Shared Equipment

The assets on the Shared Equipment List have been provided through funding from NSF and other U.S. Government agency grants to WHOI’s Shipboard Scientific Services Group (SSSG). These items are made available to users in the UNOLS community without a user charge. All requests for use of these assets must be made to the WHOI Marine Operations Coordinator, who is responsible for scheduling requests for ship time and for the available shared-use equipment in conjunction with equipment custodians. Principal Investigators requesting these assets must work closely with the Marine Operations Coordinator and the appropriate custodians to completely define the equipment and schedule requirements during the proposal process and submission of ship time requests.

Priority

Requests for equipment in the inventory will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, and in the event of conflicts in equipment commitments, priority will be given to projects using the assets aboard WHOI’s UNOLS ships (Atlantis, Knorr and Oceanus). Reasonable efforts will be made to secure alternate arrangements for similar assets with other institutions if a commitment conflict arises, although loans of this nature frequently incur additional charges.

It is the intent of this guideline to facilitate maximum utilization of the items in the inventory, while protecting them from deterioration, damage or loss, consistent with WHOI’s “Responsibility in Property Management” and “Equipment Reutilization” policies. Equipment in this inventory is generally purchased with funds from the annual WHOI NSF Instrumentation Award. Some items may also have been provided through NSF, ONR or other U.S. Government agency grant line-items from completed projects. Asset maintenance costs are primarily funded through a daily use charge associated with the operations of WHOI ships. Costs associated with non-WHOI ship applications are not covered by funding obtained in this manner.

Charges

The equipment is generally provided with no user fees. However, if the request is not received in time (typically October of the year before the cruise) to be included into the annual WHOI NSF Technical Support proposal, or is a substantial modification to an original request, then the requester will be advised of and charged for expenses related to preparation and/or non-standard configuration and unscheduled calibrations. The user is always responsible for consumable supplies charges and certain other expenses related to the cruise (see Purchase Order section below).

Insurance and Damages

Investigators borrowing equipment from the general use pool are expected to return it in the same or better condition. If repairs or recalibration are necessary, the borrower is responsible for the costs. NSF and the other funding agencies will not necessarily pay for repair of damaged equipment or replacement of lost instruments, and subsequent cruises will be jeopardized if there is no means to recover the costs from the responsible user. Frequently, to insure the ability to meet this requirement, users will need to purchase sufficient “over-the-side” (OTS) insurance against total loss. In summary, the user who loses or damages an item must be prepared to pay for its replacement or repair.

Purchase Orders

The Principal Investigator requesting equipment from the general use pool will be asked to provide a purchase order for the estimated costs to WHOI in advance of the start of the cruise preparations. Delay in providing this purchase order may result in an equipment preparation delay. The purchase order must be sufficient to liquidate all charges for salary costs, insurance as necessary, materials and supplies which may be incurred in preparation, operation and post-cruise maintenance of the requested assets.

For more specific information, see the Financial Details page.

Interpretation

The interpretation of this guideline shall be at the discretion of the Manager of the Shipboard Scientific Services Group.

The PI must specify during the cruise planning process whether a CTD/rosette system is required. If a CTD is not specified, it will be assumed not to be needed, and may be removed for calibration or maintenance.

When a CTD system is requested through the Cruise Planning Questionnaire, the ship will be provided with the following configuration:

• SBE9+ CTD
  • Complete system depth limit is 6000m
  • Dual SBE3T/SBE4C sensor system
  • One spare of each: SBE3T temp, SBE4C conductivity, SBE5 pump
• SBE43 oxygen sensor on primary channel
• Benthos/Datasonics PSA-916 altimeter for bottom approach
• Wet Labs FLNTURTD combination fluorometer and tubidity sensor
• Wetlabs C-Star transmissometer, 660nm wavelength, 25cm pathlength
• Rosette frame with SBE32 24-position carousel
  • 24 ea. 10-liter OIS or WHOI Niskin bottles
• SBE11+ CTD deckunit with NMEA position interface

Note: Atlantis typically operates with 23 Niskin bottles, but this configuration can easily be changed to 24 bottles.

Optional or alternate items which must be requested during the cruise planning process include:

• Biospherical Instruments QSP-200L4S underwater PAR sensor, 1000m depth limit with accompanying surface PAR (QSR-240)
• Wet Labs ECO-AFL fluorometer
• Seapoint STM turbidity sensor

The WHOI Shipboard Scientific Services Group (SSSG) attempts to make its portable winches available to users of WHOI vessels free of charge. This is only possible if use of an available winch is requested far enough in advance to allow associated costs to be included in the SSSG operational budget. Furthermore, the intended use must be “normal and expected” -- the SSSG budget will not include costs for items such as modifications for special cables or the addition of non-standard level winding hardware. Finally, because of the size and weight of these systems, it may not be possible for the SSSG program to absorb shipping expeses, particularly when schedule changes occur during the operational year. If the requirement is known in advance, the technical support budget can be expected to include reasonable shipping support but investigators are advised to plan on providing assistance.

The staff of the Sea Floor Samples Laboratory are responsible for the design, fabrication and deployment of marine geological sampling tools. The inventory consists principally of corers, dredges and grabs specifically sized and configured for use in the deep sea, but adaptation for continental slope and shelf sampling is common. This group will stage and execute various sampling programs, matching equipment and rigging strategies to the needs of the principal investigator. They have developed numerous special hardware assemblies and heavy equipment handling systems for all ships that Woods Hole operates, as well as many others in the UNOLS and USCG Polar fleet. They can provide piston, large diameter gravity, box and multi-corer systems and will install and operate these systems aboard WHOI ships or other vessels.

The efficiency and on-deck operating safety of new, long, large diameter (JPC) piston coring systems has been improved by the development of a hydraulic extrusion system. Thirty meter long cores (in strong PVC liner) can be recovered and turned around quickly for redeployment without the need for “breaking down” the core barrel. More stations can be occupied in a given time period with less disturbance to sample material than with traditional handling methods.

The McLean Laboratory on WHOI’s Quissett Campus houses more than 14,500 archived marine geological samples. The inventory includes long, stratified sediment cores, rock dredges, surface grabs and samples collected by DSV Alvin. Each of the sea floor samples has been carefully preserved and described; twelve volumes of compiled lithologic and petrographic analyses have been distributed to centers of marine geological research around the world. The lab also maintains a user-friendly search and retrieval computer database for ready access to the entire suite of samples and digitized descriptive parameters. Subsamples of the WHOI collection are distributed upon request and at no cost to the investigator.

New capabilities at the Lab include a multi-sensor core logger for non-destructive analysis of physical properties such as bulk density and magnetic susceptibility (available for use at sea), and a large walk-in refrigerated core storage facility.