FSML: Gulf of Alaska Dive and Marine Research Support Infrastructure Project

Sitka Sound Science Center （SSSC）是一个非营利性的海洋研究、教育和推广中心，位于阿拉斯加湾的Sitka Sound。该项目将改进其实地站的物理设备，使潜水和海洋研究更有效、更安全，并提供若干nsf支持的生物和地球科学研究项目。该项目还将提高SSSC保护和储存用于地球科学研究的科学设备的能力。在阿拉斯加湾和汤加斯国家森林进行的研究对于提高我们国家对自然系统如何促进我们的经济和粮食安全的理解非常重要。海洋酸化（OA）在高纬度地区比低纬度地区发生得更快，在淡水输入量大的地方发生得更快。锡特卡湾是这些因素的汇合，造成了阿拉斯加有记录以来OA发病率最高的地区。OA对阿拉斯加湾生态系统及其依赖的人类社区的影响提高了目前在锡特卡进行海洋研究的重要性。锡特卡声音科学中心的潮下和潮间带研究已经在增加，但受到现有空间、设备老化、安全问题和缺乏专门潜水研究基础设施的限制。这个项目将为新的、由美国国家科学基金会资助的阿拉斯加湾潜水和海洋研究创造一个更好的平台和集合体。该项目将在锡特卡声音科学中心的磨坊大楼中为潜水研究设备存储和潜水研究人员的特定需求创建一个单独的区域。它将升级整个建筑的管道和电气，提供淋浴，压缩机的地方，干燥室和浴室，这将有利于潜水研究和其他科学家利用锡特卡声音科学中心现场站设施。在这个快速变化的环境中，创造更多的潜水研究能力是进一步了解生态系统的关键组成部分。虽然SSSC目前的设施可能足以满足对潮间带研究日益增长的需求，但它没有能力增加对潮下的研究。这是一个基础设施的缺口，位于温带大孢子森林的北部边缘，这是一个由物理和生物因素驱动的高度动态区域。目前的SSSC设施缺乏可靠的供暖、管道和电力。升级将包括改进SSSC的工厂建筑内部，并在建筑内部划分潜水研究设备，为干燥和更换创造一个加热空间，为厕所和淋浴提供管道，为设施提供公用设施，并更新电气和科学设备的存储空间。它还将为高容量潜水压缩机提供资金，大大提高了同时服务多个潜水项目的能力。有关SSSC的更多信息，请访问他们的网站https://sitkascience.org/.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

Sitka Sound Science Center (SSSC) is a nonprofit center for marine research, education and outreach located on Sitka Sound in the Gulf of Alaska. This project will make improvements to the physical plant of its field station to make dive and marine research more efficient, safer and to provision several NSF-supported research projects in the biological and geosciences. The project will also improve SSSC's ability to protect and store scientific equipment for research in the geosciences. The studies conducted in the Gulf of Alaska and in the Tongass National Forest are important for improving our nation's understanding of how natural systems contribute to our economic and food security. Ocean acidification (OA) occurs more rapidly at higher latitudes sooner than lower latitude and in places with large amounts of fresh water inputs. Sitka Sound is a confluence of these factors, causing some of the highest rates of OA recorded in Alaska. The impacts of OA on the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem and its dependent human communities raises the importance of marine research in Sitka at this moment in time. Subtidal and intertidal research from the Sitka Sound Science Center is already increasing, but is limited by existing space, aging equipment, safety concerns and a paucity of dedicated dive research infrastructure.This project will create a better platform and staging area for new, NSF-funded dive and marine research in the Gulf of Alaska. The project will create a separate area for dive research equipment storage, and dive researchers' specific needs in the Mill Building of the Sitka Sound Science Center. It will upgrade the plumbing and the electrical in the entire building, provide showers, a place for the compressor, a drying room and bathrooms that will benefit dive research and other scientists that utilize the Sitka Sound Science Center field station facilities. Creating more dive research capacity is a critical component to furthering our ecosystem understandings in this rapidly changing environment. While SSSC's current facilities may be adequate for the increasing need for intertidal research, it does not have the ability to increase research in the subtidal. This is a gap in infrastructure, at the northern edge of the temperate Macrocystis forest, a highly dynamic area driven by both physical and biological factors. The current SSSC facility lacks reliable heat, plumbing and electricity. The upgrade will include improvements to SSSC's Mill Building interior and partitioning off inside the building for dive research equipment, creating a heated space for drying and changing, plumbing for toilets and showers with utilities to the facility and updating the electrical and the storage space for scientific equipment. It will also provide funding for a high capacity dive compressor, greatly increasing the ability to service multiple concurrent dive projects. For more about the SSSC, visit their website at https://sitkascience.org/.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.