Cubed

Beached!

The Langseth went into dry dock on June 6 at the shipyard in Shelburn Nova Scotia. A photoblog on the R/V Langseth website shows the ship being guided toward the dock and lifted up. It's an interesting series of photos in case you've ever wondered how they get big ships like that out of the water.

R/V Langseth Takes Manhattan

Save the date. The new ship R/V Marcus G. Langseth is scheduled to sail into Manhattan on September 12 for a dedication and naming ceremony. Details coming soon.

R/V Langseth Conversion Update

The R/V Marcus Langseth arrived at Irving Shipbuilders in Shelburne, Nova Scotia on February 25. Since then, the yard has been busy converting the former Western Legend seismic acquisition vessel to a multipurpose academic research vessel. In the picture at right, you can get a last glimpse of the Western Legend as its name is being 'erased' on the starboard bow. The LDEO Office of Marine Operations is maintaining a photolog of the conversion process, which as of this post was last updated in late April.

JOIDES Resolution Gets Extreme Makeover

NSF Press Release, December 21, 2005:

After 20 years of service, the JOIDES Resolution, the pioneering scientific ocean drilling vessel that allowed scientists to retrieve samples of the Earth’s crust and sediments from deep beneath the ocean, is undergoing an extreme makeover.

The new and improved vessel, which promises to increase the quality and rate of core samples brought up from the deep, will be virtually unrecognizable from the old ship and will be given a new name. It is estimated the new research vessel will be ready for science expeditions in mid-2007.

Scientists have conducted 122 expeditions onboard the 470-foot (143-meter) JOIDES Resolution, first through the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP, 1985-2003) and now in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP, 2003-present).

Over the ship’s 20-year history, the core samples it has recovered have helped scientists validate the theory of plate tectonics, provided extensive information about Earth’s past climate, and found evidence of the catastrophic asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

"The enhanced vessel will greatly increase the efficiency and scope of drillship scientific operations, allowing IODP scientists to continue expanding our knowledge of the Earth," said Jamie Allan, program director for IODP at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which is funding the effort.

“To get a sense for the kinds of improvements, imagine how Steve Austin was rebuilt to become the Six Million-Dollar Man,” said Steve Bohlen, president of Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), Inc. The JOI Alliance is the U.S. implementing organization for IODP, and is responsible for the vessel's science operations.

The JOI Alliance is funded by NSF and consists of JOI, which has the principal responsibility for overseeing programmatic, contractual, and fiscal management activities; Texas A&M University, which subcontracts drill ship operations, conducts platform-related tool development, and provides expedition staffing, logistics, engineering development, outfitting of shipboard laboratories, shipboard- and shorebased-curation of samples, and distribution of core samples and data; and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, which provides downhole logging tools and support and log data processing, distribution, and database services.

JOI has a 10-year, $626 million contract with NSF, signed in Sept. 2003, after a competitive bid process, to provide integrated science services in support of the U.S. drillship for IODP. Under the contract, this drillship was selected in open competition, with an NSF-approved contact signed in Dec. 2005, between Overseas Drilling Limited, the provider of the vessel, and Texas A&M University Research Foundation, science operator and subcontractor to JOI, for $288 million.

During its history, the vessel has been adapted and upgraded several times. But the scale of the conversion planned now will be far beyond any past upgrades, said Allan, "and the finished vessel will meet the expanding needs of ocean-drilling scientists for a generation to come."

There will be at least a 50 percent increase in laboratory space aboard ship, allowing for a greater variety of instrumentation that onboard scientists can use to analyze cores samples while at sea.

An enhanced drilling instrumentation system, a sub-sea camera system with improved handling, and a new drill string with upgraded drilling tools will allow the crew to retrieve core samples faster and with better quality. Changes to the ship's hull and machinery will improve the fuel efficiency and increase the transit speed, allowing for more time "on station."

Gone are the days of crowded four-person staterooms and shared bathrooms, much to the delight of the scientists and crew who live aboard the vessel during expeditions, which last two months on average. Instead, rooms on the enhanced ship will be double occupancy with an adjacent bathroom. During the conversion, space for 23 additional berths will be added.

With the start of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and the construction of the Japanese-built drilling vessel Chikyu (Japanese for Earth,) which is scheduled to begin IODP expeditions in 2007, the U.S. government is fulfilling its commitment to provide a state-of-the-art scientific ocean drilling vessel to the international research community.

