Shipboard Technical Support (STS)

STS provides science support services and general use equipment for the Scripps research vessels. Levels of services and facilities depend on the mission, capabilities and requirements of each cruise and are negotiated with the manager of STS in advance. The specific capabilities and services of the 5 groups within STS are as follows:

Research Marine Technicians Group (ResTechs)

The primary job of the RMTG is liaison between research vessels of Scripps and the scientists and research groups using those vessels. The research technician who is assigned to R/V Roger Revelle for a particular cruise works with the chief scientist during the planning stage of the cruise to provide ship-specific information and to determine the needs of the scientific party. At sea, the ResTech will be the primary contact for the science party with regards to over the side operations, laboratory safety, and can act as a liaison between the science party and the ship’s crew.  The ResTech typically acts as the deck boss for any over the side operation.  If a science expedition requires 24 hour deck operations, a second ResTech may be required (this should identified early in the cruise planning process to ensure availability).

The RMTG is the point-of-contact for scientific logistics. They plan with the scientists and research groups for the shipping and receiving of equipment and supplies. These technicians plan the deck load and laboratory setup. They operate forklifts on docks and the cranes on all ships, and supervise loading and unloading of scientific equipment and supplies. They report the load plan with weights of large items to the ship's captain for stability calculations.

Shipboard Instrumentation Technician Group (SITG)

During normal operations at sea, members of the Shipboard Instrumentation Group on R/V Roger Revelle perform maintenance, repair, and calibration on the installed shipboard oceanographic instrumentation.

The Instrumentation Technician will monitor data acquisition systems during a cruise to ensure all data is synced to the ship’s file server and will provide a consolidated data set to the Chief Scientist at the end of the cruise.  After the cruise, the instrumentation technician will make the data set available to R2R for data quality assessment and archiving.

(See also COMPUTER S, Section 4.)