Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
Encyclopedia
The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) is an internationally renowned marine science
research institute located on the northern end of Skidaway Island
near Savannah
, Georgia
, USA
. Founded in 1968, it is part of the University System of Georgia
as an independent research unit. It does not grant degrees, but its faculty serve as adjuncts to various other universities, and as mentors and advisors for visiting students and interns. SkIO faculty also frequently collaborate with marine scientists of other institutes both nationally and internationally.
Indians. European settlement of the island was successful between 1754 and 1771, and included John Milledge (the father of John Milledge), who established a plantation on the northern end. He named it "Modena," presumably after the Italian city
for its famed production of silk
. Silk was an early industry of the European settlers of coastal Georgia. The Modena Plantation grew corn, cotton, oranges and mulberry trees, and kept sheep, cattle, hogs and horses. It survived as a plantation into the 1840s, until John Milledge III sold it in 1843. The name "Modena" is still used to refer to the northern part of the island.
After the American Civil War
(1861–1865), many of the plantations on the island were unable to continue without slave labor, and their owners gradually sold them to wealthy northerners, who mostly held them on speculation. Much of the island reverted to wilderness and was used mainly for hunting, trapping, fishing and lumber for several decades. The Modena Plantation changed hands sixteen more times after the war. In 1927 the property became a private hunting preserve for Ralph H. Isham, best known for purchasing a collection of James Boswell
's private papers from Baron Talbot of Malahide
and passing them to Yale University
.
Mr. Isham sold the property in 1934 to Robert C. Roebling (great-grandson of John Augustus Roebling
). The Roebling family (Robert, Dorothy, and five children) established a farm for Black Angus cattle
while living on their 176 feet (53.6 m) schooner
, the Black Douglas
, which provided all of the power needed by the farm until it was sold in 1941 to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
. The cattle farm was very successful for the next twenty years, until it came to an end in 1954 due to post-WWII
economic pressures. Many of the buildings from the farm are still standing and in use by SkIO, most notably the seven-sided barn with its compass rose mosaic at the center.
Another successful European settler of the mid-18th century was Henry Yonge, who had a plantation located just southeast of Modena, called Orangedale. In 1877 it came into the ownership of the Benedictine Order
. The Benedictines tried to establish a monastery and Catholic school for the newly freed former slaves on the island, but were unsuccessful. They abandoned their efforts in 1889. The "Priest tract," as the property had come to be called, became one of many acquired by a partnership of Thomas Bourke Floyd, James Boog Floyd, and A. Goden Guerard Jr. Thomas Floyd eventually assumed ownership of the entire middle portion of the island, until economic hardship forced a transfer to C&S Bank in 1924. The Union Camp Corporation
purchased it from the bank in 1941.
proposed the establishment of an oceanographic research center on Skidaway Island. The thought at the time was to foster economic growth in coastal Georgia by attracting secondary industries of oceanography, in much the same way that secondary industries of space exploration had arisen around NASA
.
Dorothy Roebling donated approximately 790 acres (3.2 km²) of the Modena property to the State of Georgia for this purpose in 1967, including 384 acres (1.6 km²) of high land, all of the buildings and farm workers, and both of their docks on the Skidaway River at the western side of the island. In addition, Union Camp donated 635 acres (2.6 km²) of the Orangedale property, including 300 acres (1.2 km²) of high land with access to the Wilmington River at the eastern side of the island; this portion of the campus is now called Priest Landing.
With the land donations, the Georgia General Assembly created the "Ocean Science Center of the Atlantic (OSCA)" in 1967. The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography was officially created in January 1968 with Thomas Jackson (formerly of Georgia Tech
) as director, two co-directors, a secretary, and several former workers inherited from the Roebling farm. Its first faculty member, Herbert L. Windom, began work in July 1968. President Richard Nixon
and Governor Lester Maddox
dedicated the first building of the program in 1970. President Jimmy Carter
dissolved OSCA in 1972, at which point SkIO became an independent research unit in the University System of Georgia.
SkIO has had four directors during its existence: Thomas Jackson (1967–1970), David Menzel (1970–1993), Herbert L. Windom (1994–2001), and James G. Sanders (2002–present).
