UNOLS COUNCIL MEETING
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
March 11-12, 2009
The UNOLS Council met at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories on March 11-12, 2009. The first day of the meeting included a joint session with the Fleet Improvement Committee and focused on Fleet utilization and renewal efforts. Agency representatives reported on budget projections and facility acquisition efforts. UNOLS goals and priorities were discussed. The Council endorsed the updated Research Vessel Safety Standards and the 2009 Fleet Improvement Plan. Other meeting discussion topics and presentations included crew and marine technician retention and hiring issues, Post Cruise Assessment Reports, and and committee activities.
· Science Mission Requirements (SMRs) Update – Establish values and priorities for SMRs starting with the Ocean Class SMR document. (Mike Prince is taking the lead)
·
Establishing Facility
Renewal and Upgrade Priorities – Categorize facility renewal/upgrades into
categories of near term, intermediate term, and long term priority OR high,
medium, low priority. Form an ad-hoc
committee. – Vernon Asper
·
UNOLS 2009 Goal - Investigate the
feasibility of a more flexible UNOLS to meet the needs of additional users. - Form an ad hoc subcommittee to
investigate the problem and make recommendations. - Vernon Asper
·
Post Cruise Assessment
Reports – Continue
review of PCARs and review PCA form to determine if revisions should be
made. (PCAR Committee)
· UNOLS Annual Meeting Plans- Set meeting date and invite Keynote Speaker (UNOLS Office)
·
2009
Council Slate – Solicit nominations for the 2009 slate and prepare draft
slate. (Nominating Committee)
·
Crew and Marine
Technician Recruitment and Retention – Draft recommendations/proposal and send Council
for endorsement. Upon endorsement, send
to Agency representatives. (RVOC/RVTEC
Chairs and Vice-Chairs)
·
Revival of SCOAR – Organize phone meeting of the
SCOAR members. (Dan Schwartz and UMOLS Office)
Appointments
and Motions:
·
Maureen Conte and Al Hine were appointed to second terms on FIC.
·
Dan Schwartz was
appointed Chair of the SCOAR. Steve Ramp
was appointed as a member. The proposed
revised term end dates for the other members of SCOAR were accepted.
·
The Council
voted to endorse the updated Research Vessel Safety Standards.
·
The Council
voted to endorse the Fleet Improvement Plan with the addition of a
recommendation that the future fleet should consider green technologies in
their designs and operations.
Appendices
|
I |
|
|
II |
|
|
III |
|
|
IV |
|
|
V |
|
|
VI |
|
|
VII |
|
|
VIII |
|
|
IX |
|
|
X |
|
|
XI |
|
|
XII |
|
|
XIII |
|
|
XIV |
|
|
XV |
|
|
XVI |
Wednesday, March 11th: Moss Landing Marine Laboratories – Seminar
Room: Joint
session of the Fleet Improvement Committee and Council
Call the Meeting: The
UNOLS Council met on March 11-12, 2009 at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML)
in Moss Landing, CA. Vernon Asper, UNOLS
Chair, called the meeting to order at 0830 and provided an opportunity for
introductions. The meeting agenda was
followed in the order recorded in these minutes. The meeting agenda is included as Appendix
I and the meeting participant list is Appendix II.
Kenneth Coale welcomed
UNOLS meeting participants to MLML. The R/V
Point Sur is expected to return to
Moss Landing later in the day after a long ship yard period.
A motion was made and
passed to accept the minutes of the October 2008 Council Meeting <http://www.unols.org/meetings/2008/200810cnc/200810cncmi.html>
with corrections. (Marcia McNutt/Nancy Rabalais)
UNOLS 2009 Fleet schedules, estimated
operation costs, and 2010 ship scheduling –
Mike Prince and Stan Winslow provided
the ship scheduling report. Their slides
are included as Appendix III. Statistics from the 2009 ship schedules were presented. The utilization by source for each ship was
shown. Although the Council had
recommended that Oceanus layup, days
that could not be accommodated on Endeavor
and Seward Johnson were scheduled on Oceanus.
The 2009 cost statistics are included in the slides. The cost figures are still a bit up in the
air. A chart with the 2003 to 2009 UNOLS
Fleet operating days and costs reveals a slight increase in total operating days.
Next, the ship time requests for 2010 were presented. NOAA is determining what work can be
supported within their budget and what work will be scheduled on their ships. There is still quite a bit of pending
requests. There are many requests for work
in the Pacific. The requests for R/V Langseth
are all over the globe.
