DRAFT
UNOLS FLEET IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
Campus
of San Jose State University
Student Union Building, 3rd Floor - Almaden Room
1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95172
March
13-14, 2006
A copy of these minutes can be downloaded as a pdf at
<200603ficmi.pdf>
Meeting
Minutes
Executive
Summary:
The UNOLS Fleet Improvement Committee (FIC) met at San
Jose State University, Almaden Room, on March 13-14, 2006. Day one of the meeting was devoted mostly to
the review of the draft 2006 Fleet Improvement Plan. The Committee will work to complete the draft for review at the
fall meeting. FIC reviewed the
Committee Membership and discussed nomination suggestions. Day two of the meeting was a joint session
with the UNOLS Council. Discussion
included reports and updates on Fleet renewal plans and implementation.
Action Items:
|
Task Description |
Action |
|
Ocean Class Planning Provide input when requested |
FIC |
|
Global Class: Update SMRs (ongoing) |
Global Class SMR Committee |
|
KILO MOANA Actions: |
|
|
·
Contact Brian Taylor to keep abreast of Handling
System details. |
Dave H. |
|
·
Draft EOS or other appropriate article |
Dave and Brian
Taylor |
|
Design and Constructions Efforts
- Stay engaged in ongoing design and construction efforts (ARRV, Langseth
Conversion, etc.) |
FIC |
|
2005 Fleet Improvement Plan: ·
Complete all writing assignments and have next draft
available for review prior to the next meeting. |
FIC |
|
Ocean Observatories
Stay in contact with ORION Office. |
Dave Hebert |
|
FIC Membership A replacement is needed for Ron Benner. Seek nominations and provide a membership recommendation to Peter Wiebe. |
FIC |
|
ADA Guidelines: · Provide preliminary recommendations to NSF for Regional Class Construction effort · Provide draft UNOLS Fleet guidelines (structural and procedural) in Fall 2005 |
ADA committee. |
|
Definition of UNOLS Ship Classes Re-examine the UNOLS ship class definitions and determine the appropriate classification for each ship in the fleet. This will need to be carried out in conjunction with FOFC, so that the Fleet Improvement Plan and the FOFC Plan are consistent. |
FIC |
Appendices:
Meeting
Summary Report
Day 1 March 13, 2006
Call the Meeting
- Dave Hebert, FIC Chair, called the meeting to order and provided an
opportunity for introductions. The
meeting agenda is included as Appendix I and the participant list
is included in Appendix II.
Accept the minutes of the October 2005
FIC Meeting Clare Reimers
provided corrections to the minutes from the October 2005 meeting:
Executive Summary, page one:
- Remove date for continuing resolution
- Spell out acronym FOFC
- Third paragraph - remove update.
- Last paragraph, include Clare's last name.
Page 4
- Fifth paragraph, missing "were."
- Bottom of page write out SCN.
Page 5
- Take out until Nov. 18th for continuing resolution.
- Spell out NORLC.
The October FIC minutes were approved with the
inclusion of the corrections as noted.
Regional Class Dave and Marc Willis, along with representatives from the Research Vessel Technical Enhancement Committee (RVTEC) participated in the review of the scientific outfitting specifications for the Regional Class to ensure specifications and the type of procurement are appropriate for the science systems. Recommendations will be provided to NSF.
Kilo Moana Debriefs and Article It had been recommended that FIC should write an article about the capabilities of Kilo Moana to put to rest any rumors that have been circulating. Dave explained that we are waiting to hear more about the new CTD handling system before moving forward with an article. Once the system is installed and operational, University of Hawaii can be contacted to learn more about it. John Freitag reported that the new Caley handling system for Kilo Moana might not be ready until September 2006.
Federal Oceanographic Facilities Committee (FOFC) Fleet Plan update Dave explained that he, Peter Wiebe, and the UNOLS Office have provided the FOFC working group with input for their plan. FOFC provided a draft copy of their plan to Peter Wiebe, Dave Hebert, Annette DeSilva and Mike Prince for review. FOFC would still like community input regarding the science imperatives for research vessels.
Bob Houtman provided the status of the FOFC Fleet Plan. FOFC provided their draft plan to Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for their review.
OMB indicated that the only way a "planned vessel" could be
included in the renewal plan was if it was authorized or was in a submitted
public budget. As a result, acquisition
of the four Ocean Class ships by the Navy could not be included in the
plan. The FOFC working group is
revising the plan accordingly and will send it to the FOFC principals when
ready for review. When the draft is
finalized it would be circulated for approval within each agency. No formal
public comment period is planned.
Ocean Class Planning - There is a new Chief of Naval Research (CNR), RADM Landay, and a new Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, Dr. Etter. They have decided to conduct a study to determine the Navy's requirement for oceanographic research ships. A Naval Research Advisory Committee (NRAC) has been formed to provide advice on whether or not the Navy should invest in infrastructure for oceanographic research (academic). Their first meeting is in late March 2006 (next week). The study is on a fast track so that ONR/Navy can report to Congress in June/July on what their plan is for Ocean Class vessels. ONR will not make any movement on spending the $4M for design of Ocean Class ships until NAVY decides what to do based on the NRAC advice. The first decision is whether or not the Navy will build new research vessels. Then, if the decision is to build ships, CNR/ONR will decide how they will acquire the ships. If the decision is to not to acquire the Ocean Class ships, the $4M design money would be turned back.
Global Class A community on-line survey will be available to assist in the development of Science Mission Requirements (SMR). Global Class SMRs are important because they represent what the community needs for research vessel requirements. This information is useful as plans for Global ship mid life improvements as considered.
Fleet Improvement Plan (FIP) Review and discussion on the draft FIP will be a focus of this meeting.
Ocean Observatories - ORION has formed subcommittees for engineering, science, infrastructure, etc. They have requested proposals for providing infrastructure for Global, Regional and Coastal observatories. The advisory committees met at the end of January and selected proposals for cost estimates. They have been asked to define their requirements for ship time. Budgets will constrain where and what they can do. There are a lot of unanswered questions about what the scale of the observatory installation because even with the scaled down structure they are still over the projected budget.
FIC Membership A call for nominations has been announced.
ADA Guidelines A committee has been formed with Terry Whitledge as chair. They are hoping to be able to send preliminary recommendations to NSF for the Regional Class design effort. Any major revisions that would impact design are needed now. A full report s planned later in the meeting.
Cover Any artistic improvements are welcome.
Executive Summary The summary should be written after the full report is drafted. The Executive Summary should be capable of being a stand-alone document. Peter showed the Executive Summary of the NAS study called "Rising about the coming storm" on U.S competitiveness.
Future Science Initiatives:
An
introduction is needed. It should
emphasize the need for ships.
Jim Cochran commented that the section on Geophysics does not include anything on solid earth. It needs to be broader in its approach.
Annette said that specific examples of discoveries for each discipline are needed. She showed a few examples. Blue boxes are locations for discoveries.
Terry Whitlock mentioned that the text about eco-system management on page twelve should be kept in the biology section because it is a major area.
Ocean acidification is not mentioned in the biology section and should be mentioned. It could also be mentioned as a discovery in the chemical oceanography section.
Summaries will be combined at the end of the science initiative section (instead of in each research discipline), emphasizing cross cutting issues and discoveries.
McGillicuddy might be able to provide a figure for biological oceanography.
Figure 1 was discussed. It shows the different data collecting paradigms and how ships fit into it. The Committee decided to rework this figure and make the need for ships clearer.
In the education section, TEAA is no longer active, TREC replaces it.
It was suggested to keep the large programs in the report, but consider combining with crosscutting programs.
It was suggested to contact Dave Karl about HOTS discoveries and Dennis Hansell, Maureen Conte, and Tony Knap about BATS discoveries. Check Bermuda and UH history on their time series.
Dave and Terry offered to draft the science initiatives summary.
UNOLS Current Facilities Composition:
Ship Classification There was discussion on the classification of vessels and where the Hugh R. Sharp fits into the scheme. One suggestion was to classify ships as Regional Class (federally owned) and Regional Class (institutionally owned). Then include the Sharp in the Regional Class and modify the utilization tables accordingly. The FIC recommended that FOFC be contacted and encouraged to include Sharp in their Fleet Plan. It was also recommended that we work closely with FOFC in reclassifying the vessels so that both Plans are consistent.
A section is needed on aircraft facilities from John Bane. Mike Prince indicated that he could find appropriate text from SCOAR articles in EOS and Oceanography.
Input is needed on the icebreakers facilities. Mike Prince indicated that he could find text from existing material.
Rob Pinkel volunteered to provide text on FLIP.
Ship scheduling section - Mike Prince can provide text.
Utilization
Trends:
Carefully define terms such as optimal operating year, under-utilization, over capitalization, etc.
Show the utilization targets for the older vessels using the optimal days that had actually been established for those classes, not the optimal days designed for the new vessels. In other words the full optimal year (FOY) for the intermediate ships of 250 days should be used instead of the FOY=275 for Ocean Class ships.
Check the number of requests on the world chart.
Cost Chart - Use day rates or average day rates versus CPI for cost changes. Remove the CPI lines.
Projections
Update the projections, but include observatory projections based on latest data.
Show the dip in utilization in 2006, but show utilization rising back based on projected need, which was based on utilization when funds were available.
Show the projections with the ships that were identified in the FOFC 2001 plan, but still need to show the projections without the Ocean Class and Local Class vessels construction. Put back the dashed lines showing no replacement.
Do we want to include sections on aircraft, icebreakers, etc? Perhaps just indicate the need to evaluate the requirements, maybe include some preliminary thoughts.
Shortfalls
This section needs to be drafted. It should explain the differences between the FOFC and UNOLS plans. It should also explain the consequences for not carrying out Fleet Renewal or SLEPs
The tradeoffs section will need to be drafted. Peter Wiebe indicated that he might need help with this section.
Lunch Break
Review Fleet
Improvement Plan (FIP) Update Discussion on the FIP
draft was continued from the morning.
Time was spent reviewing and editing the chart that Peter, Clare and
others generated during the lunch period.
