DEep Submergence
Science Committee
Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution
May 24-25, 2006
A copy of these minutes are available as a pdf document
<200605desmi.pdf>.
Executive Summary:
The Deep Submergence Science Committee (DESSC) met on May 24-25, 2006 at
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
The meeting included agency reports from NSF and NOAA. Representatives of the National Deep
Submergence Facility (NDSF) provided reports on:
·
Vehicle operation summaries
·
NDSF data and archives
·
Ship maintenance updates and vehicle improvements
·
Navigation upgrade
·
Deep submergence scheduling in 2007 and beyond
The meeting included status reports on new vehicle design efforts at
WHOI. The replacement deep diving Human
Occupied Vehicle (HOV) is moving forward and if all goes on schedule the
replacement HOV would be ready for service in 2010. A first draft of a community on-line survey to obtain input on
the sensors desired for the RHOV was reviewed.
The Hybrid ROV project is also progressing and
the vehicle should be ready for service in 2007. An update on the status of AUV development efforts at WHOI was
provided. The DESSC reviewed WHOI’s
proposal to incorporate Abe/Sentry
into the NDSF and in turn, approved the incorporation of ABE/Sentry into the NDSF concurrent with the removal of DSL-120A and ARGO II. They will present
this recommendation to the UNOLS Council during the summer meeting.
A status report was provided from the DESSC
subcommittee on their efforts to establish safety standards for HOVs.
The DESSC discussed NDSF personnel issues and the
need to provide training opportunities to the pilots. They also reviewed their draft document on criteria for bringing
new assets into the NDSF. The document
will be finalized and presented to the UNOLS Council during their summer
meeting.
Action
Items:
(Action – DESSC draft debrief questions, Watchdogs conduct interviews)
10.
Criteria for Adding Assets to the NDSF – DESSC accepted the draft Criteria.
Deb will present it to the UNOLS Council on June 21st for
endorsement. (Kelley)
Appendices
|
I |
|
|
II |
|
|
III |
National
Science Foundation Report (1.4 Mb) - E. Dieter |
|
IV |
UNOLS
Report (2.8 Mb) - P. Wiebe |
|
V |
NDSF
Vehicle Operations Summary - R. Chandler |
|
VI |
NDSF Science User Report: - W. Chadwick |
|
VII |
Atlantis
Maintenance Period Update - A. suchy |
|
VIII |
Alvin
Overhaul Report - D. Foster |
|
IX |
ROV
Update - A. Bowen |
|
X |
Alvin
Personnel Issues - D. Foster |
|
XI |
2006
NDSF Schedule and NDSF requests for 2007 (1.8 Mb) - E. Caporelli |
|
XII |
NDSF
Requests for 2007 ad Beyond - A. DeSilva |
|
XIII |
NDSF
Data and Archive Report - M. Tivey |
|
XIV |
Update
from NDSF Data Manager (3.6 Mb) - V. Ferrini |
|
XV |
Hybrid
ROV Report (32 Mb) - A. Bowen |
|
XVI |
AUV Status - Sentry Report (2.2 Mb) - B. Walden Movie Clips:
|
|
XVII |
|
|
XVIII |
ORION
Report (17.52 Mb) - R. Detrick |
|
XIX |
ROPOS
Report - D. Kelley |
|
XX |
Replacement
HOV Update (1.4 Mb) - R. Brown |
|
XXI |
Subcommittee
Report on HOV Safety Standards Project (1.4 Mb) - C. Young |
|
XXII |
NDSF
Navigation Upgrade Status - J. Howland |
|
XXIII |
|
|
XXIV |
Ocean
Exploration Education and Outreach Programs (1.7 Mb) - C. Martinez |
|
XXV |
Meeting
Minutes
Day One: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - Carriage
House
Introductory Remarks,
Meeting Logistics, and Introductions – Deb Kelley, Deep Submergence
Science Committee (DESSC) Chair, called the meeting to order at 0830 on
Wednesday, May 24, 2006. The meeting
was held at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Carriage House. The agenda for the meeting is included as Appendix
I. The items of the agenda are
reported in the order addressed.
Meeting participants introduced themselves. The list of attendees is included as Appendix II.
Accept minutes – Hedy Edmonds indicated
that she had a few corrections and would provide them to Annette DeSilva. The minutes of the December 2005 DESSC Meeting were approved
upon incorporation of the corrections.
NSF - Dolly Dieter provided the NSF report. Her slides are included as Appendix III. Dolly reported administrative personnel
changes. Bruce Malfait, MGS Section
Head has retired. Dr. Julie Morris is
now on board as the new Division Director.
The projected timeline for construction and funding of the Alaska
Region Research Vessel (ARRV), the Regional Class ships, R/V Langseth,
and the replacement HOV were presented.
