UPDATE REGARDING NSF PROVISION OF MARINE SEISMIC CAPABILITIES
On April 10, 2018 the Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) of the National Science Foundation issued a Dear Colleague Letter outlining their decision regarding supporting the marine seismic community's need for long-term sustainable access to seismic data collection capability. In part, this DCL states:
One or more proposal(s) were received in response to Solicitation NSF 17-563 and evaluated using the NSF merit review process. Based on the results of that review, NSF is unable to fund any of the submitted proposal(s). As of this date, NSF will no longer accept new proposals that require use of R/V Langseth, and will begin developing the activities required for divesting from ownership, following the process outlined in Section II.B of Solicitation NSF 17-563.
NSF will make every reasonable effort to honor all existing commitments regarding awards that require the current capabilities of R/V Langseth. In doing so, NSF will continue to execute its responsibilities to ensure compliance with all environmental laws and regulations for NSF-funded awards. We anticipate the end of field commitments to be no later than mid-2020, at which time NSF will implement the activities for divestment of R/V Langseth.
The Marine Geology and Geophysics (MGG) program will immediately begin to work with the community and the UNOLS Marine Seismic Research Oversight Committee (MSROC) to identify decadal-scale solution(s) for the provision of marine seismic capabilities. MGG will be communicating very soon with the community regarding these activities.
The DCL is posted online at: