2004 UNOLS Annual Meeting Minutes

DRAFT

UNOLS ANNUAL MEETING
8:30 A.M., Friday, 15 October 2004
National Science Foundation, Stafford II Building, Room 555
4201 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA

A pdf version of these minutes can be downloaded by clicking <200410anumi.pdf>.

Appendices

0800 Coffee and Pastries

0830 Introduction and Welcome: Tim Cowles, UNOLS Chair, called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone, noting that the attendance was much better in the absence of hurricanes. The meeting agenda is included as Appendix I and the attendance list is contained in Appendix II. He gave a brief summary of the issues of current interest to UNOLS and the accomplishments of the past year, which included the following (Appendix III):

- Fleet renewal – FIC has had a busy year.

- Regional Class SMR prioritization – FIC did a great job getting that done.

- Vessel retirement dates and Service Life Extension Programs (SLEPs)

- Ocean observatories facilities needs - UNOLS Report (Alan Chave, Chair).

- Deep Submergence Science Facilities

- Community input to NSF on Alvin Replacement and Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle (HROV) development

- Training session of National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF)

- Arctic Coordination

- Aircraft for Oceanography – SCOAR -

- Vessel Scheduling – UNOLS Ship Scheduling Committee (SSC) resolved complex scheduling issues created by budget situation.

- Quality Improvement: Post-cruise assessment process, Kilo Moana: PI debrief after each cruise

- Community Engagement/Outreach

- MTS article on Fleet Renewal

- EOS article on aircraft for oceanography

Continuing issues:

- Effective assessment of science demand for facilities

- Marine mammals/acoustics/scheduling

- Ship security plans

- Support for recommendations of the US Commission on Ocean Policy report

- Frequency spectrum management and ocean observatories

Keynote Address

Robert Winokur, Technical Director for the Oceanographer of the Navy and the current chair for the Federal Oceanographic Facilities Committee (FOFC) provided the Keynote Address.

Tim Cowles introduced Bob Winokur who began by remarking that this was a little bit like back to the future. Having worked for years on oceanographic ship issues he had moved on to spend ten years doing satellite related work. Now he is back to ships. In his address this morning he will attempt to tell you what the Federal Agencies are doing, primarily with regard to renewal of the Oceanographic research fleets as well as with some related issues if there is time.

Over the last year the Oceanographer of the Navy’s office was reorganized, combined with the Navy’s Force Net command and has moved to Crystal City.

Interagency Activities

Key Inter-Agency Activities include:

- FOFC Fleet Renewal Plan update

- U. S. Council on Ocean Policy (USCOP)

- National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) Strategic Plan (Briscoe)

- Ocean.US update (Malone)

Bob discussed the various interagency activities – represented by a host of acronyms. It is mostly important to remember that there is a real attempt at coordination with regard to ocean science issues associated with these organizations. A lot of this interagency activity was stimulated by NOPP. Agency specific interests are usually maintained within the interagency focus.

Budget activities are a major focus for FY05 and FY06. Defense has a budget – but not a lot of flexibility given the expenses for current operations. They are starting to set the stage for FY07. At any given time they are working on three budgets.

FOFC was established over 20 years ago as the Federal Oceanographic Fleet Coordinating Committee (FOFCC). More recently the emphasis was broadened to include all oceanographic facilities and the reporting structure was defined such that FOFC reports directly to the National Ocean Research Leadership Committee (NORLC). Membership includes the National Science Foundation, Navy, NOAA, USCG, MMS, DOE, State and other agencies with ocean related programs. Their objectives include the exchange of information and the review of Federal requirements for oceanographic facilities.

Bob discussed the current Oceanographic Fleet of vessels over 40 meters, reviewed the ships in each fleet and the age of various vessels/fleets and therefore the need for renewal in all sectors of the federal fleet.

The current Federal Oceanographic Fleet consists of several components:

- Navy research and survey ships, which are relatively new over the last 15 years

- NOAA ships are in the process of being replaced.

- EPA is benefiting by the end of the cold war – getting Navy ships.

- USCG – Healy is new, but POLARs are aging.