It was recommended that a section be added to the
report that would address emerging capabilities. This could include:
-
ADA requirements
-
Over-the-side handling
-
Broadband communications
-
3-D seismic
-
Diversity attracting a more diverse set of the
population to become ocean scientists
Timeline
- Annette will post the revised document on the Project web page and provide a
list of specific action items. FIC and
others were asked to provide response to the action list by six weeks. [Note: The current draft text of the FIP is available on the
project website at <http://www.unols.org/committees/fic/Fip05/FIP2005_Outline.html>. Alls sections can be downloaded as a PDF.
Annotations that were made during this 3/13/05 FIC meeting are included in
yellow comment boxes. <FIP2006_032406.pdf>.
Word
documents for each draft section can also be downloaded.]
Break
Kilo Moana Update - Dave
Hebert reported that he would contact Brian Taylor about the status of the acquisition
of the new Load Handling System for Kilo Moana. The Committee decided to
hold off on conducting any further debrief interviews.
Day 2 March 14,
2006: Joint Session of the UNOLS
Council and FIC
Call
the Meeting, Day 2:
The UNOLS Council and FIC met for a joint session on March 14, 2006. Peter
Wiebe, Chair, opened the meeting at 0830. Meeting participants introduced
themselves. Dolly Dieter, Linda Goad,
Larry Clark, and Holly Smith joined the meeting via phone conference.
Dr.
Vida Kenk, Interim Dean, College of Science, SJSU, provided a welcome
address. She has been at SJSU since
1969. CalState University system has 23
campuses and provides degrees up to the Masters degree level. SJSU recently built a new library. She encouraged the Council to visit the 8th
floor of the library for a view of the area.
Accept the minutes of the October 2005
Council Meeting Marcia McNutt noted a typo in the
fourth line on the first page of the draft minutes. A motion was made to accept the Council minutes with
incorporation of the noted correction. The motion passed.
Agency Reports, Budget Projections, Future Fleet Utilization, and
Fleet Renewal Activities
National Science Foundation (NSF) Mike Reeve provided the
NSF report. His slides are included as Appendix III. After several years of a flat budget, there
is hope that there will be some improvements.
Overall NSF annual growth is projected at ~7% for the next decade. There are exciting opportunities in GEO this
year and beyond in terms of research and infrastructure
Major facility investments include:
·
HIAPER (jet) - Construction
is complete and initial operations began in 2005.
·
EarthScope - Construction
continues on time & on budget.
$27.4 million is requested in FY 2007 to complete construction.
·
Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel There is an FY 2007 request of $42.88 million to complete construction.
·
Ocean Observatories Initiative The FY 2007 request includes $13.5 million to begin construction.
·
Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV) - The FY 2007 request includes $56 million to begin construction.
NSFs Ocean Sciences Division (OCE) provides about 70% of federal funding for Academic Ocean Research.
OCE also provides about 65% of funding for
the Academic Research Fleet operations to support NSF-sponsored sea-going
research and education projects.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) will have three elements: deep-sea buoys, a regional
electro-optical cabled network, and a network of coastal observatories. The construction phase is requested to begin in
FY 2007 with funding from NSFs MREFC Account.
Mikes slides provide the annual budget request to support OOI
installation.
The Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel conversion is scheduled to begin in late 2006
with scientific operations to begin in late 2007. The total MREFC budget request to support the conversion is
~$115M.
The Alaska Region Research Vessel has been included in the FY 2007 Presidents Budget to Congress.
Mike reviewed the Regional Class Research Vessel acquisition
timeline. They expect to select the two design teams in April
2006. In mid 2007, they expect to
select the winning ship design and proceed with detailed design &
construction, Phase II. Construction
schedules for the three ships are:
·
Ship 1
2007-2008
·
Ship 2
2009-2010
Ship 3 2011-2012
R/V Maurice Ewing was sold in September 2005. The Ewing Replacement Oversight
Conversion Committee (EROCC) has been active in modification of designs. Shipyard bids for conversion are currently
under review. The seismic science equipment
is currently being purchased. The
vessel is anticipated to be ready for service in late 2006.
The human occupied vehicle (HOV) replacement acquisition is following a phased development approach.
Phase I is in progress. A contract has been finalized (October 2005) between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) for the design of the personnel sphere. The solicitation for the actual vehicle is being prepared.
Phase II (dependent on successful execution of Phase I) will consist of
the vehicle construction with an anticipated completion in 2009.
Sea trials are scheduled in early 2007 for the Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle (HROV). The
HROV will be capable of operating in ROV (tethered) and
AUV (untethered) mode. It is a
multi-agency developmental program (NSF, NOAA, Navy).
There have been quite a few OCE Staff changes:
·
Marine Geology and Geophysics Program -
Howard Spero, Associate Program
Director
·
Biological Oceanography Program - Mary-Elena Carr, Associate Program Director
·
Physical Oceanography Program - Elise Ralph, Associate Program Director
Sea Grant Fellow - Li Zhang
·
Division Director - Julie Morris, (starting April, 2006)
·
Environmental Officer Bill Lang