UNOLS DEep Submergence Science Committee
Planning Meeting
December 5, 2002
Hotel Cosmo
(415) 673-6040
761 Post Street, San Francisco, CA
Meeting
Summary Report
Appendices
II.
Attendance List
III.
DESSC Chair Report
IV.
ALVIN/ROV – Science
User Reports
a.
Karen Von Damm
b.
Jim Cowen
d.
Hans Schouten
e.
Tim Shank
f.
Paul Johnson
h.
Bob
Embley
i.
Dana Yoerger
j.
John
Delaney
k.
Tom Shirley
l.
Patty Fryer
V.
NDSF Operator’s Report
a.
Operations and NDSF Website
b.
ALVIN Update
c.
ATLANTIS and Chief Scientist Update
d.
ROV Update
e.
Operations for 2003 and Beyond
VI.
HBOI Report
VII.
MBARI Report
VIII.
MPL Report
IX.
HURL Report
X.
NOAA Report
XI.
Workshops and their recommendations Table
XII.
New ALVIN Report
XIII.
Neptune Observatory presentation
XIV.
Shallow Submergence
Science Committee Report
XV.
Global Initiatives - Arctic
XVI.
R2K initiatives
XVII.
LINK Symposium Report
XVIII.
Institute for Exploration and Inner Space
XIX.
REVEL Update
XX.
NOAA Vents – Dive and Explore
XXII.
RIDGE Outreach Programs
Welcome and Introductions - Patty Fryer, DESSC Chair,
called the meeting to order at 0815. The
meeting agenda is included as Appendix I. A list of meeting participants is contained
in Appendix II.
Patty reviewed the activities of the Committee over the past year. DESSC members Joris Gieskes and Marv Lilley rotated off the committee
in the spring and were replaced by Hedy Edmonds and Debbie Kelley.
Over the past year, DESSC has been making an effort
to better reach the biological community.
They held a Special Session at the ASLO/AGU conference in February 2002. They are also making an effort to be
ambassadors at various biology meetings.
Patty reported that Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(WHOI) has formed an internal committee to review the National Deep Submergence
Committee (NDSF) and their marine operations program. The Committee is chaired by Fred Sayles. A replacement for Dan Fornari as the NDSF
Chief /scientist replacement has not been identified. WHOI is in the process of conducting a design study for a new
ALVIN, a 6500+ meter human occupied vehicle (HOV). They have formed a New ALVIN Design Advisory Committee (NADAC)
made up of HOV users and some DESSC members to provide input on the study and
design features.
The DESSC has considered the general design goals
for a new HOV, relative merits of HOV/ROV, and the desired depth capability of
a New ALVIN. Some of the desired
capabilities that could be designed in a replacement for ALVIN include:
·
Greater
speed
·
Improved
science sensors and tools
·
Improved
maneuverability
·
Increased
power for propulsion and payload
·
Greater
endurance and improved ergonomics
·
Better
visibility and lighting
·
Improved
navigation
Improved safety systems
·
Improved
manipulation ability
·
Greater
external sample storage and increased science payload
·
Better
communications
·
Improved
data collection, logging and interface capability to science instruments
·
Depth
capability to 6000-7000m (depending on the technical feasibility and
cost-benefit analysis)
Over the past year the DESSC has considered the
science justification for HOVs, as well as, the desired depth capability for a
new HOV. They have prepared a paper
that provides a science justification for HOVs. Some of the HOV benefits include:
- Engagement of the operator
- Visibility in 3-D
- Maneuverability/reliability
- Unobtrusiveness
- Capacity for outreach education and
recruitment.
Other activities of DESSC have been included
outreach and educational efforts. These
will be reported later in the meeting.
At the Link Symposium in May 2002 a discussion on a
“Full” ocean depth (11,000 m) HOV vs. a ~6500 m HOV came up. In response to the full-ocean depth issue,
DESSC recommendations include:
·
Concerns
regarding effective use of resources
·
Current
effort (6500m +) is outgrowth of community-wide discussions and workshops
·
Maintain
the deployment capability from the existing support ship (no major
modifications to the ship design, or submersible launch-recovery system)
·
Meet
the stated needs of the scientific community
A copy of Patty’s viewgraphs is contained in Appendix III.
Approval of Minutes of May 2002 DESSC meeting – The minutes of the May 2002 DESSC meeting were approved
as written.
2002 Science Reports - Presentations by Principal
Investigators – Users of the NDSF facilities and other facility assets provided reports
on their cruises over the past year.
Karen Von Damm had the first ATLANTIS/ALVIN cruise of 2002 starting
on 6 January and ending on 10 February.
The cruise plan called for 5 dives at 21N East Pacific Rise (EPR), then
transit to 9-10N for 20 dives in five areas.
In Karen’s opinion it was the worst mechanical cruise since 1984. Problems were related to both ALVIN and
ATLANTIS failures.
ATLANTIS problems:
·
Generators
resulting in loss of propulsion and lighting
·
A-Frame
– resulting in hard deck landings and a hard stop mid-air
·
Low
water pressure
·
Drains
that overflow
·
Hydrowinch
problems resulting in loss of rock coring abilities on some days.
ALVIN problems:
·
Computer
failures resulting in major problems
·
No
data collection on several dives
·
No
navigation data
·
No
overlays on several dives.
The WHOI engineers were very busy throughout the cruise trying to correct the problems. In spite of all of the difficulties, over 200 water samples were collected.
