SEA HISTORY for kids
High-Tech Goes to Sea: the RCRV Project RCRV does not stand for Really Cool Research Vessel, but it could...
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by Nancy Steinberg, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University
ne of the most important pieces of scientists are studying all aspects of the equipment used by oceanographers marine world, including, but not limited to, is the research vessel, a ship that marine biology and coral reefs studies, serves as a floating lab and a homegeology of the seafloor, climate change, away-from-home for marine scientists. bathymetry, geochemistry, and even shipWhile satellites orbiting the earth and wreck archaeology—you name it. buoys moored to the seafloor can collect Marine scientists are pretty excited oceans of data about our oceans, scientists about three new research ships that are still need to go to sea to collect the data being built right now with funding prothey need and make first-hand observations vided by the National Science Foundation to better serve their research questions. (NSF). Oregon State University is overseeResearch vessels range from small ing the design and construction of the vesinflatable boats that hold only a few people, The Albatross was a United States Fish Commis- sels, which will be the newest generation sion (USFC) research vessel built in 1882. An to massive polar ice breakers nearly 400 iron-hulled steamship rigged with auxiliary sails, of RCRVs for the United States scientific feet long. Somewhere in the middle is the Albatross was the first ship ever built specifically community. The first of the three 199-foot regional class research vessel (RCRV). This for marine research. ships will be run by Oregon State, with the type of ship typically operates in the coastal ocean, rang- others to be operated by research institutions and univering from nearshore to the edge of the continental rise sities on the East and Gulf Coasts. before the ocean floor slopes down to its deepest depths. Oregon State University’s new vessel will be named Oceangoing research vessels have come a long way in Taani, a word used by the Siletz people of Oregon the last couple of decades, from wooden sailing ships out- meaning“offshore.” Construction of Taani was started in fitted for distant deep-sea expeditions, such as HMS November 2018 in a shipyard in Houma, Louisiana. The ship Beagle, which carried Charles Darwin to the Galapagos and will be launched some time in 2020 and delivered to OSU around the world, to modern steel high-tech vessels for testing in 2021. Here are some of the features that will purpose-built for doing oceanographic research. Today’s make Taani and her sister ships so special. us bureau of fisheries
Gear Deployment/Recovery Equipment Research vessels need to be able to deploy and retrieve various types and sizes of equipment safely and accurately. The aft deck of Taani will be equipped with a flexible, multi-jointed “A-frame” crane for deployment of nets and other sampling equipment. Amidships on the starboard side (translation: in the middle of the ship on the right side), the ship will have an advanced robotic arm that, with a push of a button, will be able to deploy oceanography tools to measure temperature and salinity, or launch and recover underwater robots. Dynamic Positioning Many oceanographic operations require the ship to remain still or follow a precise straight path as data is collected, but this stability can be difficult to achieve because the ocean is always in motion. The RCRVs will include a state-ofthe-art system to help them hold still, to “hold station.” This dynamic positioning system will include two sets of twin thrusters—one in the stern and another in the bow—to increase its maneuverability. The computer-designed propellers on these thrusters will behave more like wings than traditional screw-type propellers and operate very efficiently.
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oregon state university
Datapresence Wouldn’t it be useful (and really cool) if you and your teachers could see and use the information being collected by scientists aboard Taani as it’s being collected? Or talk to the scientists aboard while they’re working? All of this will be possible, thanks to the advanced “datapresence” technologies installed on the ship, which will enable transmission of many kinds of data from ship to shore. Scientists on shore will be able to SEA HISTORY 167, SUMMER 2019