NEWSLETTER WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION JUNE/JULY 1991 WHOI Selected to Operate Agor-25 Outboard profile oj Agor-25 Congratulations WHOI The Office of Naval Research KNORR (AGOA-15), delivered 10 The current procurement sched­ (ONR) announced July 19 thai WHOI WHOI in 1970. has been upgraded to ule for both AGOR-24 and AGOR-25 has been selected by a competitive handle both manned and unmanned indicates the Navy will issue a proposal process to operate AGOR- vehicles and gives WHO I unparal1ed request lor proposals (RFP) immedi­ 25, one of the Navy's two new capabilities in deep submergence ately, with shipyard proposals due in research vesse ls. operations. September and the contract award The award of AGOR-25, which SCripps Institution of Oceanogra­ for AGOR-24 made in Noverrber. will replace the ATLANTIS II , phy in La Jolla, CA, was selected to Construction of AGOR-24 will start in strengthens the Institution's leader­ operate the AGOA-25 sisler ship, March 1992, the contract option ship role in deep submergence AGOR-24, for the University of award for construction of technology and operations. RN California system. Please turn to page J I WHOI Scientists Prepare for Arctic Cruise The first international scientific newspaper and radio, Associated modeling major ocean currents like expedition to al1empt to reach the Press. and the Boston Herald visited the Transpolar Drift which carries North Pole by ship is preparing to the dock and reported on the event. ice from Siberia to the North Pole depart for the Arctic Ocean. Extensive research programs will and into the North Atlantic, tracing Sus Honjo of the Geology & be conducted from the POLAR STAR river input in the ice and upper Geophysics Department will be co· and from stations on the ice. Among layers of the water in different chief scienti st on the cruise, areas of the Arctic OCean, and which will include scientists <:; r----------------, studies of the exchange of from Canada, Germany, i carbon dioxide between the Japan, Norway, Sweden and ~ atmosphere and the water the United States. E beneath the ice. Better under­ The expedition will involve ~ standing of global warming and three icebreakers - the U.S. £ the greenhouse effect will be Coast Guard POLAR STAR, 9 ~ \- among the important results of the German POLARSTERN, ~ this research. and the Swedish ODEN. Four WHOt employees will POLAR STAR was in Boston be among the 20 scientists June 19·22 to load equipment aboard the POLAR STAR, the from WHOI and other partici· largest representation from a pant s on the U.S. and Japa· single institution. Two WHO I nese teams before departing Ice-Ocean Environmental for Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Buoys, each with 232 sensors load Canadian gear. to transmit measurements from The three ships will meet in the atmosphere, the ice and the Troms0, Norway, and depart water below the ice, will be for the North Pole in early deployed. These automated August. They will cruise to polar stations, developed in areas of the deep Arctic Basin cooperation with the Japan never before explored, Marine SCience and Technol­ pounding through ice sheets ogyCenter (JAMSTEC), will over feet thick. The ships 10 relay data by satellite back to Sus Honjo tarks to repol1f1rs in Boston while the will return to Tromso in mid· WHOI for at teast 18 months October. POLAR STAR;s prepared for its Arctic cruise. through the Arctic winters as they The expedition received significant are carried by drifting ice. Other media allention during the POLAR the projects to be undertaken are WHOI equipment, including a coring STAR's stay in Boston. Reporters Canadian efforts to reliably evaluate device built at WHOI and welded to from Channets 4. 5, and 7 (NBC, ice distribution in the Arctic Ocean the POLAR ST AR's deck in Boston. ABC, CBS affiliates), Channel 56, using a microwave satellite, detailed will be used. the Christian Science Monitor U.S. studies of sea·ice behavior, WHOI Hosts Earthwatch Students The Education Office and program was to give the students a The two-week visit also included Coastal Research Center hosted hands-on involvement in scientific an overview of the Institution, with seven high school students in the research. The topic chosen for the tours conducted by WHOt stall Earthwatch program for two weeks in group was oil pollution and the through the Exhibit Center, Library, July. The students, gifted in the arts continuing effort s to determine the Seafloor Samples Lab and Buoy Lab. and humanities as well as science, Iong·term fate and effects of oil A collecting cruise aboard were chosen through a nationwide compounds in marsh sediments. The ASTERIAS, and visits to Waquoit Bay competitive application process. students collected core samples from Estuarine Preserve, the Ocean Arks Participants came from California, area marshes and analyzed them in a International Protect althe Provi­ Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina laboratory under the direction of John dence Sewage Treatment plant, and and New Mexico. Farrington, Bruce Tripp, George the Lloyd Center in South Dartmoulh The purpose of the WHOI Hampson and Susan McGroddy. were also on their agenda. 