DISCOVERER's assigned projects vary from cruise to cruise. It is also common for several different projects to be carried out simultaneously. Scientific operations are generally continuous, (24 hours a day), with breaks during transit between oceanographic stations. Most stations will be occupied regardless of the time of day or night; however, certain operations are carried out more safely and efficiently during daylight hours. The types of studies conducted are varied and may include biological, chemical, geological, meteorological, and/or seismic research.
For more information on DISCOVERER's major projects click on the following options:
DISCOVERER also conducts a variety of ancillary projects. These projects are maintained each cruise in addition to the DISCOVERER's main cruise objectives. For more information on ancillary projects, click on the following options:
The Southern Hemisphere Marine Aerosol CharacterizationExperiment (ACE-1) is the first in aseries of experiments that will quantify the combined chemical and physical processes controlling the evolution and properties of the atmospheric aerosol relevant to radiative forcing and climate. The objectives of this series of process studies are to provide the necessary data to incorporate aerosols into global climate models and to reduce the overall uncertainty in the calculation of climate forcing by aerosols. The goal of ACE-1 is to document the chemical, physical, and optical characteristics and determine the controlling processes of the aerosol in the remote marine atmosphere.
Atmospheric aerosol particles affect the Earth's radiative balance both directly through the upward scatter of solar radiation and indirectly as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). The natural aerosol derived from biogenic sulfur emissions has been substantially changed by anthropogenic aerosols, in particular, sulfates from SO2 emissions and organic condensates and soot from biomass and fossil fuel combustion. Although aerosol particles have a potential climatic importance over and down wind of industrial regions that is equal to that of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, they are still poorly characterized in global climate models. The objective of this series of process studies are to provide the necessary data to incorporate aerosols into global climate models and to reduce the overall uncertainty in the calculation of climate forcing by aerosols.
Trace gases in the marine boundary layer affect the Earths's radiative and chemical balance by absorbing the long-wave radiation leaving the Earth (green-house gases) and by altering the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. The concentrations of these chemically reactive and infrared-active trace gases are increasing in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic activities. There is considerable scientific evidence that the increasing atmospheric concentrations of these gases will lead to a global warming which could have disruptive consequences world-wide. Predicting the future concentrations of these gases and their potential climatic effects requires an improved understanding of their atmospheric sources and sinks and the processes controlling their concentrations. The goals of the marine RITS program are:
The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) has initiated a high quality, high resolution survey of the hydrographic variability of the global ocean. The sampling strategy of WOCE includes a one-time survey of all major basins, and repeat sections in critical regions.
The primary objectives of this expedition are to:
WOCE is the largest experimental effort made to understand the physics of climate change on the earth.
Lagrangian Drifters
Lagrangian Drifters are satellite tracked drifters, developed at the Global Drifter Center (GDC), consisting of a surface float (containing an ARGOS transmitter, batteries to last two years and a temperature sensor), a smaller subsurface float (to minimize the impact of the surface ocean waves on the motion of the buoy) and a Holey sock drogue (a cylindrical shell of Cordura nylon, the center of which is 15 m below the surface). Orbiting satellites determine the location of the drifters using the ARGOS tracking system; the accuracy of the location fixes is typically 500 meters. Location information is sent back along with sea surface temperature measurements.
This drifter, along with subsurface and surface moorings, help form a system for monitoring a variety of oceanic variables.
The NOAA Environmental Tehnology Laboratory (ETL) is completing a study of the microphysical, dynamical, and radiative properties of clouds as part of the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) conducted in the North Atlantic in June 1992. To continue this work in the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP), an analysis of several relevant existing data sets and acquistion of new data in two research ship deployments to the TWP.
To explore many of the issues relevant to the establishment of oceanic CART sites and to obtain an unprecedented data set on marine clouds and radiation by deploying an existing suite of ETL surface-based remote sensors on a ship. The ETL systems, which include surface fluxes, a Doppler lidar, a Doppler cloud radar, a Doppler wind profiler, water vapor/liquid microwave radiometers, a Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS), and an FTIR-radiometer, are functionally equivalent to a prototype CART system. The goal of the work includes:
The Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System (GOALS) Program is the successor to the successful Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Program that concluded at the closeof 1994. As in TOGA, GOALS is designed to improve our understanding of the role of the tropical ocean in modifying the world's climate. A primary goal of this research is to investigate the dominant mechanisms that produce large scale, interannual variations of the sea surface temperature in vast regions of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Studies indicate that such sea surface temperature variations are linked to perturbations in the mid-latitude atmospheric pressure field and, hence, to weather.