Dan
Fornari reported on Jim Cowen’s 2002 ATLANTIS/ALVIN cruises. The
first was to Guaymas Basin, Gulf of Mexico on April 26 to May 11th and
the second cruise was to the Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge
(August 4-25, 2002). Both cruises
involved a combination of ALVIN dives and CTD operations. The ALVIN operations were highly productive
and they were able to make more dives than originally anticipated on both
cruises, despite losing dive days to bad weather during the Endeavour
cruise. They completed 15 CTD casts
during the first cruise and 20 casts during the second cruise. This is essentially
two casts per night. Only one equipment problem was experienced with the CTD.
This was a failure of the CTD pylon on the next to last day of operations at
Guaymas Basin.
Jim credits the tremendous
efforts, cooperation, and competence of the ALVIN and ATLANTIS crews for two
highly successful cruises. A written
report from Jim is provided as Appendix IVb.
Dan continued by reporting that there would an AGU
poster session by Rachel Hayman and Ken McDonald’s on their May 2002
ATLANTIS/ALVIN cruise. Details are
provided in Appendix
IVc. The poster will report on off-axis hydrothermal activity
on the EPR near 9o 28’N. During
two ALVIN dives, they mapped over 100 sediment mounds, which appear to be
hydrothermal in origin. Eleven sediment push cores were collected in the mounds,
within the craters, and in ambient surrounding sediments. Other samples collected
during the dives include three "slurp" samples of mossy material
on the fault scarp, and rock samples with moss-covered surfaces.
Dan concluded by thanking NSF for adding dives to
Hans Schouten’s cruise in May 2002. Dan
then emphasized the need for additional ALVIN engineering dives.
Hans Schouten reported on his ATLANTIS cruise at 9o 55’N
on 14-23 May 2002 (same cruise as MacDonald/Hayman). An objective of the cruise was to ground-truth November 2001
survey results with ALVIN dives. The science activities included four ALVIN
dives, ABE lowerings, CTD operations, and use of a digital camera on the CTD
wire, rock cores and rock dredges. Hans showed maps from the survey. He showed the various bathymetry features at 9o 29’N – 104W.
Tim Shank began his report by stating that the importance of
engineering dives cannot be understated.
His ATLANTIS cruise operations were flawless in May/June 2002. His cruise, titled Galapagos Rift
Exploration 2002 on 24 May to 4 June used ALVIN, ABE, the Tow Camera, and a
CTD. They carried out nine ALVIN dives at depths from 3788 to 3796 meters and seven ABE
dives. Tim remarked that using ABE and ALVIN in tandem
was fabulous. By 7:30 a.m. each
morning, ABE surveys would be available for ALVIN dives. Tim showed an example of ABE’s micro
bathymetry survey. They had five Towed Camera (TowCam)
lowerings and 4,100 pictures were taken.
Six CTD tows/vertical casts were made. Twenty-six scientists from
10 institutions participated in the cruise.
Highlights from the cruise included:
·
Surveyed
three regions of the Galapagos Rift (86°13’W, 88°59’W, 89°37’W)
·
Rose
Garden (86°13’W) considered an area of recent eruption- “paved over”
·
Recent
lava flows and young communities at Rosebud (86°W)
·
Discovery
of clam field (Calyfield) at 1660m
·
New
species of vent-endemic sponge
·
Discovery
of extinct high-temperature sulfide chimneys (89°36W)
·
Effective
vent detection with ABE and synergism with ALVIN operations
·
Education:
25th An. CD; Dive and Discover, NOAA, NGeo; NPR; NGeo TV
Paul Johnson reported on his ATLANTIS/Jason II cruise on 29
August to 23 September. This was the
first scientific use of the ROV Jason II.
This was a Life in Extreme Environments (LEXEN) program and sampled
fluid for microbial and chemical analyses from young and old sites. Five
sites were studied: Baby Bare, Wuzza Bare, Axial Seamounts, Endeavour axis and
ODP Hole 1026b. Eleven individual Jason II dives were made with for a total bottom time
of 323 hours. Ten elevators were
deployed. Other operations included:
·
18 thermal blanket
deployments
·
850 LITERS of fluid from
the barrel sampler during 6 deployments
·
60 liters of fluid from
the LANG sampler
·
136 discrete fluid
samples taken in the Butterfield sampler
·
9 gas tight and 13 major
fluid samplers taken,
·
9 push cores
·
4 bio-grabs
·
9 rocks recovered
·
3796 digital still
images taken
·
11 CTD casts
·
A 10-meter piston core
·
5 sets of larvae settling experiments
deployed.
The
entire cruise was successful and almost all of the scientific goals for the
first year of the two-year field program were reached. Major factors for this
success include good weather and few instrument or equipment failures. No Jason dives were terminated due to
equipment/system failures. The officers and deck crew of the ATLANTIS
contributed to the success of the cruise.
Paul remarked on the need for a sub-bottom profiler
for Jason II.
Paul’s viewgraphs are included as Appendix IVf.
Copies of his EOS article, Probing for Life in the Ocean Crust,
were available at the meeting.
Next, Fred Duennebier reported on his THOMPSON/Jason
II cruise, which was the second science cruise for the vehicle. The cruise
took place off Hawaii in October-November 2002. Pictures from Fred’s cruise are included as
Appendix IVg.