- UNOLS Fleet with Navy, NSF and institution owned vessels.

It should be noted that the Navy has no more T-AGOS to give away.

FOFC Integrated Fleet Renewal Plan

A FOFC summary of activities both completed and planned include:

- September 2003 polled the agencies to see who would participate in Fleet renewal activities.

- April 2004 agencies surveyed with questionnaire

- July 2004 held retreat and created an outline and plan for completing the plan

- Additional workshops will be held

- 1^st Draft 31 March 2005

- Draft for NORLC approval 31 July 2005

- Final report by 30 September 2005

Fleet Survey Questions was distributed to the various agencies seeking answers in the following areas:

1. A) What requirements does your agency have for oceanographic vessels?

B) What types of missions or research disciplines do the vessels require?

2. A) What is the composition of your agency’s current oceanographic fleet?

B) What capabilities does it meet?

3. A) What are your agency’s views on the composition of the academic fleet?

B) Does the composition need to change from the current plan for renewal?

4. A) Does your agency have a renewal plan for its oceanographic vessels?

B) Is there an implementation plan for the renewal?

C) Is it funded?

D) What controversial issues need to be considered?

5. Can your agency provide an estimate of the higher costs for maintaining an aging fleet vs. vessels that are operating within their expected life span?

6. Can your agency project how unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) may affect your use of the research fleet over the next 5-10 years?

7. Should local class vessels be considered in the next version of the FOFC plan?

A summary of some of the responses looks like this:

A) Agencies with renewal plans - NSF, NOAA, ONR, USCG

B) Agencies with current implementation activities - NSF, NOAA, ONR, USCG

C) Funds for implementation - NSF, NOAA

D) Issues to be addressed - Ocean Class, IOOS/ORION, UUV

The key elements of the coordinated national plan were described and Bob showed the outline of the report. He also discussed the potential impacts of not doing anything.

· Identify renewal cost and schedule for federally funded fleet

· Articulate needs with balance between operational missions and science initiatives

· Agency specific and coordinated funding strategies

· Address specific/special purpose vessel requirements

· Increase partnering opportunities, where possible, with respect to fleet operations and renewal

· Assess impact of emerging technologies, i.e. unmanned vehicles

· Assess impact of emerging needs, i.e. ORION, IOOS

· Reference ship design and concept studies

· Includes ships > 40m in length

· Includes polar vessels

Chapter Summary for the “Coordinated National Plan”

· Executive Summary

· Introduction

· Missions and Requirements

· Existing Capabilities/Capacities

· Gaps/Impacts

· Concept Designs

· Recommendations

· Implementation Strategies

· Summary

The Missions and Requirements chapter could include the following for each agency:

· Description/History

· Tools/technologies

· Vessel(s) type

· Days At Sea

Other vessel requirements (< 40m)

The Gaps and Impacts Chapter Outline addresses what happens if plan is not carried out:

· Gaps

o Gap in Ship Days

· Impacts

o Graph

o Mission based summary of science loss due to gap in ship days

· Examples:

o Impacts to the Nation

o Cannot implement IOOS

o Loss of National competitiveness

o Increased maintenance cost

Key Challenges for FOFC renewal plan

· Right fleet size and composition to meet current and evolving needs –Regional, ocean, global class and special purpose

· Lessons learned from Academic Fleet Renewal Plan

· Agency specific plans

· Affordable

o Construction

o Operating costs

· Role of service life extension

· Timing –up to 10 years from concept to launch

· Partnering opportunities

· Charter vs. ownership for special facilities, i.e. cable layers heavy lift ships

· Leverage Committee on Ocean Policy (COP) report recommendations

· Ensure balance

The way ahead – coordination and cooperation with UNOLS is key to success of the FOFC plan, it is important to have consistent and complimentary messages. Work on the renewal plan has started and will become a concerted effort to achieve completion by 30 September 2005 and it will require a continuing dialog and an effort to harmonize schedules between FOFC and UNOLS/FIC in order to work together and attain our mutual goals.

Ocean Commission Report

The final report was i