Surface wind plays a dominant role in driving the ocean circulation, and the subsurface thermalstructure is a key diagnostic tool for understanding the ocean's response to this forcing. Hence,the tropical Pacific ocean observing system established during TOGA focuses on measurements ofwind and upper ocean thermal structure, along with current observations at selected sites alongthe Equator. The Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array, an array of ATLAS (wind andthermistor chain) and PROTEUS (current measurement) moorings that record and report data inreal-time using the Argos satellite data telemetry system, is maintained by PMEL's TAO ProjectOffice as part of the tropical Pacific ocean observing system.
DISCOVERER presently utilizes approximately two-thirds of its underway time with thedeployment and recovery of the ATLAS and PROTEUS moorings of the TAO array.
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 worlds 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.
CREATING PARTNERSHIPS TO COLLECT DATA: Joint NOAA - U.S. Navy- Canadian Operation Collects Upper Air Data in Remote Ocean Areas
A program which began as a handshake agreement between two old Navy buddies to support each other has grown into an international effort that has increased the effectiveness of NOAA ship time and is drawing praise from researchers and operational meteorologists across the country. A former commanding officer of NOAA Ship DISCOVERER, Captain Mike McCallister, and the past CO of the Navy's Pacific Meteorological and Oceanographic Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Captain Rich Pentimonti, initiated this two-year-old project. The Navy has provided a Mobile Environmental Team, comprising one or two weather observer-forecasters, to ride DISCOVERER as she has spanned the Pacific Ocean, conducting research cruises for NOAA's WOCE, TOGA, GOALS and VENTS programs.
More than 750 atmospheric soundings have been collected by DISCOVERER to date, ranging from south of the Antarctic Circle to the remotest regions of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The upper air soundings are recorded aboard ship, then transmitted by satellite to the global meteorological data network for synoptic use in operational forecast models. The information is also passed to the research community for use in model development, calibration and validation.
In January 1995, NOAA's Office of Global Programs and Environment Canada, through a World Meteorological Organization supported project known as the Automated Shipboard Aerological Programme (ASAP), joined DISCOVERER's effort. Environment Canada provided a Vaisala-instrumented 8x20 foot ASAP van and OGP sufficient helium to improve the ship's capabilities. As a result of these contributions, the ship's sounding failure rate has decreased and the profiles are going to a significantly higher altitude before signal loss.
Captain Charles Mauck of the Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorologyand Oceanography Center in Monterey, California toured DISCOVERER during a recent Pearl Harbor port visit. He had strong praise for the ship's contributions, commenting specifically on the value of mobile platform data to atmospheric modeling in the equatorial Pacific. This region is of particular concern to operational forecasters, because it is the heart of the region where tropical cyclogenesis occurs - the eastern and central Pacific Ocean's "hurricane alley."
Another recent recruit to the DISCOVERER upper air project is Dr.Nick Bond, a research meteorologist at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. Dr. Bond will support a research assistant and supplementary radiosondes for a dense sampling experiment along the eastern equatorial Pacific in August - September, the peak of the Eastpac tropical cyclone season. DISCOVERER's Meteorological Officer, Ensign Robert Kamphaus, has also recently provided information to University of Washington researchers who are interested in future participationin the ASAP project.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this project is that it takes advantage of a particularly valuable resource - research ship time - in remote ocean regions. The collection of serendipitous data of high operational and research value has come at very little additional cost to the government. Sharing resources between NOAA, the U.S. Navy, and WMO/Canada, DISCOVERER has contributed substantial "value added" to her mission.
DISCOVERER maintains a training program for students of California Maritime Academy, West Point, and Annapolis. Students get hands on training in the field of Bridge watchstanding, navigation, engineering, and scientific research, as well as valuable sea experience.
DISCOVERER maintains an active ancillary marine mammal observation program, based on occasional interception of marine mammals during operations. All reported sightings are positively identified, referenced through NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 444, and reported by form to NMFS Marine Mammal Lab. DISCOVERER averages 23 sightings per year.
DISCOVERER maintains an ancillary task of providing synoptic meteorological reports through the SEAS automated reporting system. Piloting, then utilizing INMARSAT C satellite communications, the vessel reports at sea weather conditions every 3 hours. DISCOVERER averages almost 1700 weather reports per year and has been one of the program's Top 1 weather reporting platforms for 1992, 1993, 1994 and listed in the top 10 for the past 8 years.
DISCOVERER participates in NOAA's Teacher at Sea Program. This program invites teacher to spend time observing scientific operations during the DISCOVERER's Vents Program.
For more information on the program, Please contact:
Teacher at Sea Program