The institute operates on a 684 acres (2.8 km²) campus at 31°59′19"N 81°1′16"W (31.9885476, -81.0212228) surrounded by another 600 acres (2.4 km²) of salt marsh
. It has fifteen faculty with research interests ranging from nutrient
s and pollutant
s of the salt marshes and estuaries, to the movements of water masses between the coast and Gulf Stream
, to the ecology
of plankton
and microbes of the open ocean. Much of the institute's research since its inception has focused on the southeastern U.S. continental shelf
, the influences of land, open ocean, and atmosphere on the continental shelf, and other continental shelf environments worldwide.
Several other institutions share the 684 acres (2.8 km²) campus with SkIO including:
Marine Extension Service (UGA MAREX) consists of several educational outreach facilities in the state of Georgia, including one on the Skidaway Marine Science Campus. The Marine Education Center and Aquarium (MECA) operates a small public saltwater aquarium of local marine fish and invertebrates, which is visited by 18,000 schoolchildren per year. There is also a small research facility for shellfish
aquaculture
.
's Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
, which is one of thirteen marine sanctuaries
in the United States. It consists of 17 sqnmi of a nearshore live-bottom rock reef, 17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi) off the coast of Sapelo Island
, Georgia.
, an affiliate of the Georgia Public Broadcasting
radio network, broadcasts from the campus at 91.1 FM. It has been on the campus since 1997. It plays programming from National Public Radio (NPR), classical music, and jazz.
's Applied Coastal Research Laboratory (ACRL), which studies sedimentary processes of the coastal zone of Georgia, such as groundwater hydrology
and shoreline erosion.
(SSU) collaborates with SkIO to operate a teaching laboratory on the campus. It provides hands-on research experience to undergraduate marine science students from SSU.
has a laboratory facility at Priest Landing for studies in chemical ecology
. Research focuses on the ability of marine fauna to detect predators, prey, competitors, and compatriots by smell, at varying levels of water turbulence.
has a specimen collection facility at Priest Landing.
SkIO operates the R/V Savannah, a 92 feet (28 m) research vessel
. Unlike its predecessor, the 72 feet (22 m) R/V Blue Fin (1970–2001) which had the hull of a fishing trawler and was originally a yacht named Princess Anne, the Savannah was specifically designed for marine research by the scientists who use it. It has a fulltime crew of four and has been in operation since 2001.
In addition to the two docks originally from the Roebling farm and a third dock later constructed on the Skidaway River, a 300 feet (91.4 m) dock was constructed at Priest Landing to provide low-tide access for large research and other seagoing vessels from the Wilmington River. It was completed in 1972.
and the Dept. of Fisheries for Scotland
, initiated the Controlled Ecosystem Pollution Experiment (CEPEX), which studied the responses of pelagic
marine organisms when exposed to low, chronic levels of various pollutants. The studies were conducted in the open ocean, and the ecosystems were controlled by capturing water of various depths in large plastic enclosures.
The South Atlantic Bight Synoptic Offshore Observational Network (SABSOON) is an offshore monitoring project begun in 1998, which collects data on a number of parameters about the ocean off the coast of the southeastern U.S., such as temperature
, salinity
, density, light levels
, chlorophyll
, dissolved organic matter, and velocity of currents. Such information is useful for tracking the movements of water masses offshore. The project also feeds realtime information on atmospheric conditions (temperature, humidity
, barometric pressure
, precipitation
, dew point
, etc.) to the U.S. National Weather Service
, and provides water conditions (wind, wave height, etc.) for fishermen and recreational boaters.
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
research institute located on the northern end of Skidaway Island
Skidaway Island, Georgia
Skidaway Island is a census-designated place in Chatham County, Georgia, United States. The population was 8,341 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of the most affluent communities in the state...
near Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Founded in 1968, it is part of the University System of Georgia
University System of Georgia
The University System of Georgia is the organizational body that includes 35 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The System is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general policy to educational institutions as well as administering...
as an independent research unit. It does not grant degrees, but its faculty serve as adjuncts to various other universities, and as mentors and advisors for visiting students and interns. SkIO faculty also frequently collaborate with marine scientists of other institutes both nationally and internationally.
pre-SkIO
Skidaway Island was originally a hunting and ceremonial ground of the TimucuaTimucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
Indians. European settlement of the island was successful between 1754 and 1771, and included John Milledge (the father of John Milledge), who established a plantation on the northern end. He named it "Modena," presumably after the Italian city
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
for its famed production of silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
. Silk was an early industry of the European settlers of coastal Georgia. The Modena Plantation grew corn, cotton, oranges and mulberry trees, and kept sheep, cattle, hogs and horses. It survived as a plantation into the 1840s, until John Milledge III sold it in 1843. The name "Modena" is still used to refer to the northern part of the island.
