About the Ships and their Missions

NOAA operates 15 ships that conduct Fisheries and Oceanographic and Atmospheric Research and Charting & Hydrography. The ships are based at one of the two Marine Operations Centers in Norfolk, Virginia, and Seattle, Washington, or at one of the 5 port offices located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; Charleston, South Carolina; Pascagoula, Mississippi; San Diego, California; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Detailed information about each ship may be found at the Marine Operations Center Web site. Clicking the link on the ships' individual names below will also take you the the Marine Operations Center Web site.

General Shipboard Policy Information contains useful information about ship policies, procedures, drills, etc. Some individual ship's pages also have further information for visiting scientists about life aboard ship. One site supported by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center has a very useful manual for cruise volunteers and first-time sailors about life at sea.

Geographic Distribution of Ship Operations

East Coast: ALBATROSS IV, DELAWARE II, NANCY FOSTER, GORDON GUNTER, RUDE and THOMAS JEFFERSON

Gulf Of Mexico: NANCY FOSTER, GORDON GUNTER and OREGON II

West Coast: MILLER FREEMAN, DAVID STARR JORDAN and McARTHUR II

Hawaii: KA‘IMIMOANA and OSCAR ELTON SETTE

Alaska: JOHN N. COBB, MILLER FREEMAN and RAINIER

World Wide: RONALD H. BROWN

Mission Descriptions

Fisheries Research vessels perform biological and physical science studies in support of fisheries research. The individual projects are described further below. The ships are generally underway performing research on a 24-hour basis in the open ocean. The ships conducting fisheries research are ALBATROSS IV, JOHN N. COBB, OSCAR ELTON SETTE, DELAWARE II, MILLER FREEMAN, GORDON GUNTER, DAVID STARR JORDAN, McARTHUR II and OREGON II.

Oceanographic vessels perform physical science studies in support of physical oceanography, atmospheric studies, and bathymetric mapping. The individual projects are described further below. The ships are generally underway performing research on a 24-hour basis in the open ocean. The ships conducting oceanographic research are RONALD H. BROWN, NANCY FOSTER, KA‘IMIMOANA and McARTHUR II.

Charting and Hydrography vessels' work includes echosounding, tide gauge installation, dive operations, shoreside surveying with GPS to determine electronic positioning sites, shoreline verification and mapping, data processing, and drafting. With the addition of a shallow-water multibeam system, the ships are now able to collect survey data simultaneously with the launches, and small boats are deployed to assist with shore support operations. Small boat and survey launch work are conducted during daylight operations, whereas ship operations may occur during the day or night. Teachers can anticipate assisting with the acquisition of survey data on survey launches, scanning data to assist with the final processing of data, and riding on small support boats to help with the installation of shore positioning stations and tide gauges. The ships conducting charting and hydrographic work are RAINIER, RUDE and THOMAS JEFFERSON . Please note that work on the RAINIER can be more physically challenging than on other ships.

Please consider the ship's activities carefully when selecting a cruise. You are likely to gain more from the experience when the research activities bear some relation to your own interests.

NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

Bottom Trawl Surveys - Bottom trawls (nets dragged along the ocean floor) are used to study distribution and relative abundance of fish and invertebrate species, fish species identification, collection of scales, otoliths (ear bones) and stomach contents of certain species.

GLOBEC - GLOBal ocean ECosystem dynamics program studies the underlying physical and biological processes that control the population dynamics of Atlantic cod, haddock and two species of copepod crustaceans in Georges Bank, an area highly sensitive to climactic change.

Sea Scallop Survey - The distribution and relative abundance of sea scallops are determined. Scallops are brought up in trawl nets and measured in this annual survey.

NOAA Ship RONALD H. BROWN

Overall Mission: Oceanographic and Climate Research

The RONALD H. BROWN is NOAA's newest (commissioned on July 19, 1997) and most sophisticated research vessel. It has the capability to conduct simultaneous measurements of the full depths of the oceans and the lower atmosphere.

VENTS - The NOAA Vents program is based on physical and chemical oceanographic observations in the northeast Pacific Ocean. These studies indicate the roles of hydrothermal plumes and plume-associated process (underwater volcanics) in the formation of metalliferous deposits, and their role in the regulation, occurrence, distributions, and balances of these metals throughout the world's oceans. Study areas include the southern Juan de Fuca Ridge (where new earth's crust is created), the Blanco Fracture Zone (movement of the earth's crust), and a marginal Subduction Zone (earth's crust is destroyed). These areas are less than 100 nautical miles off the coast of Washington. Research conducted in these areas include temperature studies, particulate matter density studies, near-bottom water motion, and studies to determine the presence and concentration of iron, particulate manganese, phosphorous, arsenic, and methane.

