Current State & Future of UK

Research Vessels

Geraint West
http://noc.ac.uk

UK Research Vessels

Beam

Overall length

RRS James Cook

36M (2006)

RRS Discovery

75M (2013)

FRV Scotia

20

40

RV Corystes

25M (2003)

Cefas Endeavour

(1990) RRS James Clark Ross

RRS Ernest Shackleton

80 100 120

18.6
89.2

18
99.7

15
68.6

24M (1998)

(1988)

60

12.8
52.25

15.8
73.9

18.85
99.04

17
80

http://noc.ac.uk

Shelf Seas Fleet Operating Areas

http://noc.ac.uk

NERC Operations
Annually on average
20,000 equipment movements
1,000T of equipment freighted

http://noc.ac.uk

Growth in Ships
0

20

90.2
89.2

18

New RRS Discovery

DIMENSIONS

99.7

Beam
0

D
I
S
C
O
V
E
R
Y

100 120

69.4

18.6

RRS James Cook

RRS Discovery

80

14

RRS Discovery

2005

60

14.4

RRS Charles Darwin

RRS Charles Darwin

40

Overall length

RRS Charles Darwin

1.976

RRS Discovery

3.75

RRS James Cook

7.08

New RRS Discovery

5.76

Installed Power (MW)

0

RRS James Cook

RRS Charles Darwin

2014

RRS Discovery

2,000

580

New RRS Discovery

New RRS Discovery

Maximum displacement

6,000

2,556
1,936

3,008

899

RRS James Cook

4,000

4,310

4,500
1,610

1,782

Gross tonnage

5,401
6,075
5,941

Net tonnage

http://noc.ac.uk

Scientific Utilisation
Total Scientist Sea Days
12000

10000

Non-NERC other

Non-NERC US

Non-NERC Europe

Non-NERC UK

NERC - Other

NERC - NOC

Sea days

8000

6000

Scientist days 2006-2012

(by cruise participation)

4000

USA
5%

2000

Other worldwide
2%
NOC
17%

0
2006/07

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

Financial Year

European
18%
Other NERC
14%

Other UK
institutions
3%

UK University
41%

http://noc.ac.uk

Ship Availability for Science

Science

Transit

Port

Unavailable for Science (Maintenance/Layup/Charter)

400

350

300

Days

250

200

150

100

50

0
James
Cook

Discovery

Meteor

Maria S
Merian

Poseidon Polarstern Sarmiento Porquoi

da Gamboa
Pas

L'Atalante Thalassa

Le Suroit

Marion
Dufresne

Pelagia

G O Sars Johan Hjort

Hkon
Mosby

Ship

http://noc.ac.uk

Fuel Costs
Market Marine Fuel Price (/Tonne)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

Underlying trend fuel

prices have trebled over the
past decade
1,200

Punta Arenas, Chile

23/3/12

Walvis Bay, Namibia

Punta Arenas, Chile

1,000
Vigo, Spain

Actual /T paid

Falmouth

Location for fuelling can

involve a significant
premium

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

Market /T

Valparaiso, Chile

Southampton
23/3/12

Falmouth

800

Port Stanley

600

400

200

01/04/04

01/04/05

01/04/06

01/04/07

01/04/08

01/04/09

01/04/10

01/04/11

01/04/12

http://noc.ac.uk

01/04/13

New RRS Discovery Outline

tot.)

50 days endurance (L 99.7m, B 18m, D 6.5m)

Scientific Transit Speed 12 knots max
23 Officers & Crew
28 Scientists & Technicians
DP Capable (DP2) SS6/7
Minimal Ice Class for hull life (Lloyds 1D)
Overside/overstern lifting - 20tonnes
Low URN but not as low as RRS James Cook

2 x Azimuth
Thruster
(2 x 2,200kW
Motors)

4 x Wartsila 8L20 (1,770kW ea. 5,760kW

2 x Wartsila DC Motors (2,200kW ea.)
2 x azimuth thrusters
5-bladed fixed-pitch 3.6m diameter props
Diesel capacity 596m3
Fresh water capacity 310m3

1,575kW
Tees Gill
Thruster
Drop Keels:
Port:
EA600 12kHz
10kHz TX/RX
Flow noise Hydrophone
Stbd:
EK60
18/38/60/120/200/333kHz
Scanmar

Multibeam Blister:

EM122 1 x 1 12kHz
SBP120 3 x 3
EM710 2 x 2 70100kHz
75kHz ADCP
150kHz ADCP
Flow noise Hydrophone

1,350kW
Azimuth
Thruster

http://noc.ac.uk

James Cook:
L 89.5m; B 18.6m; D 5.5 5.7m

Discovery:
L 99.7m; B 18.0m; D 6.5m

http://noc.ac.uk

Hullform

http://noc.ac.uk

National Marine Equipment Pool

Replacement Value of ca. 20M.