One task during the cruise was recovery of rock samples from the
Mauna Loa South Rift. In about 12 days,
JASON 2 recovered more than 2 tons of rock samples (Figure 1). The second task was recovery of the Hawaii
Undersea Geo-Observatory (HUGO) Junction Box from Loihi volcano that had been
on the ocean floor for five years. HUGO
was inactive because the fiber-optic cable to shore had developed an electrical
short. Information about HUGO can be found at: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HUGO/hugo.html. Figure 2 is a digital image from JASON 2 of
the HUGO Junction Box when it was first located on the dive. Figure 3 shows Jason II attaching a ring to the
HUGO Junction Box so that MEDEA can lift it to the surface. Figure 4 shows Jason II fishing the
fiber-optic cable from the mud in front of the HUGO Junction Box so that Jason
II can cut it prior to lifting the Junction Box to the surface. Figure 5 shows the Jason II crew with the
HUGO Junction Box on the deck of the THOMPSON.
The box is in great shape and will hopefully be able
to be redeployed in a couple years. Lastly, Figure 6 shows one of the
recoveries of Jason II on THOMPSON. They
experienced some weather problems during the cruise preventing ROV work, but
were able to do survey work with THOMPSON’s EM300 system. The Jason support team was terrific.
Patty Fryer commented on the need for a rock drill
that could be used with the ROV.
Bob Embley reported on the Submarine Ring of Fire 2002 - Explorer Ridge expeditions on June 28 - July 11 and July 23 - August 5, 2002. Details of the cruise can be found on the web at, <http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02fire/background/plan/plan.html>. The cruises were on THOMPSON and used a suite of vehicles and tools including specialized sonars, a CTD, AUV ABE, and ROV ROPOS.
The first expedition conducted initial surveys of the seafloor and the water column above the Explorer Ridge using a CTD, ABE and THOMPSON’s EM300 multibeam. ABE sensors that were used included:
·
Altimeter
·
Pressure
gauge
·
CTD
transmissometer
·
Magnetometer
·
EH
sensor
·
Imagenex
scanning sonar
·
SM200
Bob showed a comparison of Imagenex data and the
SM2000 data and remarked that they got a lot more data with the SM2000. Without ABE, Bob remarked that he is sure
they would have been able to find the most active vent area. There were more than 40 active vents and
extensive extinct chimneys.
ROPOS operations were conduced during the second
cruise. There is a lot of seismic
activity at Explorer Ridge. They had a
new digital camera on ROPOS and this worked remarkable well.
Dana Yoerger commented on ABE 2002 operations. ABE has been used to collect bathymetry and
magnetic data. On the Explorer Ridge
expedition the ABE data was taken while ALVIN was in the water. This was an important capability. Multibeam mapping sonar SM2000 is working
well and provides dramatically better coverage.
John Delaney reported on NEPTUNE related activities over the past
year. The Keck Foundation has provided
$5 million in funding to support the NEPTUNE observatory initiative (Appendix
IVj). The objective of the
observatory is to document the linkages in time and space involved in plate
tectonic modulation of microbial productivity.
The participants in the NEPTUNE program include
·
MBARI
·
SIO
·
Pacific
Science Center
·
JPL
·
WHOI
·
UW
·
NOAA
In August 2002, John led a cruise funded by the Keck Foundation
using TIBURON from WESTERN FLYER. They
instrumented two sites one at the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge
and at the intersection of the Nootka Fracture Zone and the Cascadia Subduction
zone. This was the first field effort of the project. Boreholes were made in the basaltic basement at the Endeavour
Ridge to provide deployment sites for short-period seismometers. The
instruments will be deployed in 2003. The MBARI drill was used successfully. Debbie Kelley has developed a system (funded
by NSF) that uses a drill called RAMBO.
Tom Shirley could not attend, but provided viewgraphs (Appendix IVk) in advance of the meeting. His cruise, titled, GOASEX: Gulf of Alaska Seamount Exploration took place on 22 Jun - 15 Jul 2002. Fifteen ALVIN dives were made to study crab
distributions.
Patty Fryer completed the science presentations by reporting on
the NDSF “Most Valuable Asset,” Chief Scientist Dan Fornari. She noted his dedication, energy, and commitment
to making the NDSF the most capable facility available to meet the deep submergence
community’s research needs. Patty
read a poem prepared by Susan Humphris, “An Ode to Dan” (Appendix IVl).
Dan was presented with a print from artist Alp Ozberker in gratitude
for all of his contributions to DESSC and the National Deep Submergence Facility.
National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF)
Operator’s Report:
Dick Pittenger began the report for the NDSF
operator by remarking that the year has seen good times and bad times. As Karen Von Damm reported, there were
problems experienced with both ALVIN and ATLANTIS. On the positive side, Jason II is in service and initial
operations have been successful.
Operations Summary - NDSF vehicle systems – Rick Chandler reported on the vehicle operations in 2002. His viewgraphs are included as Appendix Va. ALVIN operations included 328 operating days with 97 dives. Even though ALVIN has been operational for the entire year, there were fewer dives than normal due to ATLANTIS maintenance in the spring and the Jason and non-ALVIN cruises in the fall.
The average dive depth was 2121m with and average
duration of 7.5 hours. The average depth this year
was less than the previous few years due to a high percentage of relatively
shallow dives for the IMAX work, at the Galapagos and on the seamounts in the
Gulf of Alaska.
The 4.9 hrs average bottom time is up from 4.5 hours
last year, also due to the high percentage of shallow dives. In addition to the science highlights reported, this
year also included 25th anniversary dives at Galapagos. Three dives were lost in 2002, all due to
weather.
