The R/V Marcus G. Langseth is a 235 ft, 3834 gross ton research vessel which is owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. The R/V Langseth replaces the R/V Maurice Ewing , which ended a distinguished career in early 2005.
The R/V Marcus G. Langseth is classed by the American Bureau of Shipping as A-1 Baltic Ice Class IA and Coast Guard inspected; certificated to carry a total of 55 personnel of which approximately 20 are the ship's crew.
Originally constructed as a seismic vessel the Langseth was acquired in 2004, modified, and outfitted to perform the tasks required of a general purpose research vessel. This includes hull mounted 3.5 kHz Sub-Bottom Profiler, 12 kHz transducers, and a Simrad 1x1 degree deep ocean multibeam swath bottom mapping system. Later, in 2006, the Langseth added on the Kongsberg EM122 Multibeam array transducers for 3D multibeam surveying.
Particularly unique to the academic research vessel are the extensive geophysical capabilites which include a Sercel SealXI (408) seismic recording system with four 6.75 km of Sentinel Solid Acquisition Section (SSAS) 3 kHz solid-state hydrophone streamer cable and a 2000 psi, 40 pneumatic sound source array towed in four "strings" that can be configured either as a single, 2D source or dual, alternating 3D source arrays.
The R/V Marcus G. Langseth started conducting science operations offshore as of February 2008.