Annual Investment of ca. 1M
Additional Grants (ca. 15M since 2001 incl.
ROV)
Deep Platforms
Autosub2, ISIS,SHRIMP, BRIDGET

Sensors & Moorings

CTDs, Seasoar/Penguin, MVP, Scanfish,
Current Meters, SC/LADCP, Moored Profilers

Ships Systems
Container Labs, Seismics, Echosounders,
Positioning, Computing

http://noc.ac.uk

Equipment Suite Usage

D2 7 6

D2 6 8

D2 5 1T
D2 5 2

D2 7 7

JR9 8 (e x-D2 7 2 )

2001

2002

D2 5 9 T L 1

D2 5 9 T L 2

D2 7 4 B

2004

D2 7 8

2003

D2 7 3

D2 7 9
D2 8 0T

D2 5 3 Leg 1

Tria ls

D2 6 0

D2 8 1 T

Tria ls

D2 5 3 Leg 2

D2 8 2

D2 6 1

D2 8 3 T

D2 7 5

D2 5 4

D2 6 2

D2 5 5

D2 6 3 L e g 1

D2 5 7

D2 6 3 L e g 2

D2 8 4

D2 7 6 B

D2 8 5

CD1 4 4

D2 8 6

CD1 4 5

CD1 5 5 L 1
CD1 4 6

D2 5 7 T

D2 6 4

D2 5 8 Leg1

D2 6 5

CD1 5 5 L 2
Tria ls

CD1 5 6
CD1 4 8

CD1 5 7

CD1 4 9

D2 5 8 Leg2

CD1 5 8

D2 6 6

CD1 5 9

CD1 5 0

CD12 6 P

D2 6 7

CD 12 7

CD1 3 7 C

CD1 6 0

CD1 5 1

CD1 6 1 B

CD1 5 2

CD1 6 2 B
CD1 5 3

CD12 8

CD1 3 9

CD1 6 3 B
Tria ls

CD12 9

CD1 4 0

CD13 2

CD1 6 4 B

CD1 5 4

CD1 4 1 L 1

CD1 6 5 T

Po se id o n PAP

CD1 6 6

Po se id o n SAMS

CD13 4 B

CD1 6 7

CD1 4 1 L 2

CD13 5 Leg1

JR8 0

AMT 1 4

JR9 0

JR1 06 L 1

CD1 4 2 C

CD13 5 Leg2

CD1 4 3

CD13 6 T

R7 1
J

JR6 3

R7 5
J

JR1 06 L 2

JR9 1

JR1 1 0
JR9 4

JR1 1 2
Ura n ia

St at oil

So n n e

Ailet t e

Pe la g ia

Me te o r

Me lv ile

Me te o r

Pe la g ia -TOBI

Po se id o n
Po se id o n

Pe la g ia -Co rin g

Po se id o n

2006/07
D2 8 7

D3 01

D2 8 8

D3 02

D2 8 9
D2 9 0

2005

D3 04
D3 06

D2 9 2 T

D3 08

D2 9 3 T

D3 09

D2 9 4
D2 9 5 T
D2 9 6

D3 1 0
D3 1 1
D3 1 2

D2 9 7

D3 1 3

D2 9 8

CD1 7 8

D2 9 9

CD1 7 9

D3 00
CD1 6 8
CD1 6 9
CD1 7 0
CD1 7 1
CD1 7 2
CD1 7 3
CD1 7 4

CD1 8 0
R1 4 4 /1 4 5 /1 4 7 7
J
R1 4 9
J
R1 4 2 TOBI
J
R1 6 9 ROVTria ls
J
R1 5 5 J
J
ic k e ls
Pe la g ia Trim
m
er
P3 3 2

CD1 7 5

P3 4 3
CD1 7 6

P3 4 5
CD1 7 7

Te rs
c h iln g Au to s
ub
R9 7
J

Te rs
c h iln g Sim
ps
on
R1 2 7
J

Se wa rd J
ohns
on
R1 1 2 a
J

Bro wn RAPID
R1 3 6
J

Sh a c k le to n
J
R

COOKTRIAL SJ
C01
Pe la g ia

COOKTRIAL SJ
C03
Kn o r

COOKTRIAL SJ
C04
Ma d o g
Po s
e id o n

2006

D301
D302
D304
D306
D308
D309
D310
D311
D312
D313
CD179
CD180
JR149
JC005
JC001T
JC003T
JC004T
JR 142 TOBI
JR 169 ROV Trials
JR 155 Jickells
JR161
P343
P345
Terschilling Aut osub
Terschilling Simpson
Seward Johnson
Shacklet on
R. Brown
Shacklet on (ES024)

