Robert Gordon Sproul

Two days of ship time are requested on R/V Sproul in late April and late May 2026 as part of the formal class sequence SIOC 223/218B “Proposal writing and experiment design” and “ At-sea course for time-series and mooring techniques, ” similar to classes held successfully in earlier years. The sequence provides hands-on experience to SIO graduate students in writing proposals and designing experiments, planning a research cruise, designing a mooring observation system, operating instruments at sea, and calibrating and analyzing obtained time-series and other data. A scientific report with results analyzed by students, and/or an outreach article about this field-focused at-sea course is expected to be published. We request two separate (24-hour) days of ship time on R/V Sproul, one in April and one in May 2026 for the mooring operations. All cruises depart San Diego Nimitz Marine Facility (MARFAC) tentatively at 07:00. Transit to the Del Mar site takes three hours each way. Recent cruises have also included CTD calibration cast(s) at a deeper site west of Point Loma.

SIO 176 is an undergraduate elective course within the newly established Oceanic and Atmospheric Science major at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD. This interdisciplinary program integrates rigorous training in mathematics, physics, and chemistry with courses in oceanography, climate, and atmospheric science, offering students practical experience in both data collection and analysis. The focus of SIO 176 is to teach students how to collect and use physical oceanographic data to address scientific questions. Throughout the course, students gain exposure to the most commonly used instruments and platforms for collecting oceanographic data through lectures, hands-on exercises, and visits to SIO laboratories. This proposal requests one day of ship time on the R/V Sproul for an SIO 176 student cruise during Winter or Spring Quarter 2026. The cruise will provide students with a valuable opportunity to experience how measurements are collected aboard a research vessel and to test and deploy sensors they have either built or programmed.

Starting in the 2016-2017 academic year, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UCSD began an undergraduate major in Oceanic and Atmospheric science. This interdisciplinary major is intended to prepare students for careers in government, environmental policy, management, and consulting, primary and secondary education, and academia. The curriculum combines rigorous classroom training based on mathematics, physics, chemistry, and data analysis with hands-on experience using cutting edge data collection techniques for the ocean and atmosphere. SIO 60, co-taught annually by SIO/UCSD Associate Professors Drew Lucas and Kate Ricke, is the required introductory course for the O & A major. SIO 60 covers basic concepts in oceanic and atmospheric dynamics with instruction and hands-on activities, with an aim towards future academic, government, and industry scientists as well as professionals in maritime and environmental science fields.

Two days of ship time are requested on R/V Sproul in late April to late May 2026 as part of the formal class sequence SIOC 223/218B “Proposal writing and experiment design” and “At-sea course for timeseries and mooring techniques,” similar to classes held successfully in earlier years. The sequence provides hands-on experience to SIO graduate students in writing proposals and designing experiments, planning a research cruise, designing a mooring observation system, operating instruments at sea, and calibrating and analyzing obtained time-series and other data. A scientific report with results analyzed by students, and/or an outreach article about this field-focused at-sea course is expected to be published. We request two separate (24-hour) days of ship time on R/V Sproul, one in April and one in May 2026 for the mooring operations. All cruises depart San Diego Nimitz Marine Facility (MARFAC) tentatively at 07:00. Transit to the Del Mar site takes three hours each way. Recent cruises have also included CTD calibration cast(s) at a deeper site west of Point Loma. This SME corresponds to the second portion of the project, in May 2026.

This is intended as an educational experience for the MPL internship program in 2025. Sea-going activities will include CTD with water sampling, plankton net tows, collecting data from shipboard flow-through, ADCP, and MET systems. Science party may bring aboard optical systems and microscopes.

The SIO295 course, Introduction to Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, has scheduled a two-day research cruise on the RV Gordon Sproul for Summer 2026, set for one of the following weekends:July 19-20, or July 26-27, based on the course schedule. The cruise will accommodate approximately 24 Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) students, 1-3 PhD students, SIO faculty, MAS staff, and Research Technicians, with the total group size exceeding the Sproul’s 30-person capacity, thus requiring two days. SIO Faculty, including Greg Rouse and Dahiana Arcila, will serve as chief scientists (one per day), joined by additional faculty to be confirmed, ensuring robust leadership and guidance throughout the cruise. This cruise is designed to provide students with their first hands-on seagoing research experience, building confidence and sparking interest in marine research as they begin their graduate studies. Aligned with the course’s theme of global change impacts on marine ecosystems, the cruise will offer direct exposure to local benthic and pelagic faunas, enabling students to explore the composition and vulnerabilities of these habitats. This practical experience is integral to deepening their understanding of marine biodiversity and conservation, reinforcing the course’s focus on the ecological consequences of environmental change.

The overriding science goal of the Researching Interior Ocean Trajectories DRI is to improve our understanding of interior submesoscale currents (iSMC). These features are the interior analogs to the strong surface submesoscale features that have been studied for several decades but are more poorly understood. They are characterized by horizontal scales of 100 m to 10 kilometers, vertical scales of 0.1 to 100 meters and time scales of minutes to days. We expect that they are important in setting the vertical and horizontal mixing rates in the interior and may even form a crucial nexus between geostrophic (balanced) flows, internal waves, and mixing. We plan to study iSMC in at a separation point of the California Undercurrent in the vicinity of the Southern California Channel Islands.

Seabed surveys with REMUS 3000 AUV offshore San Diego. Seabed characterization with sidescan sonar and optical imagery.

SIO hosts an undergraduate Marine Biology major, which requires all students to take SIO 136 (Marine Biology Laboratory). A key feature of this course—an at-sea experience aboard the R/V Gordon Sproul—was suspended due to COVID-19 and growing class sizes. We now seek to reinstate it with 2 ship days per quarter (Fall and Spring only) in 2026. With 72 students enrolled, we propose four half-day cruises per quarter, each accommodating ~24 students plus instructors and technical experts (~30 total participants per trip). Cruise goals include: (1) demonstrating tools used to study marine organisms, (2) collecting hydrographic data to illustrate features of the southern California shelf (e.g., thermocline, chlorophyll max, oxygen/pH declines), (3) towing for phytoplankton, zooplankton, and invertebrate larvae, and (4) surveying midwater communities using an IKMWT. Cruises would take place outside San Diego Bay over ~4-hour periods and have been shortened from past years to fit the larger class. This cruise provides the only at-sea experience required for all Marine Biology majors, offering hands-on exposure to oceanographic research and organisms not observable from shore. Some samples will be brought back for lab analysis. This proposal satisfies the Class Cruise/Instruction at Sea category.

On this cruise, we will replicate instrument deployment from cruise TeSSA-cruise-2D. We will deploy two new HAVN very broadband ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs). We will also deploy a Liquid-Robotics Inc waveglider. The waveglider is capable of establishing acoustic near-realtime data transfer from the OBSs to a shore-side desktop computer. The waveglider will shuttle between the two HAVNs and take turn in uploading seismic data via satellite link to our desktop. We will also deploy a traditional broadband OBS to allow assessment of instrument fidelity and to locate seismicity in the California Borderland.

This is a class cruise to introduce graduate students in SIOB280 Biological Oceanography to sampling and organisms at sea. We will conduct CTD profiles, plankton net hauls, and an otter trawl, during two one-day cruises. The data will be used in class projects and exams.

On this cruise, we will replicate instrument recovery from cruise TeSSA-cruise-2R. We will rcover two new HAVN very broadband ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs). We will also recover a Liquid-Robotics Inc waveglider. All equipment was deployed on cruise TeSSA-cruise-2D-26 about a month earlier.