Scripps Institution of Oceanography - R/V Sally Ride and R/V Roger Revelle - Shipboard Scientific Support Equipment (SSSE) 2024

This request would provide support for the University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) to acquire Shipboard Scientific Support Equipment to carry out scientific research primarily supported by U.S. government agencies. Working within the collaborative framework of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), the proposed instrumentation will be maintained by the SIO Ship Technical Services department for use by researchers from institutions nationwide who require these oceanographic facilities.

Funding is provided to SIO to upgrade the safety of handling overboard equipment on the R/V Revelle and R/V Ride, and scientific data systems on the R/V Ride. The SIO ship technical services will upgrade the CTD launch and recovery system to allow the safety features to continue to function in manual mode in compliance with the recommendation from the UNOLS launch and recovery systems (LARS) working group.

New wireline tensiometers will be acquired for both R/V Revelle and R/V Ride to ensure that winch operations are safe and reliable. Three new uninterruptable power supply systems will be procured to replace the existing two power systems on the R/V Ride. The increased capacity of these systems would allow for future anticipated needs and would separate the science power system from that used for other instrumentation.

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 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.