After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
(1861–1865), many of the plantations on the island were unable to continue without slave labor, and their owners gradually sold them to wealthy northerners, who mostly held them on speculation. Much of the island reverted to wilderness and was used mainly for hunting, trapping, fishing and lumber for several decades. The Modena Plantation changed hands sixteen more times after the war. In 1927 the property became a private hunting preserve for Ralph H. Isham, best known for purchasing a collection of James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
's private papers from Baron Talbot of Malahide
Baron Talbot of Malahide
Baron Talbot of Malahide, in the County of Dublin, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1831 for Margaret Talbot, widow of Richard Talbot, heir of the ancient Lords of Malahide. She was succeeded by their eldest son, the second Baron. In 1839 he was created Baron Furnival, of...
and passing them to Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Mr. Isham sold the property in 1934 to Robert C. Roebling (great-grandson of John Augustus Roebling
John A. Roebling
John Augustus Roebling was a German-born American civil engineer. He is famous for his wire rope suspension bridge designs, in particular, the design of the Brooklyn Bridge.-Early life:...
). The Roebling family (Robert, Dorothy, and five children) established a farm for Black Angus cattle
Angus cattle
Angus cattle are a breed of cattle much used in beef production. They were developed from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in Scotland, and are known as Aberdeen Angus in most parts of the world....
while living on their 176 feet (53.6 m) schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
, the Black Douglas
Schooner Black Douglas
The Black Douglas is a three-masted staysail auxiliary schooner built for Robert C. Roebling at the Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine, and launched on 9 June 1930. Designed by renowned New York naval architects H.J...
, which provided all of the power needed by the farm until it was sold in 1941 to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
. The cattle farm was very successful for the next twenty years, until it came to an end in 1954 due to post-WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
economic pressures. Many of the buildings from the farm are still standing and in use by SkIO, most notably the seven-sided barn with its compass rose mosaic at the center.
Another successful European settler of the mid-18th century was Henry Yonge, who had a plantation located just southeast of Modena, called Orangedale. In 1877 it came into the ownership of the Benedictine Order
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
. The Benedictines tried to establish a monastery and Catholic school for the newly freed former slaves on the island, but were unsuccessful. They abandoned their efforts in 1889. The "Priest tract," as the property had come to be called, became one of many acquired by a partnership of Thomas Bourke Floyd, James Boog Floyd, and A. Goden Guerard Jr. Thomas Floyd eventually assumed ownership of the entire middle portion of the island, until economic hardship forced a transfer to C&S Bank in 1924. The Union Camp Corporation
Union Camp Corporation
Union Camp Corporation was an American pulp and paper company and a private owner of timberland in the United States. In 1999 it was acquired by International Paper.-Company creation:...
purchased it from the bank in 1941.
The Founding of SkIO
In 1966, the Georgia Science and Technology Commission of the Georgia General AssemblyGeorgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
proposed the establishment of an oceanographic research center on Skidaway Island. The thought at the time was to foster economic growth in coastal Georgia by attracting secondary industries of oceanography, in much the same way that secondary industries of space exploration had arisen around NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
.
Dorothy Roebling donated approximately 790 acres (3.2 km²) of the Modena property to the State of Georgia for this purpose in 1967, including 384 acres (1.6 km²) of high land, all of the buildings and farm workers, and both of their docks on the Skidaway River at the western side of the island. In addition, Union Camp donated 635 acres (2.6 km²) of the Orangedale property, including 300 acres (1.2 km²) of high land with access to the Wilmington River at the eastern side of the island; this portion of the campus is now called Priest Landing.
