) can this be done in several cruises as before? How can they be broken up and still meet science requirements?

q        Worcester mooring in Hawaii

q        D. Byrne request for a 2004 cruise off of South Africa becomes a 2005 request because first cruise was deferred to 2003. Ship time request needs to be corrected to reflect this change.

q        Is there a return to the Black Sea in 2004?

 

 

The following list of projects and cruises was submitted prior to the meeting and reviewed early in the scheduling meeting. These are projects that need to be deferred to 2004 or cruises that had problems associated with their scheduling. In some cases these issues were resolved and that is noted below.

 

Cutter/ENDEAVOR: Greg Cutter's cruise is about 6 weeks later than he wants and is about a week later than his absolute worst case start date. He wants to leave out of Norfolk, primarily for logistic reasons, and this would add another few days to the departure date. Because of the multi-ship Navy cruise in August I do not have any flexibility to move him. Would prefer to go on the HATTERAS at the right time than on the ENDEAVOR later. Needs to go in August or September.

-           Decided to move the cruise to the HATTERAS.

 

H2O Chave et al/THOMPSON: H2O Observatory/JASON mission dates still a "work in progress. Need a way to fit Embley cruise and still get to H2O at acceptable weather window. NEW HORIZON for Ken Smith needs to coincide with Chave.

-           Accommodated by moving up two weeks by deferring Keil one year.

 

Keil/THOMPSON: May need to defer a year to fit H20 in desired weather

window. Message sent to Keil informing him that his cruise would need to be deferred in order to make the schedules work. Program manager has approved this action.

-           Have not received reply from PI, need to find appropriate schedule for 2004.

 

Hammond, Doug - USC/??? Not on any posted schedules that I can find. Fred Jones shows on a draft schedule with a note that the cruise would go on NEW HORIZON in January if available. Not shown on NEW HORIZON schedule. http://www.gso.uri.edu/cgi-bin/fv.cgi?2001081117131535

-           On WECOMA schedule for March, may shift to NEW HORIZON in January if time opens up on their schedule.

 

Musgrave/OSU/WECOMA: Funding to be determined in November, may impact other parts of the WECOMA schedule if funded. Two ship op with ALPHA HELIX.

-           Scheduled on WECOMA to overlap with ALPHA HELIX, Earlier than PIπs would like to fit the scientific program. Needs to be a month later, but this does not seem possible given other constraints.

 

Embley/PMEL/WECOMA: Some of the work requested for THOMPSON could be done on WECOMA. This is mooring work that would not require an ROV or large ship. Need to sort out if this will work for Embley and whether or not it is needed.

-           Mooring work is minimal and can be accomplished on the scheduled THOMPSON cruise.

 

HICKEY/WECOMA: Ecohab cruises should be split with NOAA

-           Change made to WECOMA schedule.

 

HOT Series Program, 5 days per month, April through September, and January OCE96-17409, Dave Karl, UH. NOT SCHEDULED

-           No change, schedulers to consider the possibility of scheduling HOTS cruises.

 

Kastner, OCE 0118478-UNOLS STR # 2001022222231930

"Long-term Continuous Monitoring of Pressure, Fluid Chemistry, and Hydrology in Instrumented Boreholes." PI requested that this cruise be deferred to March 2004 due to science reasons, not a problem with schedule.

-           Project deferred

 

McCartney, OCE 0083268 UNOLS STR# 20020501135923GE

"Mooring Rescue Mission for NSF projects GAGE and VEX." This cruise is presently un-scheduled, however we are trying to fit it into late 2003 on the KNORR. Currently deferred to 2004

-           Examining the possibility of scheduling on ATLANTIS earlier in 2003 or on RON BROWN. If not possible it would be deferred to 2004 or cancelled outright.

 

Tivey, Maurice, OCE 0118445 UNOLS STR # 2001022109040123

ROV Jason-cruise. Magnetic and Structural Study of Subvolcanic Ocean Lithosphere exposed in Kane Megamullion Mid Atlantic Ridge. Both the Jason vehicle and a ship are not available in the time window he requested. PI is okay with deferring until 2004.

-           To be scheduled in 2004

 

German, Chris, S.O.C. funded UNOLS STR # 20020417101945HE

"Delivery Sea Trials for the New 6500 meter deep diving UK ROV" Class I UNOLS Ship with DP not available at requested time of March 2003. Dolly working on this. SOC trying to find an alternate ship. May go on Atlantis off Bermuda.

-           Examining the possibility of scheduling on ATLANTIS in March 2003.

 

Worcester/SIO/REVELLE or ?: Worcester called to say that ONR will be funding him for a NPAL mooring deployment cruise off Kauai in 2003. He can't use Kilo M. because of the freeboard and prefers Revelle but can use Melville or Thompson (needs DP). Needs September- October 2003 deployment with an August - September 2004 recovery. 2004 ok with PI.

-           Deferred to 2004.

 

Chadwick cruise on the Juan de Fuca deferred from 2003.

 

PELICAN/LONGHORN ≠ covering PELICAN during mid-life shipyard: 10 day cruise for NAVO requested for the GOM not included. Transferred all of the cruises on the PELICAN during our shipyard period from 1 Jan -April 15 to the LONGHORN. I have also transferred all cruises on the PELICAN from April 15- June 10 to the LONGHORN in order to accommodate the NMFS APEX predator cruises with the understanding that if the PELICAN is not out of the yard in time to make the APEX cruise then the longhorn will do the job and the PELICAN will take the LONGHORN'S schedule. It might be possible for WEATHERBIRD to cover some of the APEX cruise if needed.

-           LONGHORN schedule changed to reflect these changes

 

Christeson - UTIG/EWING: OCE0137286

Half of it [Hess Deep] is on Ewing's 2002 schedule, but the other half [Blanco Fracture Zone] didn't fit, and won't fit in 2003. This is Ewing-specific MCS work. Has to wait until 2004

-           Deferred to 2004.

 

Incze ≠ NUWC/MELVILLE/Navy: Timing is bad because work is moved later, has very specific dates and this affects the remainder of the schedule and requires waiting in port for cruise to start.

-           Investigating fill in work while still off of Africa. Doesnπt solve problems with delaying later cruises.

 

Youngbluth/HBOI/SEWARD JOHNSON II: NSF funded June cruise deferred to 2004 to accommodate Med. Work.

-           Deferred to 2004