Stan concluded by stating that in the nine years that Mike has been the
UNOLS Executive Secretary, he has taken
the ship time request system a long way.
Mike credited Aaron Payne with making the STRS system functional.
Agency Reports – Budgets and renewal efforts:
National Science Foundation
Report – Bob Houtman provided the
report for NSF. His slides are included
as Appendix IV. The topics he covered included budget projections,
Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV) construction status, the Replacement Human
Occupied Vehicle (RHOV), the Hybrid ROV, the Regional Class Research Vessel
(RCRV), and the Ocean Observatory Initiative (OOI)
Budget Projections - NSF is still on a Continuing Resolution and
operating on 90% of the FY08 budget level.
Under the continuing resolution, there are no new program starts. The NSF FY10 budget inputs have been provided
to OMB. The American Recovery Act (ARRA)
lists NSF as receiving $3B. Of this, $2B
is for research and related activities AND $200M is for Academic Research
Infrastructure (ARI). Every ARRA project
must have the money clearly identified as a discreet project with clear start
and end points. Jobs, economics must be
included. NSF ARRA spending plan has
been submitted to OMB. Capital Hill
approval is required. The ARRA can be
used to support MREFC projects that are “shovel ready.” Possible candidates are the ARRV and OOI. The ARRA awards must be out by September
2009. The awards should be two to five
years. NSF is trying to blend the end
dates so that everything doesn’t end at the same time.
ARRV Construction Status – The Final Design Review complete. The panel recommends that a 12-ft lengthening
with an anti-roll tank be explored as a contract option. Model testing is in progress. The ARRV package is ready for NSB approval.
RHOV – The sphere girth welding is delayed one month to April 09, but
there is no projected impact on the cost/final schedule. Bob revised the history of the program. Because of high estimated cost for the
project, in February 2008, NSF and the RHOV Oversight Committee (RHOC)
requested an alternative phased approach to the project (ALVIN Upgrade). In Phase I the new sphere would be integrated
with the 4500M vehicle (Alvin). In Phase
II, all components would be upgraded to 6500M.
Lockheed-Martin’s revised cost estimate for the project in Jun 2008 was ~$50M;
which greatly exceeded the budget. The WHOI/LM
contract was allowed to expire in August 2008.
The project continued under WHOI management and would follow the Large
Facilities Guidelines. Under the ALVIN
Upgrade planned schedule, PDR would be in Jul 09, FDR would follow in ~Dec 09,
and integration would begin in July 2010.
In the summer 2011, initial sea trials would begin. The Phase I cost estimate is about $35M
without contingency.
Hybrid ROV – The RHOV project is fully funded. Shallow sea trials were completed in 2008. Components are being upgraded for the 11KM
capability. The deep sea trial is scheduled
for mid 2009.
Regional Class Research Vessel – The contracts are being closed out with NAVSEA
and the MOU is being terminated. NSF
will move the program forward. Both
designs are complete. In the Spring/Summer
2009, NSF will convene a Design Selection Committee. The committee will provide down-select
recommendation to NSF. Members will include
some original RCRV Technical Advisors from Phase I (UNOLS ship operators,
technical support, scientists) plus ship design/construction experts. The process will be well documented and will
use elements of the NAVSEA Selection Criteria and ARRV Shipyard Selection
Process (which has been subject to both internal NSF and external panel review). In fall 2009, NSF will make the final design
decision. NSF will develop a
solicitation for “Construction and Operation of the RCRV” following the ARRV
process model. If construction funds are
identified the project would follow the following timeline:
There would be one ship with options for more. There will be a call for proposals for ship
operator. The operator selected would
manage ship yard construction for all ships.
The projected cost per ship is about $50M. The intent is to meet as many of the Regional
Class SMRs as possible. Some trade-offs
were required to meet budget constraints.
NSF is starting an effort to accurately assess the condition of the
current ships by working with the operators, maintenance records, and ship
inspectors. They can then make educated
decisions on how long to operate the current ships.
OOI – The Final Design Review was completed in November 2008. NSF is preparing documents for internal GEO
review and the Director’s Review Board approval. NSF plans to request approval for a FY10
construction start at the May NSB meeting.
NSF has been requested to provide jobs and economy metrics data for the
OOI project in relationship to the ARRA.
NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations – Bill O’Clock could not attend the
UNOLS meeting in person, but phoned in and provided the NOAA Report over the
phone. His slides are included as Appendix V and cover:
·
FY 2009 NOAA
Ship & Aircraft Operations
·
NOAA Ships &
Aircraft Recapitalization
·
Okeanos Explorer Update
·
NOAA Survey
Vessel (NSV) Study Update
FY 2009 NOAA Ship & Aircraft Operations
– The NOAA Fleet of 19 vessels plan to complete ~3,300 days-at-sea (DAS) and
~3,800 operating days (ODs). NOAA plans
to charter ~3,100 ODs. The 12 NOAA
aircraft plan to complete ~4900 flight hours.
NOAA Ship & Aircraft
Recapitalization plans include:
·
Pisces (FSV 3)
projected delivery in May 2009 (Builder – VT Halter Marine)
·
Bell M. Shimada (FSV 4)
projected delivery in June 2009 (Builder – VTHM)
·
FSV 5
preliminary design moving forward
·
FSV 6
requirements being finalized in anticipation of funding
·
Ferdinand R. Hassler projected delivery in December 2009 (Builder – VTHM)
The recapitalization status of NOAA
aircraft is listed in the slide package.
Okeanos Explorer Update - Field trials are planned in
the Pacific during June to November 2009.
NOAA Survey Vessel (NSV) Study – The "Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2008" required NOAA to evaluate “the design and
operations of future research vessels in the form of a NOAA Survey Vessel for
multi-mission operations, to maximize on-site activities and modularize for
versatile platform availability“. The
NOAA Ship Recapitalization Plan envisioned a single NSV hull form configured to
support multiple missions. The draft NSV
Study Report is currently under NOAA review and the report is due to Congress in
June 29, 2009. The NSV Report recommends
the following: “Focus solely on the Shallow-Draft Variant, which appears
capable of satisfying the majority of mission activity requirements.’ “Green Ship” initiatives will be incorporated
into the NSV acquisition process.
Discussion followed:
·
Marcia McNutt –
In regard to the Okeanos Explorer trials,
she heard that Phoenix was having some difficulties delivering the 2-body
package. Have these problems been
resolved and are they now on schedule.
Bill – There have been problems.
The April/May time frame will look at whether the problems have been
fixed.
·
Bruce Corliss – What
is the “green ship” technology. Bill – He
doesn’t have much info on this. He
doesn’t think it involves the passport issue; it is more in regard to the
environment
·
Dave Checkley – What
will be the homeports for the FSVs. Bill
– The Pisces will likely be in
Pascagoula (there might be some sharing with the Northeast). Once the FSV5 is built, it will go to
Pascagoula – it is a shallow draft ship.
The Shimada is currently
planned to go to Seattle.
NAVY – Tim Schnoor
provided the ONR report. In 2009 there
are 717 days of Navy research funded.
Although they exceeded their budget, they were able to find money to get
all projects to sea. They hope that the
fuel savings can be applied to 2010.
The Navy hopes to continue to implement
upgrades to the AGORs. This is in place
of mid-life refits. In 2010, Tim hopes
to formalize this effort of implementing upgrades.
Tim reviewed the 2010 budget and plans. The plan includes use of FLIP for a high res
program, RADIO, and marine mammal observations.
The last two programs are off Hawaii.
They are reviewing and verifying cruise requirements now for 2010. Mike Prince commented that the ONR facilities
budget hasn’t changed in years, yet operation costs go up.
Ocean Class AGOR – Details of the Ocean
Class AGOR acquisition effort are included in Appendix VI. Tim has
requested ONR Research Facilities Team augmentation with a temporary, part-time
hire (IPA). In the past there were
multiple people staffing the Research Facilities program during ship
acquisition efforts. The person selected
as the IPA would be the UNOLS rep to the Ocean Class acquisition effort. The request is under review by CNR with a start
date of 1 July. The IPA would represent the
CNR throughout the Ocean Class program.
The Navy’s goal is to have the Ocean Class
AGOR Operator Selection Process complete with the operators on line by October. The operator RFP is in the hands of Navy legal.
Chris MacDonald continued the Navy report
with details on the Ocean Class acquisition.
His slides are included as Appendix VI.
The Phase I/II solicitation is expected to be advertised on March 27th. Chris reviewed the timeline, budget, and acquisition
process (see slides)
Summary of Fleet Improvement Committee (FIC) Meeting
and Action Items – Dave Hebert summarized the FIC meeting activities and action
items. His slides are included as Appendix
VII.