In 2002 ROV Jason II joined the NDSF. Sea trials were conducted in July off Oregon. Two science cruises (Juan de Fuca and Hawaii) have been made for a total of 26 lowerings and 455 hours of bottom time. The deepest dive has been to 4,650 meters.
NDSF operating costs in 2002 was $4,100,134. Personnel salaries continue to be the largest part of
the budget, with dive-related supplies second.
Overall costs have remained stable for the past five years.
Diving this year was fairly evenly divided among the three major
scientific disciplines with minor shares for IMAX imaging and engineering.
Rick continued with a description of the newly revamped Marine Operations web site.
The vehicle
overview page, reached by clicking on ‘NDSF Vehicles’ from the welcome screen, gives
information access for each of the four vehicles and also a “Cruise Planning
Tool Kit.” There are links to the
cruise-planning questionnaire; UNOLS ship time request form, port agent, and
contact listings. They have tried to
standardize the organization of each vehicle and ship section so that
information can be quickly and easily found.
From the Jason II/Medea menu, there is access to ROV cruise summaries. The ROV operations team publishes a brief cruise report, with an abstract of scientific goals, methodology and results.
An added feature is a page of highlights, with
descriptions of tools used and operations requested.
The ALVIN page includes a new section, ‘Dive Site
Charts.’ This provides a menu of charts
available showing locations of all ALVIN dives up to the present. The charts provide not only geographic
location, but also information on dive depth using the color-coding at the
bottom.
John Delaney commented that this information and
resource is needed for all of UNOLS ship use.
Dolly commented that to some degree this is being addressed by UNOLS and
Oceanic.
Upgrades
to the NDSF vehicles, sensors, navigation systems and ATLANTIS
Barrie Walden continued with a review of ALVIN upgrades. His viewgraphs are included as Appendix Vb.
Barrie reported that the data logging & display
software problems experienced earlier in the year have been resolved. There were indications that there might be
problems with the in-hull data logging just before Karen’s cruise. The individual microprocessors had bad PCU
fans that were slowing down and experiencing glitches in the code. The manufacturer has provided new PCUs and
these seem to be solving the majority of the problems.
The hardware required for the video overlay process
for dupe stations is in-house and the required software is in-progress. It had been suggested that they use the
Jason laptop for overlay and they are submitting a proposal to NSF to put this
on ALVIN’s computer. It can generate
the cruise track, frames, and data associated with the frame. It provides a good way to scroll through the
dive and locate things that they would like to pull out. They would like to modify the code so that
this will work on ALVIN’s computer.
Hopefully this can be accomplished in the coming year.
The Imagenex profiler integration has been
completed. A second camera and pan and
tilt are on order. Controls for both
will be hard mounted prior to 2003.
Acoustic modem integration has been completed, but further testing is
required. ROV evaluation of the
force-feedback manipulator is in progress.
If it performs well on Jason II, it will be installed on ALVIN this
year. Funding has been requested for an
exterior still camera digital replacement.
Dan’s camera worked well but is difficult for the ALVIN support group to
maintain and operate. They are still
looking for alternatives. There are
about five different systems that they are looking at.
Louis Whitcomb has written software that changes the
way we can navigate.
The motors were removed and renovated.
Corrective actions were implemented:
·
Electrician
hired
·
New
brushes were installed to reduce carbon dust
·
Extensive
preventive maintenance
·
Several
design options being evaluated
The ATLANTIS A-frame system was built in 1982. It is a metric system with marine and
non-marine features. It has many
one-off custom parts. The A-Frame was
reconditioned and moved to ATLANTIS in 1996.
Recent A-Frame failures were with the anti-swing cylinder and leaking main cylinder
adaptors. They have implemented a
revised maintenance
plan with monthly
maintenance inspections for early identification of problems.
This will identify items for crew/shipyard work lists. An independent professional assessment of
the A-Frame is planned for January 2003.
Dick commented that there is an ATLANTIS maintenance
and improvement backlog. The things
that were not funded during the overhaul will not get done. Correction of the drain problems would be a
$60K- $90k project. ATLANTIS has become
a 24-hour ship. This puts increase
demand on the ship and crew. ATLANTIS
has scheduled shipyard visit at Atlantic Marine Inc. at the end of the year.
ROV (Jason II, DSL-120, and Argo II) Upgrades – Andy Bowen continued the
NDSF report with an update on the ROV upgrades, field trials and initial operations.
His viewgraphs are included as Appendix Vd.
Andy acknowledged help from MBARI and ROPOS during the upgrade process. WHOI tried to take advantage of the lessons
learned from the other operators. Features
of Jason II include:
· Doppler Sonar
Andy went on to report ROV upgrade plans for 2003. These include:
·
Addition
of Doppler and SM2000 to DSL
·
Work
to correct difficulties with Kraft manipulator
·
Formalize
pilot training policies
·
Launch/recovery
swing crane damping
·
Improvements
to science operations vision system
·
Data
logging manuals and pre-cruise science training material
·
DVD
recording and improved control van displays
·
Dedicated
“major” water samples
·
Improve
payload and trim – purchase more syntactic foam
·
Acoustic
navigation – report to DESSC in June.
