U.S. GO-SHIP

Read Letter to Students

Greetings,

We are looking for students to participate in a hydrographic long-line cruise (6 weeks) in April-May, 2019, in the southern Indian Ocean/Southern Ocean on the R/V Thomas Thompson, as part of the US GO-SHIP program. The US GO-SHIP program collects data for global CO2 and climate variability programs.

The website is https://usgoship.ucsd.edu.

Deadline for applications (see below for details): November 15, 2018

Letter to Students, full text:

Greetings,

We are looking for students to participate in a hydrographic long-line cruise (6 weeks) in April-May, 2019, in the southern Indian Ocean/Southern Ocean on the R/V Thomas Thompson, as part of the US GO-SHIP program.

Deadline for applications (see below for details): November 15, 2018

US GO-SHIP (Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program) collects data used by global CO2 and climate variability programs, among others. The website is http://usgoship.ucsd.edu. Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO, UCSD) operates the NSF-funded portion of the US national program, which covers this upcoming 2018 cruise. The international GO-SHIP website is http://go-ship.org.
The US GO-SHIP program (formerly “US Repeat Hydrography”) collects data for global CO2 and climate variability programs. The website is http://usgoship.ucsd.edu. Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD) operates the NSF-funded portion of the US national program, which covers this upcoming 2019 cruise. The website of the international GO-SHIP (Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program) program is http://go-ship.org.

We are seeking a total of 6 students: 4 students for CTD/deck operations, 1 student to assist with LADCP (Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) operations (typically PO background), and 1 student to assist with CFC analysis (typically chemistry background). Graduate students in
oceanography or related fields will have priority over undergraduate students.

I6S: Cape Town – Cape Town (South Africa), early April – mid-May 2019, 38 days at sea.

Alex Orsi, Chief Scientist (aorsi@tamu.edu)

Note that dates and ports can change during final ship scheduling, but any such changes are usually minor.

A valid passport and appropriate visa are required for participation in the cruises. U.S. citizenship is not required.

US GO-SHIP pays all travel costs. If and only if the student is enrolled at a U.S. institution, US GO-SHIP also pays student salary/tuition costs during the time of the cruise plus the required travel days before and after the cruise.

If you have any interest:

(1) CTD students: Please contact Lynne Talley (ltalley@ucsd.edu) – co-chair U.S. GO-SHIP Executive Council, or Alex Orsi, the chief scientist (see above for email), to let us know that you are contemplating applying, and to get more information if you have questions.

CFC students: Please contact CFC principal investigator Dong-Ha Min (dongha@austin.utexas.edu)

LADCP students: Please contact LADCP principal investigator Andreas Thurnherr (ant@ldeo.columbia.edu)

(2) Talk to your advisor to be sure that this will work with your program.

(3) After that, if you want to proceed – please send a letter indicating your interest and information about your background (CV, include the academic program you are part of, who your advisor is, what kind of research you are carrying out if you are at that stage, any prior cruise experience). When we form a short list, we will request a reference letter from your advisor or supervisor.

Graduate students in good standing at US institutions will be given preference. Undergraduates and postdocs (though only student salary covered) may apply too.

Duties:

The repeat hydrography cruises operate 24/7 with 12-hour shifts. CTD student duties include operating the CTD and rosette bottle system both on deck and in the lab, drawing and documenting water samples, and working on data quality control and analysis alongside the chief and co-chief scientists. You may also be asked to assist other science groups and to contribute to the cruise blogs. The CFC student will collect CFC samples and perform onboard CFC analysis as part of the CFC science team. The LADCP student will receive training prior to the cruise at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and will be responsible for LADCP operations.

This is a great opportunity to get out to sea, participate in collecting hydrographic data down to the bottom of the ocean at the very highest reference standards of accuracy, to get started or continue looking at phenomena that interest you. It will be an interesting and useful experience whether or not you’ve got experience at sea thus far, and we encourage any of you to consider coming along.

Lynne Talley and Gregory C. Johnson
(co-chairs U.S. GO-SHIP Executive Council)

Alex Orsi
(chief scientist for I6S)