·
The SMR Update Project is ongoing and was a focus of the
committee’s March 2009 Meeting. They
will need to continue their discussions with a teleconference.
·
Input to the Ocean Class Research Vessel RFP Development – UNOLS/FIC
provided feedback on the Ocean Class Specifications developed by the Navy in October
2008.
·
Kilo Moana actions -
FIC has kept in touch with the U. Hawaii to keep abreast of the vessel’s
handling system details. The system is in construction and will possibly be installed
and tested in November 2009.
·
Science User Debriefs for R/V Hugh Sharp – The FIC plans to
draft user debrief questions that will evaluate the new technologies of the
ship; primarily its handling system. During
their March meeting the drafted questions discussed and further revisions are needed.
·
WHOI Long-Coring System – The first scientific cruise was completed
and an assessment was presented during the FIC meeting. The FIC will continue to informally contact
future science users of the long coring system to assess its capabilities and
performance.
·
Ocean Observatories – FIC plans to stay in contact with the OOI
Office to assess their research vessel needs.
·
Design and Constructions Efforts - Stay engaged in ongoing design
and construction efforts (Regional Class, ARRV, Ocean Class, etc.) – Ongoing
·
Fleet Improvement Plan Update: Finalize document with any comments
from Council.
Other items
discussed during the FIC meeting included:
·
The ISS-2000 Integrated Survey System
·
Bubble Sweep Down and Possible Mitigation Solution
·
Weatherbird II
Improvements.
·
FIC Membership – there are a few positions hat will open in the
fall including Chair. A call for
nominations will be announced.
The Council
approved a motion to appoint Maureen Conte and Al Hine to second terms in FIC. (Rich
Findley/John Morrison).
Fleet Improvement Plan (FIP) –The
draft plan <http://www.unols.org/committees/fic/FIP05/
document/FIP2009_draft-020609.pdf> was provided to the Council prior to the meeting. The FIC requested
the Council’s approval of the document.
Vernon opened the topic for discussion:
·
Bruce Corliss – The FIP should recommend green technologies. Future research ships should be more
environmentally sound to operate, construct, and replace.
·
Marcia – MBARI is looking at a replacement for Western Flyer in about 2017. They are considering green ships and
investigating wind and solar propulsion with auxiliary diesel. MBARI has asked their architects to look at
this. The MBARI Board understands that
this is something that they should do.
·
The Council agreed that a recommendation on green technologies
should be added. Bruce was asked to
provide a draft statement.
·
Vernon asked the Council for a motion to accept the Fleet
Improvement Plan. The motion passed and
the Fleet Improvement Plan was approved with the additional recommendation on
green technologies. (John Morison/Nancy
Rabalais).
Implementing
the Fleet Plan recommendations – Discussion:
·
John Morrison suggested that the Plan recommendations be sent to OMB
and ask that they implement it. There
was question as to who should approach OMB – NSF? ONR? UNOLS? NOAA’s Plan was approved by OMB, but the OMB
approval is part of the NOAA process.
·
Bob Houtman – IWG-F wanted OMB to approve the agency renewal plan,
but they weren’t successful. According
to OMB, only items that are in an actual budget can be planned.
·
Jim Cochran – has anything changed at OMB, do you think they would
be more receptive? Bob – The lead person
at OMB who dealt with IWG-F has changed.
They may be more receptive.
·
Mike Prince – Vernon should ask Ocean Leadership to be on their
agenda to discuss the FIP.
·
Marcia McNutt – It is very important to stay in touch with the
Ocean Leadership. They are more visible.
·
Mike Prince – Another recommendation in the FIP is that the small
ships be supported by state, inst, etc. Nancy
Rabalais – That recommendation didn’t sit well with her. The coastal areas are critically important to
the nation and the ships that operate in these coastal areas should be
supported federally.
Break
Interagency Working Group on Facilities (IWG-F) –Bob Houtman provided the
IWG-F report for bob Winokur. Bob’s slides are included as Appendix VIII. The slides provide details about the JSOST tasking
to conduct an inventory of infrastructure needed to achieve the 24 ORPP goals.
National Research
Council Study: Evolution of the
National Oceanographic Research Fleet – Vernon provided an update on the NRC study,
Evolution of the National Oceanographic Research Fleet. The study is funded by the Office of Naval
Research. The description and membership
can be found at <http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/
projectview.aspx?key=49014>. The OSB Committee held their first meeting on
January 29, 2009. Vernon Asper, Mike Prince, and Dave Hebert provided a
presentation. Many of the committee members were already very familiar with
UNOLS.