Jim Bellingham congratulated Andy on his
accomplishments. He suggested that ROV
tool sleds should be made swappable throughout the community (Tiburon, ROPOS,
Jason II, etc)? As vehicle operators,
they need to be doing more in coordinating their efforts. Jim would like to make the MBARI systems
more portable. There are benefits to
standardizing to a degree. The concept
of portable modules was suggested. The
community needs to establish the requirements for such modules. Andy suggested that DESSC take this on as a
task and consider requesting funds for a small workshop.
There was a question regarding the cost for Jason
3? It cost approximately $3M and
includes the handling system, cable, and control vans.
NDSF Scheduling for 2003/2004 - Jon Alberts reported on
schedules for 2003 and 2004. His viewgraphs
are included as Appendix Ve.
ATLANTIS and ALVIN will end 2002 with Chuck Fisher’s cruise.
Jon reviewed the programs that have been proposed for 2003. In addition to science cruises, they will need
to include maintenance time, INSURV and a shipyard period for ATLANTIS.
ATLANTIS will also be used to field test Southampton’s new ROV and
recover moorings. The first part of 2003 will be spent in the
Atlantic at the Mid Atlantic Ridge and the New England seamounts. Work will continue in the Gulf of Mexico before
transiting the Gulf of Mexico. The
second half of the year will be spent in the Pacific with work areas in the
Galapagos Rift, East Pacific Rise, Juan de Fuca, and off California.
There are already many days requested for ALVIN and
ROVs in 2004 and beyond. Some of these
programs are already funded. Most of
the work is distributed in the traditional yo-yo work areas.
Archive Update - Dan Fornari gave an update on the archives.
His viewgraphs are included as Appendix Vf.
The archives include a selection of the best ALVIN images from dive
1 to 3245. They are migrating ALVIN data logging data.
Dan reviewed the types of storage media that are contained in the archives
(3/4-inch tape players, 8mm players, VHS players, hi8 video player, and DVCam
digital video player). 35mm reel films can be seen with a light table.
These films are being scanned with internal WHOI funds.
For data, all readable floppies have been converted
to CD. For audiotapes, the archives
holds both reel-to-reel and cassette players.
The
URL for ALVIN ‘Best
Hits’ Photos to dive 3245, July 1998 is
<http://www.marine.whoi.edu/alphotos.nsf?OpenDatabase>.
Dan
reviewed the NDSF related licensing revenue:
Details
are provided in Appendix Vf.
Dick Pittenger reported on the status of the Chief Scientist position. An internal review of marine operations and the National Deep Submergence Facility is underway. The committee is being chaired by Fred Sayles. Dan has agreed to stay on while the process is ongoing. WHOI will first look within WHOI for a replacement, then if necessary expand the search externally.
Other Facility Operator Reports
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) - Shirley Pomponi could not
attend the meeting, but provided a written report in advance of the
meeting. Patty Fryer summarized the
report.
In addition to the general maintenance, a new Sunwest SS-300 CTFM Sonar was installed with a 12” display monitor to match J-S-L I.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute (MBARI) - Mark Chaffey gave a report on MBARI operations in 2002 and plans for
2003. In 2002 TIBURON operated off
Monterey and at Juan de Fuca. Recent
cruise highlights included deployment of the new laser Roman spectrometer. MBARI has received increased external
funding for vehicle use. This included:
·
NURP funded 4 days.
·
Ocean Exploration funded 7 days.
·
The Keck Foundation funded 14 days.
·
The BBC funded 2 days.
MBARI has been collaborating with U. Washington and
Canada to support a cabled observatory system, which is a test bed for the
Neptune seafloor observatory. TIBURON
equipped with a cable laying tool sled was used during the observatory
operations. MBARI now has six
application-specific tool sleds.
In 2003, TIBURON operations are planned in the Gulf
of California.
MBARI’s Ventana ROV system has been operating in
support of the:
- MOOS portable mooring system
- MOOS test mooring
- Verification of engineering design
The MOOS mooring
system capabilities will include:
MBARI outreach activities have included:
Marine Physics Lab (MPL) - Fred Spiess reported on
the SIO/MPL vehicles, the Advanced Tethered Vehicle (ATV), the Control Vehicle
and the Towed vehicle. SIO has been
evaluating ATV to determine if it can be brought back into service to support
science operations. The vehicle was
transferred from the Navy. It has a
maximum depth capability of 20,000 feet.
The system is large, 9’ x 14’ x 7.5.’
ATV has not been operated for three years.
Fred continued by reviewing MPL’s Control Vehicle capabilities and operations. The Wireline Reentry system consists of a Control Vehicle and a logging tool designed to inspect deep sea drill holes and install monitoring equipment in them. The Control Vehicle has been used as the interrogation vehicle for near bottom geodetic experiments. System characteristics include:
· Two thrusters to control lateral position
· 6,000 m. depth capability
· Sonars
MPL Deep Tow system includes a pressure case, wire termination,
telemetry, transponders, and topside electronics. Sensors include a pair of 110-kHz side-looking sonars, a 4-kHz
sub-bottom profiler, a 40-kHz obstacle avoidance sonar, a 12-kHz navigation
sonar, a 23.5-kHz up-looking sonar, a CTD unit, a transmissometer, a complement
of still and TV cameras, and a 100-kHz multibeam echo sounder.
Three geodetic operations are scheduled for this year.
Fred’s viewgraphs are included as Appendix
VIII.