2007/08

2006/07

D317
D318 a
D318T
D318 b
D319
D320
D321
D323
D324
D325
JC007
JC009T
JC010
JC10b
JC10c
JC011
JC015
JCO17
JC018
JC019
JC021
JC022T
JC023a
JC023b
JR177
JR179
Hudson
Met eor
PAP

2007/08

http://noc.ac.uk

Ccomplex Multi-disciplinary Cruise

http://noc.ac.uk

Handling
Midship/aft
Crane 250T.m

Starboard A Frame
Capacity 20t
Max. Height 5m
Aft Cranes
Cranes
Aft
40T.m
40T.m
Stern A Frame
Capacity 30t
Max. Height 8m

Starboard Bull-horn Boom

Capacity 20T
Max. Height 4.5m

http://noc.ac.uk

Winch Suite
Type

Purpose

CONSTRUCTION

Coring

Obtaining seabed
core samples when
pull-out load is not
extreme
Towing deep trawls
and nets.
Towing deep
vehicles where datarates (such as from
imagery or mapping
system) are high
requiring fibre-optic
transmission.
Obtaining seabed
core samples when
pull-out loads are so
high that weight of a
steel cable combines
to exceed safe
working load of the
winch.
Deployment of
Conductivity/Tempe
rature/Density
sensor packages.

Steel Armoured
Electro/Optical

Trawling

Deep Tow

Deep
Coring

Standard
CTD (x2)

LENGTH
(m)

DIAMETER
(mm)

SWL
(T)

MBL
(T)

WEIGHT
IN WATER
(kg.km-1)

OPERATION

PULL
(T)

SPEED
(ms-1)

Steel

7,000

16.5

11

18.56

780

Conventional
direct pull

11

2.0

Tapered Steel

8,300
4,350
2,350
10,000

14.5
16.5
18.00
0.68"
(~17.3)

11.5

638
780
1,133
806

Conventional
direct pull

12.5
(first layer)

2.0

12.5
11

13.00
18.10
20.90
18.14

Shared
traction
winch with
level winds
for each
storage drum

11

2.0

Plasma

8,000

0.875"
(~22.0)
CHECK!!

30

75.00

Buoyant
SG = 0.98

20

2.0

Steel Armoured

8,000

0.45"
(~11.43)

8.39

417

5.0

2.0

Traction
winch with
level wind

http://noc.ac.uk

Increasing Scientific Facilities

Trend towards
multidisciplinary science
diving demand for more
facilities onboard.

LABORATORY SPACE (m2)

MAIN LAB & SCIENTIFIC CONTROL

COMPUTER ROOM
DECK LAB
CHEMISTRY LAB
GENERAL PURPOSE LAB
CLEAN CHEMISTRY LAB
CONTROLLED TEMPERATURE LAB
WATER SAMPLING ROOM
SEALED LAB/DARK ROOM
SALINOMETER ROOM
STABLE LAB/GRAVIMETER ROOM
TOTAL LABORATORIES

RRS Charles
Darwin
(now Ocean
Researcher)

RRS Discovery

RRS James
Cook

New RRS
Discovery

130
16

92
21
65
18
18
23
8
10
255

110
14
65
30
24
32
4
5
284

121
15
65
53
16
26
27
8
13
4
348

16
16
7
18
203

Container slots increases from 4 on RRS Charles Darwin to 14 on new RRS Discovery
Stbd gantry increased from 12.5T SWL to 30T SWL on RRS James Cook and 20T SWL on new Discovery
Scientific cabins increased from 18 to 32 on RRS James Cook and 28 on new RRS Discovery

http://noc.ac.uk

Main Lab Control

Clean Chemistry Lab

Constant Temp Lab

General Purpose Lab

Deck Lab

http://noc.ac.uk
Salinometer Room

ROV

http://noc.ac.uk

PAP Met Office Telemetered Buoy

http://noc.ac.uk

OSMOSIS

12 month deployment at Porcupine Abyssal Plain

13 moorings 1.8 - 5km apart, in 5840m water

62,000m of wire, 22,000m of rope

62 Current Meters

62 SBE Microcat CTDs

7 High Frequency ADCPs

5 Long Range ADCPs

250 Temperature Loggers

18 Acoustic Releases

9 ARGOS & Xenon Beacons

4 Real Time GPS Trackers

http://noc.ac.uk

NIOZ Piston Coring

http://noc.ac.uk

UAV Launch & Recovery

Image courtesy Leighton Rolley

http://noc.ac.uk

http://noc.ac.uk