The ARRV is in the MRE account and funding is expected in FY07. If all goes on schedule, the ship would be
ready for service in 2010. The Regional
Class acquisition process of three ships has begun. In April 2006 two design competition contracts were selected. It is a one-year design competition. Operator solicitation is expected in September
2006. The R/V Langseth is in the
shipyard for conversion modifications and will have a 3-D seismic
capability. UNOLS has established a
science oversight committee for the facility that will be modeled after DESSC. It is expected to be ready for service in
2007. The Replacement HOV is in the 3rd
year of a design/build process and should be complete in 2010.
In other activities, Dolly reported that:
•
The
UNOLS Office Cooperative Agreement was renewed for another 3 years.
•
UNOLS
Wire Pool news:
o
Testing
is being conducted to determine the wire specs and if the manufacturers are
meeting them
o
There
is a need to start looking at the next generation wire
•
Load
Handling systems – Matt Hawkins (UDel) headed a symposium to look at handling
systems. The R/V Sharp is
getting a new Caley handling system.
•
NSF
has renewed its contract with JMS for ship inspections. They should restart in June. Operators will be asked to use the web-based
ship condition form
•
SSSE
Group purchases – NSF is supporting group purchases:
o
Gets
standard equipment across the fleet
o
Cost
saving in buying in quantity
Lastly, the Federal Oceanographic Facilities Committee (FOFC) has
been finalizing their Fleet Renewal Plan and hopes to have it published by the
end of this year.
NOAA - Barbara Moore (NOAA) reported that the Ocean Exploration (OE)
program and the National Undersea Research Program (NURP) are merging to form
one organization. There is an increased
emphasis on technology development. The
program is under construction and will be involving outside partners. This was an action that was planned some
time ago, but is finally getting underway.
In the FY06, the NURP program budget was hard hit, as well as
OE. OE was only allowed to fund a
portion of their planned work. The NURP
Alvin program was not funded. Of
the six NURP centers, only Hawaii and Mississippi was fully funded. The West Coast center was partially funded.
In the East:
•
The
Caribbean is closing as a NURP center.
•
Connecticut
and Rutgers have no operations, but are preserving personnel
•
North
Carolina will remain open, maintain equipment, but reduce personnel.
NURP/OE is restructuring to meet the budget of President’s
request. The request restores some
funds to OE, but is lower than FY05.
Despite these significant reductions, NOAA supported the Alvin
cruise in the Gulf of Mexico (May 2006) and is also able to support their
portion of the Alvin overhaul.
Question: After the merge,
how will grants be administered? Barbara
- It is not clear yet, but it will be more streamlined.
UNOLS - Peter Wiebe, UNOLS Chair, provided the report
for UNOLS. His slides are included as Appendix
IV.
He began by reporting on
ship utilization and ship time for 2006 and beyond. In 2006 there was a sharp decline in funded ship days as
a result of budget constraints. The
scheduled ship time in 2006 is not at the optimal level. The worse case is with the intermediates
ships. For 2007, the preliminary
Letters of Intent show double and triple bookings with pending work. It looks even bleaker than 2006
In
2005, Larry Clark asked for advise from UNOLS on how to deal with the budget
shortfall. In
March 2006, the Council
formed a subcommittee to prepare guidelines that would be used by the Council
to make recommendations regarding ship lay-ups or retirements from the
Fleet. Peter reviewed the charge to the
committee, the Committee’s considerations, and their recommendations.
Peter reported on Fleet Renewal efforts. In the Spring 2006, the Navy formed a Naval Research Advisory Committee (NRAC) to provide recommendations regarding Navy’s role in acquisition of the Ocean Class.
There
is a lot of competition for Navy funds and UNOLS is not a high priority. The NRAC is expected to provide their
recommendations soon.
At
the time of this DESSC meeting, the UNOLS SCOAR committee is meeting. It is a joint meeting of the UNOLS
Scientific Committee for Oceanographic Aircraft Research (SCOAR) and the
Interagency Coordinating Committee for Airborne Geosciences Research and
Applications (ICCAGRA). Their meeting
will be immediately followed on May 24-25, 2006 by the first ever Airborne
Ocean Science Conference. The conference will include posters and presentations
on the use of aircraft in marine science research field programs.
A
new UNOLS new standing committee, the Marcus Langseth Science Oversight
Committee (MLSOC), was formed in October 2005 and Steven Holbrook,
U of Wyoming, is the Chair. They will
hold their first meeting on 31 May and
1 June at the Shelburne Nova Scotia shipyard.
The 2006 UNOLS Annual Meeting will be held on Friday, October 6, 2006 at NSF.
The keynote speaker will be
Former California Congressman and White House Chief of Staff,
The Honorable
Leon E. Panetta.
Questions:
Bob Detrick stated that CORE sent a
message that the NRAC would not report until the summer. He asked if this would hold up the FOFC and
FIC plans. Reply – No, both plans will
continue to move forward.