2 WHOI NEWSLETTER New President Elected at Annual Meeting This year's annual meetings of Grounds Committee. His brother the Trustees and Corporation in­ Hays is an Honorary Member of the Photos, pages 4-5 cluded the installation of a new Corporation and his late brother W. Corporation president and coincided Van Alan was also a Member of the also on hand for the dedication. with the dedication of the $5 million Corporation. Helen Walker and Oliver Egleston of national caf!.>On-14 dating facility and The annual meeting also included Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson & a lecture by a Nobel laureate. a science report by Senior Scientist Abbott Architects attended, as well James M. Clark was elected to fill John H. Steele on ~The Ocean as F. Thomas Westcott, head of the post left by outgoing President of Landscape." A reception and dinner Westcott Construction. the Corporation John H. Steele. sponsored :':'y the Associates under a The dedication also attracted Other Corporation officers, all of tent on the Fenno House grounds for state representatives Tom Cahir and whom were re-elected to their posts more than 200 Trustees, Corporation Eric Turkington, and Falmouth Town at the annual meeting, are: Chairman Members and Associates concluded Administrator Peter Boyer. of the Board Guy Nichols, Director the day's events. Craig Dorman, Vice President Sustainability Charles Hollister, Treasurer Kenneth AMS Dedication The annual meeting also in­ Safe, Jr., Assistant Treasurer Edwin About 250 employees, Trustees, cluded a lecture on "Sustainability: Hiam, and Clerk Gary Walker. Trust­ Corporation Members and Associates An Economist's Perspective,~ by ees, Corporation Members, and toured the new lab and attended a Nobel Laureate Robert Solow, a committee members were also dedication ceremony for the National member of the Senior Advisors elected at the meeting. Ocean SCiences Accelerator Mass Committee at the WHO I Marine Clark is a former chief executive Spectrometry Facility at the McLean Policy Center and Institute Professor officer of Hornblower-Weeks, Laboratory on June 14. at the Massachusetts Institute of Hemphill, Noyes in New York City and Robert Corell, assistant director Technology. has been affiliated with Shearson for geosciences at the National About 200 people filled the fifth Lehman Brothers, Inc. since 1986. Science Foundation (NSF), spoke on floor of Clark to hear Solow speak on He has maintained an active role at advances in carbon dating and public policy, economic growth and the Woods Hole Oceanographic congratulated WHOI on, acquiring the resource conservation issues sur­ Institution since 1976, when he joined facility. rounding sustainability. the Associates Program. He has The AMS facility at WHO I is only The lecture was the 18th J. served WHOI as a Trustee since the seventh in the world, and is the Seward Johnson Lecture in Marine 1984, Member of the Corporation newest and most sophisticated. It was Policy presented in honor of the since 1983, and has been a member funded by NSF to serve the national former WHOI Trustee and Corpora­ of the Executive Committee since ocean science community. Glenn tion Member whose life-long interest 1985. He is also a member of the Jones is director of the facility. in the oceans and ocean policy was Institution's Development Committee Some of the individuals respon­ instrumental in creating the Marine and is Chairman of the Buildings and sible for creating the new facility were Policy Center. Robin Good Elected to NEDRA Board Robin Good, development officer development office, we're already University of Vermont, Wesleyan for information operations, has been gaining regional recognition,H Robin University and New England Baptist elected to the board of directors of says. "Prospect research in Massa­ Hospital on NEDRA's board of the New England Development chusetts has long been dominated by directors. Research Association. universities like Harvard and MIT, WHOI hosted the organization NEDRA, a professional organiza­ who have had the foresight to do for a regional roundtable last March, tion of fund raising researchers, research. The fact that we now have and a NEDRA board retreat in July. seeks to promote the role of research a seat at the table, so to speak, WHOI Director of Development in identifying prospects (individuals, offers an exciting opportunity for Jacquie Suitor was a panelist at the foundations and corporations) with inter-institutional exchanges of March roundtable. the means and inclination to donate expertise and counsel." Judy Thrasher, a research money to non-profit organizations. Robin will join representatives assistant in WHOl's development "Although we're a relatively new from Harvard, Brown University, the office, is also a member of NEDRA.