Equipment: WHOI/ARF SSSE Hydrostatic Wire Cutters

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) operates and manages the East Coast Winch Pool that was created by the U.S. National Science Foundation to support winch operations onboard vessels of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF) which are scheduled by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS).

The facility acts as a center of expertise in winch use, maintenance, and engineering support. It provides portable winch systems in support of oceanographic research including expertise in tension member spooling for both portable and shipboard systems and the personnel to operate spooling equipment. This award would allow for the procurement of twenty-eight (28) hydrostatic wire cutters and twelve (12) weak links.

The wire cutters and weak links would allow vessels in the ARF to free themselves from entrapment without exposing the crew to danger from breaking the tension member or the inordinate loss of tension member due to cutting it at the surface. The devices would increase safety during operations and minimize losses and thus increase cost-effectiveness.

The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 23-525). It provides infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF).

The acquisition, maintenance, and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or other organization access to well-maintained, high-quality, calibrated instruments for their research. It ensures the safe collection of high-quality oceanographic data in support of science, reduces the cost of that research, and expands the base of potential researchers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.