Equipment for the Seward Marine Center, a High-Latitude Research Facility

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The Seward Marine Center (SMC) is the farthest-north university marine station in the United States. It is ideally situated to support studies of circumpolar, North Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea organisms requiring water temperatures ranging from 3-10oC. Further, the SMC is the proposed site of several interdisciplinary studies of ocean-atmosphere interactions and sea-surface interannual variability. There is increasing international concern about high-latitude manifestations of global warming and atmospheric ozone destruction, and an increasing National emphasis on arctic and subarctic research mandated by the Arctic Research and Policy Act. These developments will increase demand for SMC research facilities. This project provides funds to purchase materials for renovating and upgrading the seawater supply system at the SMC. The renovations will include installation of two new, 8-inch- diameter, 600-foot-long seawater intake pipes and one new pump. The Institute of Marine Science, which operates the SMC, will match the NSF award by covering the costs of labor and additional materials, the renovations are urgently needed because the present system often fails and lacks adequate backup. Further, the capacity of the present seawater system is barely adequate for research being conducted now; anticipated increasing need for the facility in the next 5 years cannot be met without the proposed renovations.//