With the land donations, the Georgia General Assembly created the "Ocean Science Center of the Atlantic (OSCA)" in 1967. The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography was officially created in January 1968 with Thomas Jackson (formerly of Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
) as director, two co-directors, a secretary, and several former workers inherited from the Roebling farm. Its first faculty member, Herbert L. Windom, began work in July 1968. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Governor Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox
Lester Garfield Maddox was an American politician who was the 75th Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971....
dedicated the first building of the program in 1970. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
dissolved OSCA in 1972, at which point SkIO became an independent research unit in the University System of Georgia.
SkIO has had four directors during its existence: Thomas Jackson (1967–1970), David Menzel (1970–1993), Herbert L. Windom (1994–2001), and James G. Sanders (2002–present).
The Skidaway Marine Science Campus
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
. It has fifteen faculty with research interests ranging from nutrient
Nutrient
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy...
s and pollutant
Pollutant
A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil, and is the cause of pollution.Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, its concentration and its persistence. Some pollutants are biodegradable and therefore will not persist in the environment in the...
s of the salt marshes and estuaries, to the movements of water masses between the coast and Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
, to the ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
of plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
and microbes of the open ocean. Much of the institute's research since its inception has focused on the southeastern U.S. continental shelf
Continental shelf
The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain. Much of the shelf was exposed during glacial periods, but is now submerged under relatively shallow seas and gulfs, and was similarly submerged during other interglacial periods. The continental margin,...
, the influences of land, open ocean, and atmosphere on the continental shelf, and other continental shelf environments worldwide.
Several other institutions share the 684 acres (2.8 km²) campus with SkIO including:
UGA Marine Extension Service
The University of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
Marine Extension Service (UGA MAREX) consists of several educational outreach facilities in the state of Georgia, including one on the Skidaway Marine Science Campus. The Marine Education Center and Aquarium (MECA) operates a small public saltwater aquarium of local marine fish and invertebrates, which is visited by 18,000 schoolchildren per year. There is also a small research facility for shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
aquaculture
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
.
Gray's Reef
The campus hosts the administering offices for NOAANational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
's Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of the largest near shore live-bottom reefs in the southeastern United States. The sanctuary, designated in January 1981, is located off Sapelo Island, Georgia, and is one of 13 marine sanctuaries that make up the U.S...
, which is one of thirteen marine sanctuaries
United States National Marine Sanctuary
A U.S. National Marine Sanctuary is a federally-designated area within United States waters that protects areas of the marine environment with special conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, cultural, archeological, scientific, educational, or aesthetic qualities. The National Marine...
in the United States. It consists of 17 sqnmi of a nearshore live-bottom rock reef, 17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi) off the coast of Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island is a state-protected island located in McIntosh County, Georgia. The island is reachable only by airplane or boat, with the primary ferry coming from the Sapelo Island Visitors Center in McIntosh County, Georgia, a seven mile , twenty-minute trip.Approximately 97 percent of the...
, Georgia.
WSVH-FM
WSVH-FMWSVH-FM
WSVH FM 91.1 is a 96,000-watt public radio station broadcasting from Savannah, Georgia, and transmitting from the WVAN-TV 9 tower to the west in Pembroke, Georgia, north of Fort Stewart. It serves the upper Georgia coast and areas well inland, and adjacent areas of far southern South Carolina.The...
, an affiliate of the Georgia Public Broadcasting
Georgia Public Broadcasting
Georgia Public Broadcasting is the public broadcasting radio and television state network in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission....
radio network, broadcasts from the campus at 91.1 FM. It has been on the campus since 1997. It plays programming from National Public Radio (NPR), classical music, and jazz.
GSU Applied Coastal Research Lab
Dr. Clark Alexander of SkIO is the director of Georgia Southern UniversityGeorgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University is a national public university located on a campus in Statesboro, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1906, it is part of the University System of Georgia and is the largest center of higher education in the southern half of Georgia offering 117 academic majors in a comprehensive...
's Applied Coastal Research Laboratory (ACRL), which studies sedimentary processes of the coastal zone of Georgia, such as groundwater hydrology
Hydrogeology
Hydrogeology is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust, . The term geohydrology is often used interchangeably...
and shoreline erosion.