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) – Patty Fryer reported that
Keith Crook has provided a written report, which is available in hardcopy. The report summarized research
accomplishments in 2002 with a table of dives by PI. A highlight of this year included finding the midget
submarine. Most funding for PISCES
operations comes from NURP. In 2003
HURL will have ten test and training dives on PISCES IV and PISCES V. As part of the test plan the subs will be
deployed simultaneously. HURL plans to
advertise a request for proposals for research in the main and NW Hawaiian
islands and in American Flag SW Pacific waters.
ROPOS – A written report was provided
by ROPOS and is available in hardcopy.
The report provides information on 2002 operations and plans for
2003. Additional information is
contained on their website at, www.ropos.com.
Research conducted by NOAA includes:
Barbara provided information on NOAA funded
deep-science projects and trends in deep diving. The projects have been consistent, but the number of deep dives
has been going down and the wet diving has gone up. The high cost of deep submergence research is driving this. They are going to try to increase the
funding for deep work.
In 2003 there are a variety of operating areas for
Ocean Exploration. An RFP will go out
in mid month for this Fiscal year. Time
is blocked on the ALVIN schedule for this work. They also have time scheduled on the RON BROWN and 60 days off
Hawaii.
A question was asked if there has been any effort to
get Ocean Exploration funding decisions more in sync with UNOLS
scheduling. This issue has come up
repeatedly in recent years. Barbara
commented that Admiral Lautenbacher’s matrix management plan should address
this issue.
Office of Naval Research (ONR) – There was no ONR
Representative present.
National Science Foundation (NSF) - Dolly Dieter and Jim
Yoder provided the report. Dolly
reported that NSF currently has no budget and is operating on a continuing
resolution. She stressed that the
community needs to stay engaged in the submergence science issues and provide
their input to DESSC and the agencies.
Jim Yoder continued and commented that by having no
budget, NSF is only authorized to spend at level funding based on the FY02
budget. Congress’ budget had included
a generous increase of 13 percent for NSF.
If the budget remains unauthorized, it is likely that the budget
increase will disappear. This can be a
bad sign for the FY04 budget request.
Jim continued and discussed ALVIN and issues related
to its potential replacement:
1) Why not build an HOV to
full depth? There would need to be a
science justification.
2) Why build an HOV at
all?
NSF has asked the Ocean Studies Board (OSB) to study
what science can be done using an HOV versus an ROV. What is the most effective way to carry out submersible
science? Are HOVs, ROVs, or a mix of
vehicles needed? A task statement for
the study is being drafted. There will
be opportunity for community comment.
The OSB and NSF will also gather the reports from past workshops and
consider their recommendations. The study will likely begin in early 2003.
The question was asked if the community would have
the opportunity to review the task statement before it gets finalized. Dan Fornari emphasized that the tasking
should not require the committee to consider HOVs versus ROVs, an either/or
option.
6500 m Sub and New ALVIN Design Advisory Committee
(NADAC)
– Patty Fryer opened the discussion by reminding the participants to read
the letter drafted by Dan Fornari, “A perspective
on two decades of deliberations regarding deep submergence facility requirements
and suggestions for the future.” Additionally, Patty has created a matrix that includes a list of
papers and workshop reports along with their respective recommendations. The matrix is included as Appendix XI.
All reports seem to be saying the same thing; a suite of vehicles is
needed to support deep submergence science.
Bob Brown (WHOI) continued with a report on the
status of WHOI’s new ALVIN study. The
study is in the Concept development phase.
They are evaluating the Lokomo hull.
This is the same hull that is used by the Russian MIR subs. Three hulls were originally made and the
third was never put into service.
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is conducting a survey of the hull. A finite element stress analysis of the hull
and Atlantis A-frame analysis
have been completed. Conceptual design
of the vehicle and pressure sphere is in progress.
Bob presented the construction schedule for the new
manned sub. Design and construction is
estimated to take approximately 6.5 years.
Currently they are half way through the conceptual design.
They have developed mission requirements. Operational cycle issues have been
reviewed. They are currently preparing
the functional specs for science related areas. Some of the activities that are planned include:
·
Observer
fields of view and viewport placement
·
Science
sensor placement
·
Operational
capability tradeoffs
·
In-hull
equipment selection and placement
Bob reviewed the Functional mission requirements
that have been developed. These are
contained on the New ALVIN website at
<http://dsg.whoi.edu/nadac/home.htm>.
An interim review meeting for the study is planned
for February 2003. They hope to have
the technical effort complete and a review meeting in April 2003. Inputs for an RFP package are scheduled to
be complete in June 2003.
WHOI has two sub-contractors involved in the
project, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and International Submarine
Engineering (ISE).
Hull materials under consideration include Ti6A1-4V,
Ti Beta C, and maraged steel. Hull
construction options include:
WHOI is carefully evaluating window designs
including size, number, and orientation.
They have also considered energy source options. Battery options considered include:
Investigation of the viewport placement options will
include computer modeling as well as full-scale modeling. Discussion followed:
Question – Will there be side ports?
Answer - SWRI has been asked to look at 4 and 5 windows.
Question - Why design an HOV with a 7,000-meter
capability when none of the other NDSF vehicles (ROVs) can go to 7K?
Answer - This is what the science wants. The sub will have to last many years, so we
need to be forward thinking.
Question – Could we have an 11,000 m vehicle, but
still use it routinely for 6500-meter work.
Answer - ATLANTIS probably could not support the
weight of an 11,000-meter vehicle.
Question - What are the parameters for operation of
the new vehicle? Will it be able to
have a 12-hour dive duration?
Answer – They will need to look at the science
justification and do a cost/tradeoff study.
