Date

For more information about the announcement below on the new Memorandum
of Agreement (MOA) for Phase 2 of the Submarine Arctic Science Cruise
(SCICEX) Program, please contact:

Jeff Gossett
Arctic Submarine Laboratory
gossett [at] nosc.mil.

As previewed earlier this year, the U.S. Navy Submarine Force, the
Office of Naval Research, and the National Science Foundation have
signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for continuation of the Submarine
Arctic Science Cruise (SCICEX) Program. Termed, "SCICEX Phase 2," this
MOA provides the mechanism for two different types of cruises:

1) Dedicated cruises to be conducted along roughly the same lines as

SCICEXs conducted from 1995-1999. There are currently no dedicated
cruises planned.

2) Accommodation Cruises--roughly modeled on the concept described in

the minutes to the October 1998 "SCICEX 2000" workshop in which
submarines deployed to the Arctic on classified cruises might dedicate
short periods (5-10 days) to collection of SCICEX data. This data would
be collected by embarked crew and Arctic Submarine Laboratory (ASL)
personnel and use the normally installed Navy/ASL data systems with, at
most, a few minor additions. Because of the nature of the submarine
missions, it is not anticipated that civilian scientists will be
embarked. Though more limited than the dedicated cruises, these could
serve as an extremely useful continuation of some of the critical time
series initiated during the 1993-1999 SCICEXs. The Accommodation Cruises
will concentrate more on the collection of baseline data of general
interest than on individual experiments. The nominal set of baseline
data identified in the MOA includes:

  • Expendable CTDs
  • Hull-mounted CTDs
  • Ship's bathymetry
  • Ice profile data
  • Salinity samples
  • Supporting positional and operational information

The SCICEX organization has been changed slightly, splitting what had
been the Science Steering Committee into two panels.

1) At the core of SCICEX planning is the Science Advisory Committee
(SAC). This group will be composed of representatives from ONR, NSF,
and ASL as permanent members with seven scientists appointed by ONR/NSF
as non-permanent members. Acting as the voice of the research community,
they will establish long-term goals for the program, recommend baseline
data, and (where applicable) review proposals. Individuals with
suggestions for data collection should make those through the following
committee members:

  • Garry Brass (Chairman), g.brass [at] arctic.gov
  • Lou Codispoti, codispot [at] hpl.umces.edu
  • Ted DeLaca, fnted [at] uaf.edu
  • Robin Muench, rmuench [at] esr.org
  • Jackie Richter-Menge, jrichtermenge [at] crrel.usace.army.mil
  • Bill Smethie, bsmeth [at] ldeo.columbia.edu

  • Terry Whitledge, whitledge [at] ims.uaf.edu

    2) A second "science" body will be the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC),
    composed of representatives from ONR (chair), NSF, the Arctic Research
    Commission, CNO, and ASL. This group will act on the SAC's
    recommendations and (in the case of ONR and NSF) allocate agency funding.

    3) Navy oversight will continue to be provided by an Operational
    Planning Board composed of representatives from ASL (chair), the
    Atlantic and Pacific Submarine Force Commanders, and CNO.

A copy of the MOA will be posted on the ASL web site,
http://www.csp.navy.mil/asl in the near future.