Revised - January 15, 2004

Agenda

January 25, 2004

Oregon Convention Center - Room C124
777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland OR 97232

Morning:  DEep Submergence Science Committee Planning Meeting

08:00   Coffee, Distribution of Meeting Material (Written Reports)

08:15   Introduction – Patty Fryer, DESSC Chair   

• Introduce DESSC Members
• Explain DESSC Terms of Reference
• Purpose of this Meeting
• Approval of Minutes of June 2003 DESSC meeting

08:30   2003 Science Reports –Principal Investigators will be requested to provide PowerPoint slides summarizing his/her cruise in advance of the meeting.  PIs will have an opportunity to present their slides at the meeting.  Debbie Kelley will moderate this session and is available to present any reports from PIs who cannot attend.

• ALVIN users
• ROV/AUV users
• Users of other facility assets

09:30   National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF) Operator’s Report (WHOI)

• Introduction.
• 2003 Operations Summary - NDSF vehicle systems
• NDSF Scheduling for 2004/2005
• NDSF Website – new features, updates
• Archive Update
• WHOI NDSF Chief Scientist position progress
• New ALVIN Design Study Status

10:30   Break

10:45   Agency and UNOLS Reports

• NOAA – (Barbara Moore)
• NSF – (Jim Yoder)
• UNOLS (Tim Cowles)

11:15   DESSC Activities, Plans and Issues – Patty Fryer will make a PowerPoint presentation summarizing each of the following topics.  Some of her slides could be supplemented by input from key individuals.

• Long-Range and Expeditionary Planning Discussion
  • Review Future Facility Requests
  • Other Core Needs (RIDGE 2000, Margins)
• Future Submergence Facility Needs
  • Ocean Study Board Reports – Summarize findings and recommendations as they pertain to deep submergence science/facilities.
    • Exploration of the Seas
    • Implementation of a Seafloor Observatory Network for Oceanographic Research
    • Future Needs in Deep Submergence Science
  • Sea-Floor Observatories Facility Needs – Report from UNOLS Working Group Chair (Alan Chave)
• Inventory of facilities, tools and sensors
• Shallow-water Submergence Science Ad Hoc Committee - Science, Technology needs, Access and Funding
• Archeology Programs
• Public outreach and education activities:
• Dive and Discover
• REVEL
• Mud Volcanoes from the Mantle <http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/expeditions/>
• Extreme
• NOAA Explorations
• IMAX
• NeMO
• MATE Program – ROV competition
• RIDGE2000 Lecture Series
• Other Facility Operator Reports (Written reports will be available)
  • HBOI
  • MBARI
• MPL
• HURL
• ROPOS
• JAMSTEC
• DESSC Membership Opportunities

11:45   Open Discussion

Post Meeting Follow-up:  At the conclusion of the morning session, meeting participants will be asked to complete a meeting assessment form (hardcopy) and return it before leaving.  The form will request feedback on what they liked and disliked about the meeting.  Suggestions for other topics and information that they would like to see presented will also be requested.  They will be asked if they would be interested in attending the next meeting of this kind.  The UNOLS Office if needed can do additional follow-up by e-mail. 

This training session is the first of its kind and will be offered to provide detailed information on both the capabilities of the National Deep Submergence Facility vehicles (primarily Alvin, Jason2 ROV, and the DSL-120A sidescan sonar) and sensor suites, and their at-sea operations procedures.  The session will also provide insightful information on the effective operating procedures for these systems.  The material that will be presented should be informative to both new users of the facility vehicles, as well as those individuals who have had the opportunity to use the systems in recent years.  The latest upgrades to the facilities will be presented as well as planned improvements.  Handouts with key information, contacts and URL links will be provided and will serve to allow the participants to easily look up key information that can help them structure proposals to use the vehicles, or upcoming field programs.

We hope to be able to offer additional training workshops at future DESSC meetings or other national science meeting venues. Feedback on the usefulness of the material presented, as well as suggestions for improving the session will be solicited.

13:30   NDSF Vehicles – Science and Operations Training Session

• Introduction
• Purpose – to help make science more productive at sea and to better train and involve scientists and pilots in the data acquisition process using the NDSF vehicles.  This also includes issues related to:
  • Use of various vehicle systems synergistically during the same field program,
  • Data processing and quality control – a participatory venture between operations and science personnel at sea,
  • Science deliverables, and
  • Ancillary programs and integration with NDSF vehicle operations.

13:50   General Overview of Facility - Matching the right vehicle(s) to your research needs and operational/science logistics, nested survey concept.

14:15  Vehicle Capabilities, Sensors, Navigation Options and Operational Procedures

• Jason2, Alvin, DSL-120

16:30   AUV operations and WHOI Towed Camera operations and synergy with NDSF vehicle systems - examples and operational considerations.