Discussion:
·
Nancy
Rabalais said that the next NRC meeting will be at WHOI at the end of this
month (March). The meeting will look
more at the technology and marine technician support of the fleet. The study is evaluating the facility needs
for the future. There is already a lot
of information and the group doesn’t want to recreate what has already been
written.
·
Dave
Checkley – The role of education in the use of the fleet should be considered. Education has to be front and center.
Consortium for Ocean Leadership – Marcia McNutt provided a report
on the recent Ocean Leadership meeting
and items of interest to UNOLS. A 2009 UNOLS Goal is to work with Ocean
Leadership, the NRC, and the federal agencies to ensure that the fleet is right
sized and has the right capabilities for ocean sciences in the coming decades.
Mike Prince also attended the meeting.
Marcia
reported that Leon Penetta has tendered his resignation at Ocean Leadership because
he recently was appointed as the director of the CIA. Ocean Leadership is looking for his replacement.
Ocean
Leadership has formed various working groups.
Marcia chairs the Infrastructure Subcommittee. Marcia’s slides are included as Appendix
IX and provide information about the subcommittee membership and the
issues that they are addressing.
This concluded the joint
meeting of the FIC and Council.
Lunch Break
Post Cruise Assessment
Reports (PCAR) – Mary Jane Perry provided the report for the PCAR
subcommittee. Her slides are included as
Appendix
X. The PCAR subcommittee includes Bob Collier (Chair), Mary-Lynn Dickson, Joe
Malbrough, and Mary Jane Perry. A
summary of the PCARs that each committee member reviewed are included in the
slides.
Mary Jane reviewed the recommendations from the 2007 PCAR subcommittee report
along with the current subcommittee’s responses (see the slides). The recommendations that were addressed
include:
(a)
Report Distribution.
The reports should be treated
as privileged communications and not distributed beyond those to whom they are
addressed
(b)
Discontinue Self Rating. Self rating should be discontinued and reports from the Captain and
Marine Technician simplified.
(c)
Rating Scale. In conjunction with implementation of (b),
the rating scale should be changed. The
main change that is needed is to provide for a more balanced set of grading
criteria between 100% and 50%. Any
standard grading system should work.
(d)
Question 13 should
continue to focus on the extent to which the service and support of the ship
contributed to the achievement of science objectives.
Bob Collier recommended that the PCAR review should continue.
Discussion:
·
Mary Jane to Bob Houtman – Do the PCARs fill NSF’s
needs? Bob - Yes.
·
PCAR Distribution – Linda Goad is the point of
contact at NSF and receives all of the PCAR forms.
·
Rich Findley – He has a recommendation from RVTEC
that form be totally replaced. The
marine techs don’t fill it out. They
would like to have a better form. Rich
has gone to professionals who agree that it is not an effective form. He feels that there should be a gap analysis. Define the importance of the issue, and then
rate it.
·
Mary Lynn Dickson plans to step down from the PCAR
committee and a new RVTEC rep will have to be appointed.
·
Maureen Conte – She spoke to a program manager who
felt that the PCARs were very effective.
The PCARs helps identify equipment that doesn’t work.
·
Marc Willis - There is one group of people who fill
out forms that hold people accountable for their actions. Yet for the techs if they fill out a form
about a PI, nothing is done to correct the actions of the PI.
·
Mike Prince –The form helps us get feedback for fleet
and service improvements.
·
Maureen Conte – it would be useful if the purpose of
the form is stated clearly.
·
Mike – It is one of the purposes of the PCAR
committee to revisit the form and make revisions.
·
Mary Jane – The crew should be able to provide
feedback.
·
Jon Alberts – It shouldn’t be through the form that
the crew provide their input. There
should be another forum.
·
Stewart – Technicians don’t feel like they are part
of the process.
Crew and Marine Technician Recruitment and Retention – Stewart Lamerdin reported
on the outcome and recommendations from the workshop on Crew and Marine
Technician Recruitment and Retention.
His slides are included as Appendix
XI. The workshop was held on February 18-19, 2009 in Austin, TX.
Stewart’s slides include information about
the following:
The RVOC/RVTEC recommendations
are to:
Discussion:
Break
Establishing Facility Renewal
and Upgrade Priorities – The UNOLS Policy on Committee Recommendations to
Agencies included the task that UNOLS establish facility priorities. At the last meeting it was suggested that
facility renewal/upgrades be organized
into categories of near term, intermediate term, and long term priority OR
high, medium, low priority.
