University of Georgia/RV Savannah Oceanographic Instrumentation

A request is made to fund Oceanographic Instrumentation for the Research Vessel Savannah, a 92-foot coastal research vessel, owned and operated by Skidaway Institute of Oceanography as part of the Academic Research Fleet (ARF). The primary working area for the vessel has been the continental shelf, coastal and estuarine environments of the Southeastern United States.

The ship has also conducted cruises that have crossed the Gulf Stream into the western Sargasso Sea and as far as Curacao in the SE Caribbean. The R/V Savannah has been specifically designed with a large science berthing capacity to provide learning opportunities in ocean and estuarine environments and to demonstrate oceanographic research methodologies to diverse and often under-served student populations.

In 2020, in a pandemic-shortened season, the R/V Savannah completed 51 days at sea. NSF funded projects accounted for 34 days (71%) of the total sailing schedule. In 2021, the vessel currently has 190 days scheduled, of which 107 days (56%) are for NSF.

With this proposal, Skidaway provides technical descriptions and rationale for the acquisition of the following Oceanographic Instrumentation: Laboratory and Network UPS (ESTIMATE) $7,638 SBE 32C Pylon latch assembly $16,443 Flow-through Biogeochemical Optical System $245,278 Data-presence System $11,550

$280,909 Broader Impacts

The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 19-602). 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 lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding 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.