Update on the R/V Langseth Conversion

For the AGU Fall Meeting, AGU scheduled ALL of the town hall meetings for Thursday evening, December 8th, which put the R/V Langseth Town Hall Meeting in conflict with the IODP Town Hall Meeting, among others. As was explained by one MCS researcher, the fact that the MCS types gathered together for two and a half days in September made the IODP meeting a slightly higher priority. (The fact that they served free beer at the IODP meeting might also have had something to do with it.) Thankfully, Al Walsh and John Diebold (in addition to Marcia McNutt, below) have been so kind as to make their talking points available for everyone to read here.

One bit of good news is that the R/V Maurice Ewing, shown sailing away in the picture above (Photo credit: J. Diebold), was sold well above the expected amount, with the extra funds going to NSF. According to the Walsh/Diebold talking points, the new R/V Marcus Langseth sails for the as yet unidentified refit shipyard on January 7, 2006 and will be ready for its first test cruise on or around August 15, 2006.

The New Marcus Langseth Science Oversight Committee

In October UNOLS voted to create the Marcus Langseth Science Oversight Committee (MLSOC), a new UNOLS committee designed to oversee science and ship operations for a national oceanographic seismic facility. The UNOLS steering committee in charge of establishing MLSOC consisted of Marcia McNutt (chair), Jamie Austin, John Collins, Cindy Van Dover, and Graham Kent. Marcia McNutt presented an overview, summarized here, of the charge of MLSOC at the Langseth Town Hall Meeting at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco last week.

The R/V Marcus Langseth (pictured) will be operated as a UNOLS vessel and as a national oceanographic facility. MLSOC was born out of the desire by the science community and NSF for a "DESSC like" oversight committee that would provide advice to LDEO and the funding agencies regarding the operation of the facility. MLSOC was established under Annex II of the UNOLS charter and has the authority to establish subcommittees when needed.

Specifically, the purpose of MLSOC is to maintain state-of-the-art acquisition capability, lower the threshold of expertise needed to use the facility, increase the quality and accessibility of data, and maintain and enhance the Langseth's capabilities for general geophysical and oceanographic work. The responsibilities of the committee are to provide advice on scientific programs; forecast future operations locations to encourage world-wide research; provide advice on scheduling issues, including coordination with OBS and PASSCAL facilities; address user concerns; review technical capabilities; identify and recommend expansion and upgrades; monitor issues related to permitting; and report on activities and recommendations.

Nine voting members on MLSOC will include 4 MCS experts to provide the leadership and core expertise for the committee; 2 users of MCS information, but not specialists to bring down the level of expertise needed to use the facility successfully; 1 representative from the seismic industry; 1 general ship user; and 1 marine mammal specialist. Lamont-Doherty scientists and staff may participate on MLSOC as non-voting members. Federal agency representatives may also participate in MLSOC meetings and activities.

An initial slate of MLSOC members was suggested by the UNOLS Steering Committee to be appointed by the UNOLS Chair. The member terms of appointment will be three years, staggered with no more than two consecutive terms. Ex-Officio members will be appointed by Lamont-Doherty and UNOLS standing committees. It is estimated that there will be at least two MLSOC meetings per year, with one meeting held in an open forum, such as during the Fall AGU Meeting, to allow broad input from the user community. The second meeting will be generally devoted to scheduling issues, permitting, advising on specific programs, and other near-term issues, and should occur in the late spring or early summer. Additional meetings might need to be held at the beginning of the program or under unusual circumstances.

First Post

Cubed is a new website, a work in progress, that is intended to serve as a place for sharing news and information of interest to the seismic reflection research community in the earth sciences. In particular, this site is an outgrowth of the 3D Seismic Reflection Imaging Symposium and Workshop that was held in September 2005 at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory to bring together potential users of the new R/V Marcus Langseth seismic research vessel. While the new ship will be used for a range of scientific research purposes, it is uniquely designed for multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) and ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) refraction imaging of the oceanic crust. The workshop was convened by John Mutter (with beard and cap on the left in this picture (Image credit: T. Shipley)) of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Greg Moore of SOEST at the University of Hawaii. This website was designed and is managed by Jacqueline Floyd of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. Researchers and graduate students are welcome to contribute to Cubed.