Marcia McNutt - As a community we only gain credibility if we are clear on what is important for us. We can rank things in terms of levels of prioritize and even include criteria. Things over a million dollars should go to Council first, then some sort of prioritization needs to be done. AICC and DESSC have a lot of recommendations that fall below the $1M threshold that the Council doesn’t really need to see.
UNOLS 2009 Goal - Investigate the feasibility of a more flexible UNOLS to meet the needs of additional users - Our science is being supported by a more diverse array of stakeholders, paradoxically at the same time that support for UNOLS is getting less broad in its base. We need to better understand this divergence (cost problems, insurance issues, mission mismatches, different decision timescales, etc.) and do what we can to re-converge (see Appendix XII). NSF and ONR have been asked for guidance regarding the conditions in which outside funding for ship use could be sought and scheduled.
· Marcia - In terms of support 20 years ago, there were three primary agencies supporting the fleet. Now support is dominated by NSF and many smaller supporters. Marcia suggested this as a task for a subcommittee to investigate.
· John Diebold- Langseth was approached to do a seismic cruise that looked like science but was really for the oil industry. Hull insurance, equipment insurance, ship schedule impacts, etc. all need to be considered. UNOLS vessels are not allowed to compete with commercial ships.
· The oceanographic research vessel designation allows a vessel to support research that is commercially funded, but special measures must be taken. The charter party and cooperative agreements with funding agencies must be adhered to.
The Council decided to keep this on the action list, but not to form a subcommittee at this time.
Ad-hoc Committee on Data Management Best Practices and Rolling deck to Repository (R2R) Project – Mike Prince provided a status report on R2R efforts. R2R grew out of the workshop on data best practices. NSF program manager, Jim Holik has been promoting R2R. Their mantra is “No additional workload without resources to do it.” In a nutshell, R2R will take data directly form ships, in real time and on a CD after cruise. A copy will go to a repository and then eventually to its appropriate archive. Other key elements of the R2R effort are that there will be a standardized metadata. In the R2R pilot project, the R2R team will work closely with marine tech managers and seagoing techs. R2R will interface with UNOLS to capture post cruise utilization data. A lot of the data will come out of STRS system. R2R will work to standardize how data comes ashore and how people can access it. At sea research is expensive and if the cruise data only benefits a few PIs, the benefits are limited. By making the data available to many (after the 2-year period), the data becomes more useful. Information about R2R can be found at www.rvdata.us .
Revival of SCOAR – Mike Prince reported that SCOAR has been inactive since its Chair took ill and had to resign. The committee hasn’t met for well over a year. SCOAR is an oversight committee for the Navy’s aircraft facility, CIRPAS. A candidate for the Chair Position (Daniel Schwartz, UW) has been nominated and is willing to serve. Dan has many years of experience as a pilot and is willing to serve as the Chair. Mike recommended that the committee reconvene with Dan Schwartz as Chair and with the addition of Steve Ramp (MBARI) as a new member. Steve has used CIRPAS in the past. John Bane and Daniel Riemer have agreed to stay on. A motion was made and passed to appoint Dan Schwartz as SCOAR Chair and add Steve Ramp as a SCOAR member (Findley/Rabalais).
Continue to lower barriers to effective use of UNOLS ships caused by disabilities, gender, or other special situations. – Mike Prince reported that he has polled the UNOLS Representatives to determine which institutions have harassment training programs and how many need it. Based on demand, a voluntary on-line training program could be developed. The company that provides harassment training for the University of California system is willing to work with UNOLS to fit the training to our ships. The cost varies and would be based on per person use.
The Future of R/V Gould Operations in the Antarctic – Mike Prince reported that the NSF /OPP program leases the Gould which supplies Palmer Station and is contracted through Raytheon Polar Services Company. The R/V Gould contract expires in 2009 and to renew it is expensive. At end of current charter there is also a buy-out clause.
There are a couple issues that OPP wants feedback on:
The Nathaniel B. Palmer contract will also expire in a few years. Only Knorr has some ice-strengthening.
Vernon offered to draft a letter to OPP stating how important the Southern Ocean research is. Bob Houtman requested that in the interest of collaboration to copy Julie Morris on the letter to OPP.
1700 Adjourn Day 1
Day 2: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute –
Pacific Forum Room
0830 Open Day-2 of
the Meeting: Vernon Asper, UNOLS Chair, reconvened the
meeting. Mike Prince thanked everyone for
the UNOLS Office farewell party the night before.