OACES - The Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study is a collaborative study between the NOAA laboratories and university-based investigators to assess the role of the oceans in controlling the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO₂) across the air-sea interface and its eventual penetration into the water masses of the deep ocean as part of the NOAA Climate and Global Change Program. The major objectives of the oceanic field component of OACES are to:

1. Extend the data base for partial pressure of CO₂ in the surface ocean and overlying atmosphere, and total dissolved inorganic CO₂ (DIC) in the surface and deep ocean water masses in order to provide better estimates of CO₂ exchange and ventilation on seasonal to decadal time scales.
2. Provide a better understanding of physical and biological processes that affect seasonal variations in the distribution of carbon species in the oceans.

ACCE - The Atlantic Circulation and Climate Experiment is directed at:

1. Providing a quantitative four-dimensional observational description of the pathways and material property fluxes of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) within the North Atlantic Ocean that vary on time scales from interannual to at least decadal.
2. Improving understanding and modeling of the relationships between the rates and natural variability of the MOC, internal ocean properties, sea surface temperature (SST), and the variability of the overlying atmosphere.
3. Identifying and initiating measurements to be continued beyond the ACCE observational period to monitor the variability of important elements of the MOC and its relation to global climate variability.

NOAA Ship JOHN N. COBB

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

The COBB conducts fishery and living marine resource research in Southeast Alaska and in U.S. Pacific coastal waters, supporting the research of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska. The ship collects fish and crustacean specimens using trawls and benthic longlines, fish larvae and eggs, and plankton using plankton nets and surface and midwater larval nets. Marine mammal surveys of whales, porpoise, and seals are also conducted.

NOAA Ship DELAWARE II

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

Ecosystem Monitoring - The objective of the survey is to assess the impact of changing biological and physical properties of the Northeast Continental Shelf ecosystem (northward from Cape Hatteras to Gulf of Maine and over Georges Bank) which influence the sustainable productivity of the living marine resources. Key parameters to be measured are: water column temperatures, salinities, and chlorophyll and nutrient concentrations; photosynthetic rates; ichthyo- and zooplankton composition, abundance, and distribution; marine mammal and birds abundance and distribution; and standard weather observations. Vessel operations will be conducted 24 hours per day.

Bottom Trawl Survey - Bottom trawls (nets dragged along the ocean floor) are used to study distribution and relative abundance of fish and invertebrate species, fish species identification, collection of scales, otoliths (ear bones) and stomach contents of certain species in the Gulf of Maine.

Fishing Power - During the cruise, a trawl will be towed behind the ship following standard bottom trawl survey procedures and survey techniques to measure trawl and ship fishing performance. The total weight and length frequency for each species caught will be recorded on trawl logs. Area of operation will be Gulf of Maine, Middle Atlantic Bight, and Southern New England and Georges Bank. Vessel operations will be conducted 24 hours per day.

NANCY FOSTER

Overall Mission: Oceanographic Research

NMS - The NANCY FOSTER supports the National Marine Santuary Program and the Coastal Zone Management Program by performing oceanographic research and accomplishing various support projects in the NMS along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

National Sea Grant Program - NANCY FOSTER provides ship time for various research projects at coastal universities, such as Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

S & T - The National Status and Trends Program is a pollution-monitoring program documenting the effects of human activities on the coastal and estuarine environments by systematic observations in selected locations along the U.S. shoreline. The "status" of the present environmental condition of these sites is measured, then monitored by resampling on a regular basis to define "trends" of varying contaminant levels.

The S & T Program samples sediment, bottomfish, invertebrates, and the water itself for evidence of an extensive list of trace elements, pesticides, and industrial waste chemicals that pollute our waters. Organisms are also examined for abnormalities and lesions possibly caused by exposure to certain pollutants.

NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

Bering Sea FOCI - The goal of FOCI (Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations) is to increase the understanding of upper-ocean circulation in the Bering Sea. Scientific measurements conducted include recovery/deployment of current meter moorings, temperature recorders, and satellite tracked drifters, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiling (ADCP), Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) casts, and some mid-water trawling and bongo tows.

Gulf of Alaska FOCI - Work is similar to Bering Sea FOCI; however, operations are generally more biologically oriented and are conducted in the Gulf of Alaska. Biological studies include various tows and trawls designed to estimate fish stocks and larval distributions, drift and mortality rates, and studies on growth and condition.

Tsunami - Operations involve the recovery and deployment of ocean bottom mounted pressure sensors used to detect Tsunami activity in the Gulf of Alaska, followed by transit to Seattle, WA.

