Contact:  Eliot Hurwitz             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
          Capt. Tom Richards        June 5, 1996

NOAA SHIP McARTHUR TO ATTEMPT DEPLOYMENT OF HIGH-TECH SENSOR IN GOLDEN GATE - SHIP OPEN HOUSE AT PIER 32

In a move that promises to bring dramatic increases in navigational safety for tankers, containerships and other vessels in California's San Francisco Bay, the NOAA ship McARTHUR, operated by the Commerce Departmentþs National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will attempt to deploy an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) in the 300 foot-deep waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

The instrument, which will be launched from the scientific research vessel on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 11, will be part of a multi-sensor array deployed throughout the Bay as part of the San Francisco Bay Demonstration Project. The project is a joint effort between NOAA and a wide range of Bay area groups, including the San Francisco Harbor Safety Committee and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

The sensor will be the final installation in an array of real-time water level, current, wind, temperature and salinity sensors that have been positioned throughout the San Francisco Bay region. Information from these sensors is being tested by mariners within the Bay to improve both the efficiency and safety of commercial shipping. The Golden Gate deployment will be particularly challenging because of the depth of the water, complex winds, and currents that are never still at all depths, and because the deployment will occur in active shipping lanes.

Although the sensor information is primarily designed to prevent shipping accidents from occurring, this information will also be critical in responding to any hazardous material spill that may occur in the Bay, and will be useful to area coastal resource managers. Preliminary public access to information from most of the sensors in the Bay is available via marine weather broadcast on a frequency of 162.450, and on the Internet at http://www-ceob.nos.noaa.gov/portsframe.html . Harbor pilots and mariners also use direct phone dial-up access.

The McARTHUR will host a free open house for the general public on Monday, June 10th, from 11:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. at Pier 32 in San Francisco. McARTHUR will have just completed two research cruises in the Monterey Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries. Researchers and sanctuary personnel from these cruises will be on hand to answer questions about their work and the sanctuaries, and to provide information about the upcoming sensor deployment.

The McARTHUR is one of a fleet of scientific research ships operated and managed by the office of NOAA Corps Operations, which consists of commissioned officers and civilian staff. The fleet provides the marine platforms NOAA needs to conduct research on critical physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic and atmospheric processes.

The McARTHUR'S home port is Seattle, Wash. The 30-year-old ship is 175 feet long, has twin propellers, carries a complement of 25 officers and crew, and can accommodate up to 14 research scientists.

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NOTE TO EDITORS
A special press briefing will be held aboard the McARTHUR following the public open house, at 3:00 PM, Monday, June 10, to preview the June 11 effort to deploy the current sensor in the Golden Gate. NOAA scientists, officers from the McARTHUR and representatives of Bay area maritime and environmental organizations will be on hand to answer questions and describe the deployment operation. Information about viewing the deployment in the Golden Gate Bridge may be arranged by calling the above contact.

All NOAA press releases, and links to other NOAA material, can be found on the NOAA Public Affairs World Wide Web home page, http://www.noaa.gov/public-affairs. If you'd like to receive these releases by electronic mail rather than fax, please send an