Deb Kelley asked what is the
prospect of the mid-life refits for the Global ships? Dolly replied that we won’t see mid-life refits like those for
carried out for Knorr and Melville, but the Navy would like to
provide funds for upgrades. At the NRAC
hearings, there were strong pleas for continued support of UNOLS.
National Facility Operators Report – Bob Detrick (WHOI) began the National
Facilities Operator’s Report and introduced Rick Chandler.
NDSF Vehicle
Operations Summary –
Rich Chandler reviewed the Alvin and ROV operations in 2006. His viewgraphs are included in Appendix
V. The Alvin overhaul was completed in mid-April. It is carrying out its first cruise of the
year in the Gulf of Mexico. Jason2
has completed two cruises at the time of this meeting.
NDSF Support
Ships - Liz Caporelli
reported that a Jason2 test on Kilo Moana is planned in
November. There is a Jason2
cruise scheduled on Ron Brown next year in the Gulf of Mexico. There are some Dynamic Positioning concerns
that they will be looking into.
NDSF Science
User Report – Bill
Chadwick provided a report on his recent Ocean Exploration cruise aboard R/V
Melville using Jason II.
Cruise highlights as well as comments regarding Jason2 operations
were provided. Bill’s report is
included as Appendix VI.
During the cruise,
they made dives at nine different active volcanoes in the Western Pacific. The first volcano visited was NW Rota. In 2003 CTD surveys of the ARC were conducted. The following year there were ROPOS
dives at the site. In the fall 2005,
Japanese dives were conducted. These
were followed in 2006 by Jason2 dives.
It is still erupting. Six dives
were made at this site. Bill showed
video footage from the site. A portable
hydrophone shows when vent shuts down and starts up.
The Daikoku
volcano was also visited. On the flank
they found molten sulfur. There were
lots of animals (flat fish).
At the Nikko
volcano, there was incredible biomass and they again saw molten sulfur along
with CO2 bubbles. At the end
of the dive, the vehicle was heavier than when it began, by about 60 lbs. Jason2 had broken through the
crust. The fluid sampler got most of
the damage.
Bill continued
with a report on Jason2 operations.
The vehicle and crew were very capable.
There was also room for improvement.
The LBL navigation is very archaic and needs to be replaced as soon as
possible. It is a risk to science operations.
The cameras worked, but not optimally.
The suction sampler worked about half the time. The motor broke down.
Discussion followed:
·
Bob Detrick – Was there evidence
that the site was erupting? Bill – They didn’t know for sure if it was still erupting. It has been erupting since 2004. They did more dives at that site than originally
planned and saw two species of shrimp, one of them thought to be new. They saw dead mid-water animals drop to the floor, and then the
shrimp ate the dead animals. The volcanoes
seem to be poisoning the mid-water animals.
·
Maurice Tivey – Requested comment
on the navigation system. Bill – They ended up using the Doppler most of the time. They were very impressed with the Doppler and
closed loop system.
·
Andy Bowen – If additional work
is planned in the volcanic areas, there are improvements that can be made
and should be considered for the vehicles to work optimally.
Bill - Adding sound to the video would be useful.
·
Deb Kelley
– There is a lot of productivity at the shallow volcanoes (Iceland for
example).
Upgrades
to National Deep Submergence Facility
Atlantis
Maintenance Period Updates
- Al Suchy provided the Atlantis maintenance period update. The list of maintenance items is included in
Appendix VII. Overhaul of
starboard propulsion motor was not planned.
Overhaul of the bow thrusters was a big effort. Renewal of the hydro lab deck was expensive
and also a big effort. They did some
work on the drains, but more required in future.
A
new DP system is planned for Atlantis and it will be installed in stages.
It will be like the system on Knorr in 2004. In 2007 they have a 6-week period where the system can be
installed.
Discussion
followed:
Andy
Bowen – Based on the overhaul of the bow thruster, will past problems be
avoided? Al - With regard to the DP,
training is important and this is planned.
Bearing failure and shafting of the thruster was due to a lack of
lubrication of the bearing in thruster.
It was difficult to find where it was to be lubed. Also one of the anti-torque fittings had
been installed incorrectly, putting wear on the good one. They have corrected the fitting. As for training, for Knorr they
attended training by Kongsberg. From
the start, Atlantis will have 3 trained people. Then training will be put into the annual
budget. They will use Kongsberg.
Andy
Bowen – Is there any formal mechanism for WHOI to communicate with NOAA Corp
regarding the Ron Brown DP system.
Al – When Brown visited WHOI last year, they discussed the DP and
other systems. They can follow up on
these things. Catalina Martinez
commented that the DP system problems on Brown occurred at Lost
City. They wrote the problem up in
detail and it is being addressed. The
ship’s DP and GPS need to be upgraded.
