University of Minnesota Duluth / RV Blue Heron Oceanographic Technical Services - Year 1 of 5

RV Blue Heron is a general-purpose oceanographic research vessel built in 1985. The ship was originally designed as a stern trawler and was used for twelve years as a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. The ship was bought from its original owner and refitted for oceanographic research in 1997-98, using funds provided by the National Science Foundation and the State of Minnesota. It has operated in this capacity ever since. Access to the Blue Heron is open to scientists from any institution at a cost that is based on annual operating expenses (both ship operations and technical services) of the vessel divided by the number of operating days in the calendar year. The University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD) proposes to support oceanographic technical services on R/V Blue Heron operated as part of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF), which is scheduled by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). As part of their basic operations, UMD will provide shipboard technicians on each seagoing research project to support basic services. Technicians will maintain, calibrate and provide for qualified users, items from their pool of shared-use research instrumentation. 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.