Ship Operations - R/V Melville

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R/V Melville will be operating in the South Atlantic at the beginning of 2012 in support of the Navy, followed by a 53-day MGG cruise. The ship will then transit to Chile, where it will begin work jointly supported by NSF, Scripps and NOAA on the EPR Triple Junction (PI Blackman), followed by post-seismic studies of the subduction zone by NSF PI Trehu. The ship will then head north en-route to the Galapagos at which time PI Weller will conduct a NOAA-funded mission to make observation in support of the Stratus Ocean Reference Station. After leaving the Galapagos area, the ship will transit to San Diego and finish the year performing a variety of institutional as well as NSF-funded work. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of the proposed work is indirect. It derives from the intellectual merit of the individual research projects that depend upon the shipboard work at sea. NSF-funded scientific investigations for 2012 operations include: marine geology; seismic hazard studies; climate observations; and instrumentation development. Broader Impacts: The mission of R/V Melville includes the provision of educational opportunities both to students of the marine sciences, and, through educational outreach. R/V Melville operations also contribute significantly to a wide diversity of scientific disciplines, the data from which benefit oceanographic research beyond those studies directly funded to participate in cruises.