CIRE Lab
The CIRE program ("A Collaboration to Integrate Research and Education in Marine and Environmental Science and Biotechnology") of Savannah State UniversitySavannah State University
Savannah State University is a four-year, state-supported, historically black university located in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah State holds the distinction as the oldest public historically black university in Georgia...
(SSU) collaborates with SkIO to operate a teaching laboratory on the campus. It provides hands-on research experience to undergraduate marine science students from SSU.
Georgia Tech Chemical Ecology Lab
Dr. Mark Hay of Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
has a laboratory facility at Priest Landing for studies in chemical ecology
Chemical ecology
Chemical ecology is the study of the chemicals involved in the interactions of living organisms. It focuses on the production of and response to signaling molecules and toxins. Chemical ecology is of particular importance among ants and other social insects – including bees, wasps, and termites –...
. Research focuses on the ability of marine fauna to detect predators, prey, competitors, and compatriots by smell, at varying levels of water turbulence.
Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia AquariumGeorgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium, located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, at Pemberton Place, is the world's largest aquarium with more than of marine and fresh water housing more than 120,000 animals of 500 different species...
has a specimen collection facility at Priest Landing.
Georgia DNR
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division operates the Coastal Underwater Archaeology Field Station on campus. The field station manages, surveys, and protects state-owned underwater and shoreline archaeological sites on navigable inland and coastal waterways extending three miles (5 km) offshore. The station provides archaeological assistance to local, state, and federal agencies as well as the general public by offering information, support, educational opportunities, and technical guidance regarding Georgia’s underwater cultural resources and maritime heritage.Research Vessels and Facilities
Research vessel
A research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel...
. Unlike its predecessor, the 72 feet (22 m) R/V Blue Fin (1970–2001) which had the hull of a fishing trawler and was originally a yacht named Princess Anne, the Savannah was specifically designed for marine research by the scientists who use it. It has a fulltime crew of four and has been in operation since 2001.
In addition to the two docks originally from the Roebling farm and a third dock later constructed on the Skidaway River, a 300 feet (91.4 m) dock was constructed at Priest Landing to provide low-tide access for large research and other seagoing vessels from the Wilmington River. It was completed in 1972.
CEPEX
In the 1970s, SkIO, in conjunction with the University of British ColumbiaUniversity of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
and the Dept. of Fisheries for Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, initiated the Controlled Ecosystem Pollution Experiment (CEPEX), which studied the responses of pelagic
Pelagic zone
Any water in a sea or lake that is not close to the bottom or near to the shore can be said to be in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek πέλαγος or pélagos, which means "open sea". The pelagic zone can be thought of in terms of an imaginary cylinder or water column that goes...
marine organisms when exposed to low, chronic levels of various pollutants. The studies were conducted in the open ocean, and the ecosystems were controlled by capturing water of various depths in large plastic enclosures.
JGOFS
During the 1990s, SkIO was a participant in the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), which was an international effort of over twenty nations to study the ocean carbon cycle on a global scale. It included numerous research cruises in all of the oceans of the world, with many projects studying the biology and organic geochemistry of organic matter as it cycles in the water column and eventually settles on the seafloor.SABSOON
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, salinity
Salinity
Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
, density, light levels
Photosynthetically active radiation
Photosynthetically active radiation, often abbreviated PAR, designates the spectral range of solar radiation from 400 to 700 nanometers that photosynthetic organisms are able to use in the process of photosynthesis. This spectral region corresponds more or less with the range of light visible to...
, chlorophyll
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...
, dissolved organic matter, and velocity of currents. Such information is useful for tracking the movements of water masses offshore. The project also feeds realtime information on atmospheric conditions (temperature, humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
, barometric pressure
Atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted into a surface by the weight of air above that surface in the atmosphere of Earth . In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point...
, precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
, dew point
Dew point
The dew point is the temperature to which a given parcel of humid air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into liquid water. The condensed water is called dew when it forms on a solid surface. The dew point is a saturation temperature.The dew point is...
, etc.) to the U.S. National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
, and provides water conditions (wind, wave height, etc.) for fishermen and recreational boaters.
External links
- www.skio.usg.edu -- Official web site