Erroneous GPS data feeds in, resulting in the ship cruise off in the wrong
direction. The system is working a bit
better, but they would not want to go back to an area like Lost City until they
feel more secure with the system.
Peter
Wiebe remarked that on his recent Ron Brown cruise, the main lab was ice
cold making it very difficult to work in.
Alvin
Overhaul Report - Dudley
Foster reported on the Alvin overhaul.
The list of overhaul items is included in Appendix VIII. The overhaul was completed on budget and on
schedule. During the overhaul hull
inspection, they found porosity in the welds and some cracks. Most were surface cracks. These could be ground out, but is an
expensive process. Dudley thanked John
Freitag for diverting funds to get this repaired. The Navy was very responsive to the timing issues. They imposed a new 2-year inspection to some
of these areas. They can reassess the
areas that are accessible (no vehicle stripping required).
Dudley
reported that the Navy’s certification process is becoming more detailed. They always find more issues. They finally completed the overhaul on
schedule. Three mornings a week, the
whole crew met and reviewed progress.
Sea trials were conducted as planned. There was a new requirement for
inclining.
Deb
Kelley asked why there have been changes with the certification. Dudley – The changes are probably mostly due
to personnel changes.
Dolly
stated that because this was such an expensive overhaul, NSF chipped in. The hull work alone cost $250k to
$500K. This is the item that NSF
chipped in on.
A
functional audit of Alvin was also conducted. Al Suchy reported that the functional audit was also conducted on
the handling system.
Barrie
stated that the certification took up 100% of Dudley’s time with paperwork.
ROV
Update - Andy Bowen
provided the ROV update. His
presentation is included as Appendix IX. He discussed the multi-chamber suction
sampler, Medea, and Jason2 operations at the Ring of Fire site.
The final version of the multi-chamber suction sampler should be
ready in the fall for Alvin. The Medea vehicle has been upgraded and can provide
stand-alone operation when required.
If Jason2 operations
are going to continue in active volcanic sites, such as Ring of Fire, there
should be time to consider the impact on equipment. There are a variety of interesting technology challenges that
should be considered for continued work in these areas.
Alvin Personnel Issues - Deb Kelley opened a discussion on Alvin personnel issues, noting the
shortage of pilots. Many of the pilots
are new and have come on during the overhaul.
Dudley Foster reported on the status of pilot employment (see Appendix
X). Anthony Berry has left and
Tony Tarantino left after the overhaul.
There are now four pilots: Pat
Hickey and Bruce Strickott are senior pilots, and Eppard and Spear are
new. They have hired three Electronic
Technicians and all gained experience working during the overhaul. The 2007 ship schedule is light and will
pose employment challenges for the group.
In 2007 there will be about 6 months of non-Alvin cruises. There may be opportunities for some of the
existing people. For new hires, it is
difficult to provide job security when the schedule is so weak.
Discussion
Followed:
Jeff Karson – Are
there training programs that the pilots can take advantage during the slow
periods. Dudley – Dolly encourages and
supports training. Deb Kelley remarked
that when she was on a cruise, she got feedback that they would like training
on the cameras.
Jeff Karson stated
that he found that the pilots who get involved in the science are very
productive. Science training sessions
for pilots would be beneficial.
Deb commented that
dives with new pilots have to be planned very differently. They are less optimal in terms of
accomplishing science.
Dudley – The
bottom line is that they lose people because they don’t want to go to sea as
much. This has been a problem
forever. They are staying on the job
longer than the national average.
Bill Chadwick
remarked that it seems that the Jason
group has less of a problem with pilot retention than Alvin. Dudley – They have a
smaller core crew and they have supplemental programs that can keep people busy
between cruises. There are several
factors, including less time at sea.
Deb raised the
issue of what would happen if Pat Hickey were unable to work for a lengthy
period.
Question - Are
exit interviews conducted when pilots leave?
Barrie Walden replied that they used to conduct interviews and found
that the reasons varied significantly.
Peter Wiebe asked
if all of the pilots for the various research subs could be trained in a
standard way such that there would be pool of pilots. Dudley – They have looked into training facilities, but these are
expensive and often become obsolete quickly.
Barrie – This is a
problem that the NDSF operator has recognized and addresses. They have revised the pilot training program
and hope that it would provide the adequate amount of time for training. The training focuses mostly on safety.
Action Item –
DESSC will follow-up on this issue and formulate a recommendation regarding
science training for pilots.
An Alvin ex-pilot was present and commented
that he left the group to do more design and engineering. This is why he left Alvin for the Jason
group. If the pilots are provided with more
design/engineering activities, they might want to stay on longer. Dudley – The problem is that this may not be
effective. When the pilot goes back to
sea while working on an engineering project the engineering project goes on
hold for a couple of months.