Status of UNOLS Office Transition – Jon Alberts reported that the URI UNOLS
Office proposal was negotiated yesterday and awarded as written. Jon has been attending UNOLS meetings to
learn all about UNOLS. Jon said that the
new building that will house the UNOLS Office at URI’s Graduate School of
Oceanography has been built and offers a nice space.
Office of Polar Programs and UNOLS (revisited from Day 1) – Vernon reported that Roberta Martinelli (NSF/OPP) wants to explore having AICC take on an advisory role for the Antarctic research vessels. OPP will need to discuss this with OCE. Vernon pointed out the fact that the US has research assets in both the Arctic and Antarctic and perhaps it should be coordinated by one UNOLS Committee.
Discussion:
·
Carin Ashjian’s (AICC Chair) reaction to the
recommendation is that the AICC Chair should be a paid position. It is a lot of work.
·
Mike Prince – The Arctic and Antarctic operators
are very different.
·
There is an advisory group for the R/V Palmer,
the ARVOC.
·
Vernon – With one committee, there could be sharing
of equipment.
·
Mike Prince suggested that ARVOC attend Council
meetings. ARVOC could be integrated into
the UNOLS structure. It would be much
more manageable.
·
Vernon offered to prepare a response to NSF.
Research Vessel Safety Standards (RVSS) - The
UNOLS RVSS draft document was provided to the Council in advance of the meeting
for review and approval. Pete Zerr (RVOC Chair) said that RVOC has
approved the draft RVOC. Pete made a
motion requesting the Council’s approval of the RVSS (Zerr/Winslow). Discussion:
·
Rich Findley
cautioned about Appendix A. User-provided
winches will be difficult to meet the standards.
·
Mike Prince
- Matt Hawkins is funding new wire monitoring systems. There is an 18-month period of time to
comply with the new RVSS
·
Mike Prince
– User winches have to be inspected to subchapter U. They might be forced to use higher factors of
safety.
·
Kenneth
Coale – There needs to be options for deploying novel packages.
·
Mike
Prince – There are some special considerations in Subchapter U that they are
trying to get clearer definition on.
·
Al Suchy
– There is a proliferation of user provided winches. With larger parties, they need more devices
for over-the-side systems.
·
Dave Hebert
suggested that an article about the new user-provided winch requirements be
included in the newsletter.
·
Jon
suggested that the ship time request form include a notice about the winches.
The motion passed to approve and publish the RVSS and to add a pop-up on the STRS form that winches must meet safety CFR 189 regulations.
Safety Standards for Human
Occupied Vehicles – Annette
explained that the HOV Safety standards have been drafted and Council approval
is requested. A motion was made and
passed to approve the HOV Safety Standards (Corliss/Rabalais).
Ship Time Request and Scheduling System (STRS) - Mike Prince requested
that the old URI STRS website be deactivated and that the new STRS system be
moved from the beta condition to the official site. Such motion was made and passed (Morrison/Coale).
Other Business:
Annual meeting - The suggested dates for the fall meetings are as follows:
Keynote Speaker – Dr. Jane Lubchenco was suggested.
Nominating Committee – A Nominating Committee was formed to review Council membership and positions opening, and to recruit individuals to stand for election in 2009. The committee includes Bruce Corliss, Marcia McNutt, and Carin Ashjian. The Council terms ending are included as Appendix XIII.
The calendar of UNOLS meetings for 2009 is included in Appendix
VIII.
UNOLS Council Summer Phone/Web Meeting – The UNOLS will poll
the Council for dates.
Break
Committee Activities and Issues requiring Council Attention: Committee Chairs had an opportunity to raise any other issues requiring Council attention.
FIC (Dave Hebert) – nothing more to report.
AICC (Carin Ashjian) – Carin’s written report and slides
are included as Appendix XIV.
DESSC – Annette DeSilva reported on highlights from the
December DESSC meeting in San Francisco.
RVOC (Pete Zerr) – Pete’s slides are includes as Appendix XV.
RVTEC (Rich Findley) – Rich’s slides are included as Appendix XVI. Additional discussion on RVTEC items
followed:
·
Wince/wire monitoring system – There was a lot of RVTEC
discussion on the RVSS Appendix A. Mike
said that efforts to comply should be coordinated with RVOC.