NOAA Ship GORDON GUNTER

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

SEAMAP (South East Atlantic Marine Assessment Program) - larval and juvenile survey of the coastal waters south of Cape Hatteras to the Florida tip by means of plankton-collecting equipment such as MOCNESS (Multiple Open and Closing Net Environmental Sampling System), Bongo and Newston nets. Marine mammal studies.

NOAA Ship DAVID STARR JORDAN

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

CalCOFI - California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) is a consortium of industry, university, state and federal agencies. CalCOFI was initiated in 1949 to investigate the cause of the collapse of the sardine fishery off Southern California, then the largest fishery in the world. Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts, bongo tows, manta tows, and pairovet plankton tows will be used to accomplish the mission.

Rockfish - To assess the abundance and distribution of late larval and juvenile rockfish off the California coast by trawling.

Shark Abundance - The abundance and distribution of sharks off Southern California will be measured using a pelagic longline. Some of the sharks will be used for tissue samples and some will be tagged and released.

NOAA Ship KA‘IMIMOANA

Overall Mission: Oceanographic and Climate Research

GOALS/PACS - The Global-Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System (GOALS) and the Pan American Climate Studies (PACS) research programs are designed to improve our understanding of the role of the tropical ocean in modifying the world's climate. The ship will deploy, recover, and service deep sea moorings that measure ocean currents, ocean temperatures and atmospheric variables throughout the equatorial Pacific Ocean. In addition to the buoy measurements, which are transmitted in real time to the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, the ship will measure upper ocean currents, surface salinity, carbon dioxide content, and upper-air atmospheric soundings while underway. Other programs routinely conducted during the cruises include a census of barnacles and marine life that inhabit the recovered moorings (most KA‘IMIMOANA cruises) and the periodic replacement of undersea hydrophone moorings used to locate undersea spreading centers and hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise (on east Pacific cruises only, normally two cruises each year).

NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON

Overall Mission: Charting And Hydrography

(See general description of Charting and Hydrography above)

THOMAS JEFFERSON conducts surveys primarily on the East Coast.

NOAA Ship McARTHUR II

Overall Mission: Oceanographic/Fisheries Research

CZMS - Coastal Zone Management Studies (CZMS) will take place in the National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS) and National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR) of Monterey Bay, California; Coos Bay, Oregon; and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, off NW Washington. In general, this work aims to better characterize these environments. Data will be gathered on marine mammals, sea birds, tidal current circulation, sea floor sediments, benthic organisms, and cultural artifacts.

NOAA Ship OREGON II

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

SEAMAP (South East Atlantic Marine Assessment Program) - larval and juvenile survey of the coastal waters south of Cape Hatteras to the Florida tip by means of plankton collecting equipment such as MOCNESS (Multiple Open and Closing Net Environmental Sampling System), Bongo and Newston nets.

Summer SEAMAP Groundfish - trawling operations to identify populations of shrimp and groundfish, and collect physical data, in the Gulf of Mexico between Alabama and Texas.

Shark Assessment - Shark longlining will be conducted around the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, out to 50 fathoms, and the southeast Atlantic Ocean to determine estimates of shark populations.

NOAA Ship RAINIER

Overall Mission: Charting and Hydrography

(See general description of Charting and Hydrography above)

The RAINIER conducts surveys primarily in southeast Alaska.

NOAA Ship RUDE

Overall Mission: Charting and Hydrography

(See general description of Charting and Hydrography above)

The RUDE conducts surveys primarily on the East Coast.

NOAA Ship OSCAR ELTON SETTE

Overall Mission: Fisheries Research

PSI Camps - Protected Species Investigations (PSI) set up field camps on several of the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) atolls studying the Hawaiian monk seals. These field camps will be set-up during the March cruise, replenished on the April-May cruise and dismantled during the June cruise.

Biology of Subtropical Front - Oceanographic data will be collected on the subtropical front which exists north of the Hawaiian Islands between Latitudes 27° N and 32° N. Data will be collected with sensors and sampling bottles lowered from the vessel. Plankton tows will probably be conducted.

Lobster Assessment - This is the stock assessment survey to determine how many lobsters will be allocated to lobster fishermen whose season starts in July. The ship will fish for lobsters in several sites in the NWHI using strings of plastic traps. Live lobsters will be brought back for further study in the Honolulu Laboratory.

Swordfish - Approximately 10 miles of monofilament longline will be set on a daily basis to capture pelagic fish species. The primary objective will center around how to successfully capture, tag and release swordfish. Data on all captured species will be collected. Oceanographic sampling will also be conducted.

Teacher at Sea Office Address:

Teacher at Sea Program
NOAA - Marine Operations Center, Pacific
1801 Fairview Ave. E.
Seattle, WA 98102-3767