Comment - DESSC has recommended a full-ocean depth
AUV capability.
Question – Has the capability for two dives a day
been considered? There should be an
easy method for dropping out the batteries.
The new vehicle should also have increased bottom time.
Answer – Two
dives a day will require additional support requirements (man hours). This can be evaluated.
Future
Deep Submergence Facility Needs:
Ocean Floor Observatories - John Delaney gave an
update on the NEPTUNE Observatory project and observatories in general. Information about Neptune can be found on
their website at <http://www.neptune.washington.edu>.
John commented that we don’t like to work in hostile
seas. Another way of observing the
oceans is needed. There is currently an
expanded network of coastal observatories.
As an example, LEO-15 off New Jersey has been successfully
operating. One thing that is missing is
the link between the coastal observatories and the oceans. Regional observatories are needed to provide
this link. A regional observatory
should:
What capabilities are required for a high-end
full-ocean presence?
John remarked that an optimal location for the first
regional observatory is the site planned for Neptune. Plate tectonics can be studied.
Neptune is designed to be a network of submarine laboratories with 100
kW of power and high bandwidth.
John asked the question, what role should HOVs,
ROVs, AUV and others have in observatory support and operations? What should they look like? The facilities that will be required to
support Ocean observatories need to be identified. This expands to the UNOLS fleet.
The Canadians have already set aside $60m for a network in the Pacific
NW. John recommended that a committee
be formed by DESSC to address this issue.
It was remarked that DESSC does not have the
expertise to identify the facility needs for observatories. Individuals familiar with observatories need
to explain the types of operations that are planned. Patty suggested a workshop
that brings DESSC and observatory experts together is needed. Alan Chaves suggested that industry representatives
also need to be included. They have
experience with operations in rough ocean environment handling heavy items and
cable.
John commented that observatories can transform the
way the public seas the oceans. It
could greatly expand outreach capabilities.
This would link the public by Internet to the sea floor.
Jim Bellingham stated that the MARS observatory is
being installed and should be available by 2005. They would like to get community input into the plans.
Dale Chayes suggested that the UNOLS Fleet
Improvement Committee should be included in plans to evaluate facility
needs. Observatories are certain to
impact ship time demands.
Bob Detrick remarked that the assets that have a
long lead-time for acquisition and construction need to be identified now. Bob is chairing a National Academies study
on ocean observatories. As part of the
study facility needs will be addressed.
They would like input from DESSC on this issue. The committee will meet next in
mid-February.
Shallow-water Submergence Science Ad Hoc Committee – Shirley Pomponi could not
attend the meeting. A written update of
committee activities will be made available.
South Atlantic and Arctic - Tim Shank provided a report
on the interest for deep submergence operations in the south Atlantic and
the Arctic. There is a lot of interest
for work at the Gakkel ridge. The
Gakkel Ridge is the slowest-spreading mid-ocean ridge on Earth (full rate
1.33 cm/year at its western end, near Greenland; 0.6 cm/year at the Laptev
Sea shelf). It is geographically and oceanographically
isolated from other mid-ocean ridges. There is at least one vent site every
100 km. Previous studies (Müller &
Jokat, 2000; Tolstoy et al., 2001) showed that there had been a seismic swarm
here in early 1999 Sidescan data from a SCICEX cruise a few months later suggest
there may also have been a volcanic eruption (Edwards et al., 2001).
Tim’s viewgraphs are included as Appendix
XV.
Ridge 2000 - Mike Perfit provided an update of RIDGE 2000 program
activities. His viewgraphs are included
as Appendix XVI.
Ridge 2000 began in Oct 2001. They are one year into a planned 12-year program. The program has two themes, time critical studies and integrated studies. There are three initial Integrated Studies sites (ISS). These are located at
8-11˚N EPR, Endeavour segment of the Juan de
Fuca Ridge and the East Lau back-arc spreading center. There have been two major workshops. The R2k Data Policy has been
approved. August 15th is the first target date for postdoc, data
management and ISS proposals. The budget
for Ridge is currently $9.5M and includes office and ship costs. The revised R2k Science Plan will soon be
available as well as the first R2k Newsletter.
Upcoming Workshops include:
2004 will be first season for R2k ISS cruises. Three legs are anticipated in Lau Basin with
use of ROV, AUV, and more. There will
be continuous work at EPR and Endeavour (continued use of NDSF vehicles and
instruments).
See the R2k website for more info: r2k.bio.psu.edu
Announcements of future submergence meetings – Patty reported that DESSC
would try to hold meetings or special sessions at the:
·
Fall AGU – 8-12 Dec 2003, San Francisco, CA
·
2004 Ocean Sciences Meeting, AGU – 26-30 Jan 2004, Portland, OR
·
2004 Ocean Research Conference, ASLO – 15-20 Feb 2004, Honolulu,
HI
The DESSC will work to better engage the biology community.
Report on LINK Symposium results - Patty’s viewgraphs summarize
the activities of the NASA/NOAA LINK Symposium. Her viewgraphs are included as Appendix XVII.
She and other organizers of the LINK Symposium have drafted a summary
article that has been published in the Marine Technology Society (MTS) Journal. Some of the hoped-for products from the symposium
include a web-based inventory of tools and sensors and recommendations for
new technologies.