·
Wire Workshop – Mike Prince said that the original
goal of the workshop was narrowly focused on the .322 cable for an improved
cable with increased strength. The focus
can be expanded if needed. Jon Alberts –
We need to have an honest discussion with the wire makers about what can be
done. Jon, Rich, and a working group can
address this.
·
OCRV acquisition – RVTEC feels that a single person
representing UNOLS on the OCRV project is insufficient and should be expanded.
o
Chris McDonald – The OCRV award is expected in
August. He feels it is really up to
UNOLS regarding the qualifications for the rep.
UNOLS knows best.
o
Tim Schnoor – He agrees. Operator selection and
participation will be early. In the past
proposals from the operator institutions came with funds for their rep. There is no guarantee that they would be
accepted. ONR will pay for a person who
will assist his department. That person
will likely be from UNOLS.
o
Marc –The technicians bring a unique perspective to
the position.
·
Satellite communications:
o
Al Suchy – WHOI is in the process of purchasing 16
fleet broadband systems. NSF asked WHOI to
provide a workshop for the broadband system.
Cape Hatteras has a fleet
broadband and it has had most problems.
11 different ships now have the systems installed. Just those operators with Fleet Broadband would
be invited to the workshop. During a six
month period, the Oceanus fleet broadband costs were less that that on Cape Hatteras. Batching, handling, etc have an enormous
impact on mitigating cost.
o
Rich has been working on alternate systems – Marine
Communications Systems and KVH V7 Track.
They couldn’t get enough bandwidth on Seward Johnson with the Fleet Broadband. The KVH is less to operate than HiSeasNet. It is always on.
·
Defined levels of the Technical Services. The TSI outline is on-line, but the content
is not. Operators need to enter this
information. It is time consuming, but
once it is there is easy to update. As
for equipment – R2R will help by setting a defined language.
o
Mike Prince – The goal is to get inventory entered
into one place so that it can be used a number of different ways – proposals,
SCF, etc.
SCOAR (Mike Prince) – Nothing to report.
SSC (Stan Winslow) – Nothing more to report.
MLSOC (Steve Holbrook) –
Steve reported that the first year of the MLSOC has been a huge success. There are still some challenges regarding the
ship operations.
During the December MLSOC
meeting, the following topics were reviewed:
·
Ship
upgrades
·
Staffing
– they feel very good about the team.
·
PIs
need to have formal pre-cruise meetings.
Jeff Rupert met with all PIs during the AGU week – this was a good way to
handle pre-cruise meetings; however meetings at LDEO are preferred.
No Langseth proposals were funded during the last panel at NSF, so
currently there are no cruises in 2010.
NSF is concerned about the high day rate $70k/day. NSF is also worried about the Langseth schedule because the cruises
are all over the world. The user community is relatively small. Julie Morris feels that if the ship continues
to serve just a small user group, it won’t survive. However, NSF is excited about the ship. Julie visited LDEO to look at the ship. NSF is sending a letter to the community not
to panic; there will be a 2010 schedule.
A Langseth workshop has been suggested – some things to address
include:
·
Should
there be a separate NSF panel to review proposals for Langseth
·
Determine
where the requests are.
·
Explore
non-UNOLS use of the ship
Discussion:
·
Annette
– During DESSC public meetings we show a map of the areas where NDSF research
is proposed. It helps to encourage
additional research for the geographic areas where NDSF facilities have been
requested.
·
Al
Suchy – What is the general oceanographic capability of the Langseth. For Atlantis,
WHOI advertises the general oceanography capability of the ship. This is important when there are few Alvin cruises.
·
The
problem with Langseth is the winches
are in poor condition. Until the winches
are improved, the ship isn’t effective as a general purpose vessel.
·
Bob
Houtman – According to NSF, Langseth
is a Global general purpose ship.
Code of Conduct for Marine
Scientific Research Vessels – UNOLS has recommended
that the Federal Agencies endorse the ISOM Code of Conduct for Marine Scientific
Research Vessels that addresses the Impact of Research Vessels on the
Environment and impact of regulations on the conduct of research. Bob
Houtman reported that the US is still not a signatory on the Law of the Sea. Because of this they are not formally allowed
to endorse the code of conduct. NSF
conducts all operations at sea to the highest standards.
Opportunity for Additional Reports: Marcia McNutt reported that MBARI has new ROV to
replace Tiburon, the Doc Ricketts. They are considering retiring Ventana (2000 M ROV) and its support
ship, R/V Point Lobo. This could happen in the next couple months.
1200 A
motion to adjourn was made and passed (Marcia/Stan).