The Ocean Exploration Office and the Arctic Research Office of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), invite
submissions of letters of interest for the following. This opportunity
is for U.S. scientists only.
Submit letter of interest by 18 June 2001 to:
Dr. John A. Calder, Director
Arctic Research Office R/AR
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1335 East West Highway, Room 101
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Or send your letter by email to:
john.calder [at] noaa.gov
Background
In FY 2002, the NOAA Arctic Research Office intends to organize a
research cruise to the Arctic as part of NOAA's Ocean Exploration
Initiative. See http://oceanpanel.nos.noaa.gov for the full report on
which NOAA's Ocean Exploration Initiative is based. Funding for this
activity depends on the level of congressional appropriations and on
internal NOAA priorities, neither of which will be fully determined for
several months. However, the long lead-time required to plan a research
activity in the Arctic dictates that NOAA proceed with planning now,
even though financial support is not guaranteed.
As the first step in planning for this cruise to the Arctic, the Ocean
Exploration Office and the Arctic Research Office of NOAA will convene a
planning workshop, tentatively scheduled for 25-26 July 2001 in the
Washington, DC area. Participants in this workshop will be asked to
discuss means, technologies, and opportunities for exploration and
discovery in the Arctic that could be undertaken within the fiscal and
logistic constraints that are expected to exist. NOAA subsequently will
release a competitive Announcement of Opportunity that will include the
arctic research cruise. Review of proposals submitted in response to
this announcement will determine activities to be undertaken should
funding become available.
Preliminary Cruise Description
The ocean exploration cruise to the Arctic is expected to occur in late
summer of 2002. A request has been made for thirty days on the USCGC
Healy. Should the Healy not be available, other options, including use
of a foreign icebreaker will be explored. The area of operations will be
the northern Bering Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Canada Basin.
The goal of the cruise, in keeping with the goal of the Ocean
Exploration Initiative, will be to:
- observe and discover new physical, chemical, or biological features of
the region; - document the features in audio-visual media, data bases or reports;
and - report to the public on their nature and possible significance.
In addition, this cruise will have a significant component of education
and outreach, and each funded project will be expected to include some
activity that enhances the education/outreach goal. Among the activities
that NOAA assumes will be conducted on the cruise are: benthic and lower
water column biology; geochemistry of sediments; seafloor profiling over
the cruise track; search for new marine bio-products from
microorganisms; full water column sampling for "standard parameters" and
specialized parameters to be defined; marine mammal and seabird studies.
Studies that take full advantage of an ROV will be emphasized,
especially those that result in visual imagery and collection of
material for subsequent study. Actual projects to be undertaken during
the cruise will be determined from discussions at the workshop and by
submissions to the Announcement of Opportunity. Since, it is likely that
NOAA-funded projects will not fully utilize the capabilities of the ship
and ROV, opportunity will be provided for other projects to be
accommodated. Scientists from the U.S. and elsewhere, with other sources
of support, who have interests compatible with the general objectives of
the cruise, will be invited to participate in the cruise to the extent
possible.
Letters of Interest
NOAA expects to invite and support up to 15 U.S. scientists to
participate in the workshop. The invitees will be determined based on
their letters of interest that address the topics listed below. Please
restrict the length of the letters to three pages or less.
- Name, affiliation, and professional expertise
- Summary of field experience in the Arctic
- Level of interest in participating in the research cruise, and
statement describing ability to mobilize equipment and personnel on
short notice - Ability to provide equipment, co-funding, or other resources that are
likely to be available to enhance the success of the cruise - Expertise in using the capabilities of an ROV
- Experience in contributing to education/outreach activities
Submit letter of interest by 18 June 2001 to:
Dr. John A. Calder, Director
Arctic Research Office R/AR
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1335 East West Highway, Room 101
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Or send your letter by email to:
john.calder [at] noaa.gov