R/V Atlantis Operations

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Project Summary In 2005 R/V Atlantis will continue her primary mission as support ship for Alvin and vehicles from the National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF) while also carrying out general oceanographic research. The ATLANTIS has a 271 day schedule this year, and 233 of these days are in support of NSF funded research programs. This is a five year cooperative agreement, and funding for each year of the agreement will be negotiated and is dependent on the number of days at sea in support of NSF-funded research.Intellectual Merit The ship support requested in this proposal is required for the fieldwork of 14 NSF research projects. These programs have been rigorously evaluated for scientific and intellectual merit as an integral part of the NSF award process. The highly competitive nature of the award granting process ensures a very high level of intellectual merit. The knowledge gained and the discoveries made by the research programs on Atlantis will enhance our understanding of the oceans and address a broad range of important scientific questions. Researchers will be provided with the equipment, and skilled shipboard personnel, required to safely and productively pursue their scientific endeavors at sea. The Atlantis serves as the platform for these research programs. Broader Impacts Statement The sea-going research programs supported in 2005 and subsequent years will be important in understanding the formation and structure of ocean crust created at fast spreading ridges, determining gene flow, species diversity, and biogeography of hydrothermal vent communities at several widely separated locations, and test new mooring technology to telemeter data from networks of seafloor sensors to shore in near-real-time. These intellectual endeavors will continue to broaden our understanding of the oceans, spur new questions, and confirm scientific theory for years to come.An oceanographic expedition is in many respects an extension of the classroom. Cruise legs are staffed by a diverse mix of senior and junior scientists, post-doctoral investigators, engineers, technicians and graduate and undergraduate students. These cruises are extraordinary educational experiences that expose all of these participants to new ideas, teach fundamental scientific principles, and raise questions that stimulate new thinking about how the oceans work. Over the past several years an increased awareness of our responsibility to bring science into the classroom, and to the general public, has resulted in the development of new avenues to share scientific findings. The cruise web site concept has been very effective in reaching the classroom with real-time images, data and two-way communication between scientists and students in schools around the world. This extends the sea-going experience from the handful of participants on a single leg to thousands of students, as well as to the general public. Several cruises are planning to use this tool to present their data through web-based approaches either at their home institution or through web sites maintained by community organizations (e.g. RIDGE2000). The WHOI web site (http://www.whoi.edu) has pioneered efforts to present the results of sea-going projects to the general public (e.g. the Dive and Discover web site: http://science.whoi.edu/DiveDiscover), and we are continuing to develop new ways of using the WHOI web site to convey the excitement and importance of seagoing research to a larger audience.