NOAA and NASA jointly supported the Link Symposium. Priority
actions suggested from the symposium include:
Jim Bellingham led the LINK session on AUVs. AUV thrust sessions were divided up based on general
operational concepts. This included
mapping, under-ice operations, adverse conditions, seafloor observatories, and
deep ocean exploration. Fred Duennebier, Rob Sonne and Dave Mindell lead group
discussions. Jim commented that he was concerned prior to the workshop because key people were not
participating in the workshop including industry representatives, NSF, and
technologists. However, he felt that the symposium useful in trying to get
people to think out of the box.
Bob Ballard discussed activities and plans for the Institute for
Exploration and Inner Space. His viewgraphs
are included as Appendix XVIII.
He began by remarking that there are different support needs for archeology
operations and those for MG&G research.
Also, as the Jason ROV continues to grow in popularity, it would be
difficult to have access to it. These
factors contributed into the decision to design a platform for archeology
support. Bob has joined URI. His vision is to develop a program that integrates
deep-water oceanography, marine archeology, ocean engineering and history.
The Institute for Exploration (IFE) has developed a suite of underwater vehicles dedicated to marine archaeology surveying. IFE’s vehicles and systems are designed to operate up to a maximum depth of 3,000 meters. These vehicles include Argus, an optical imaging tow-sled; Echo, a dual-frequency side-scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler; and Little Hercules, an imaging ROV. ROV Hercules is under development. Information and specifications about the vehicles are available on the web at <http://www.ife.org/latestdiscoveries/iferesearch/dstd.asp>.
HERCULES will be a neutrally buoyant and equipped
with a High Definition video camera. It will be specially designed for excavation
in the deep ocean and will have the same manipulators as Jason and ALVIN. A new control system for the vehicles is
being built at WHOI and URI. There will
be two vans. One will be for the tech
support group. The other van will be
the immersion van, equipped with plasma displays.
Bob has a major expedition in July/August 2003 for
work in the Black Sea and Mediterranean.
Bob continued by describing the EDS system under
construction. During the Black Sea
operations a radar system will be on the KNORR, and the ship will serve as a
node to link to the Internet. This will
extend their research to shore endlessly.
The question was asked, what are the economics of running the satellite
time? Bob replied that for the 45-day
operations with 24 hrs/day of satellite time the cost is approximately
$150k. Currently, there are 40 nodes
for Jason and 1.4 million school children are being reached. These kids can experience the KNORR
expedition. There are another 50
3-screen facilities on shore. The KNORR
system is portable.
Updates on public outreach and education activities
Dive and Discover – Susan Humphris reported on Dive and
Discover activities. Information about
the program and expeditions is posted at <http://science.whoi.edu/DiveDiscover/>.
There have been a variety of cruises in recent years. Dan Fornari and Susan Humphris participated in previous Dive and
Discover cruises. They are now planning
a cruise in which they will not participate.
The program will be carried out by a Non-WHOI scientist and will include
Abe and ALVIN operations. They will try
to recruit RIDGE to help develop a curriculum for the program. Dive and Discover had been designed as a
template in the hope that other non-WHOI facility users could use it.
NOAA Explorations – 2002 Plans – Bob Embley remarked that
NOAA Explorations was a major sponsor of the Black Sea work in 2002. Information about their program is contained
on the web at <http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/explorations.html>.
REVEL – Veronique Robigou reported that the REVEL program
has been funded for a three-year term.
This was a major achievement.
The program continues to take teachers to sea for operations in the NW
Pacific. They will participate in the
Keck supported cruises. REVEL is
collaborating with RIDGE. The teachers
have been very engaged and are becoming experts in the at sea science
operations. Information about the
program can be found at <http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/explorations.html>.
Dive and Explore – Bill Chadwick reported on the Dive and Explore program, which
is an interactive exhibit that simulates making an ROV dive to a submarine
volcano. Bill’s viewgraphs are included as Appendix XX.
A mockup of the ROPOS control module was made.
It has been a very popular exhibit and they have been very pleased
with the response. The exhibit is
located at the Marine Science Center in Newport, OR.
They hope to make it into a traveling exhibit.
Jill reported that they are planning a 2003 MATE Center/MTS ROV Committee ROV Competition for High School & College Students. It will be held at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology on June 19-21, 2003. She encouraged everyone to get involved as a sponsor, advisor, or team mentor. Jill can be contacted at jzande@marinetech.org or visit the website at <www.marinetech.org/rov_competition/index.html
>.
Jill encouraged everyone to visit the MATE website
to learn more about their programs and activities www.marinetech.org.
Lectureship program in association with RIDGE2000 – Patty reported that
efforts are being made to develop a lectureship program. R2K will lead the effort.
Discovery Channel series – In the past year UNOLS
and NOAA have been contacted for potential cruise opportunities that would
provide interesting material for a series of television programs on deep
submergence science. The series would
appear on the Discovery Channel.
Joyce Hollister commented that the History Channel
has been viewing programs on technology.
Deep submergence technology developments could be candidates.
RIDGE 2000 Outreach Programs – Liz Goehring reported on
R2k outreach activities. Her viewgraphs
are included as Appendix XXII. Activities include a workshop on “Exploring
the Deep with Teachers.” Their education
& outreach plan has been posted to community. A GIFT Workshop is planned during the AGU conference. Major 2003-2004 projects include:
Additional information about RIDGE 200 Education and
outreach is contained on their website at http://ridge2000.bio.psu.edu/eotest.html.
Patty thanked everyone for attending this year’s
DESSC meeting. The meeting adjourned at
5:15 pm.