Science RoCS

Science Research on Commercial Ships (Science RoCS) is a grassroots multi-institution group of scientists, engineers, data managers, and administrators seeking to further research opportunities by equipping commercial vessels with suites of “maritime appropriate” scientific sensors operated autonomously on regular ship-routes with minimal crew intervention. Science RoCS envisions a future where scientific data collection on commercial ships is the new industry standard, providing repeat measurements in under-sampled, remote regions, on scales not otherwise accessible to the scientific community (Macdonald et al, 2024). Toward this end, Science RoCS is developing a global program to:

1. Retrofit commercial vessels with shipboard acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) to continually scan the ocean's near and sub-surface velocities at high horizontal resolution.
2. Outfit commercial ships as “Integrated Observing Platforms” that include a robust data acquisition system which supports the integration of marine-appropriate sensors.
3. Construct strong, enduring links between Science, Industry, and other private and public-sector stakeholders through top-down partnerships with Commercial Ship Owners/Operators to spur scientific advances that address societally-relevant challenges.
4. Support existing global observing programs (including Argo, the Global XBT Network, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), Surface Ocean CO₂ Atlas (SOCAT).

Partner Platforms:

MV Bulk Xaymaca

MV Bulk Xaymaca (IMO 9362190, MMSI 353408000) is a bulk carrier built in 2006 and sails under the flag of Panama. The Xaymaca runs a regular route between Discovery Bay, Jamaica and Gramercy, Louisiana through the western Caribbean Sea and Yucatan Strait and across the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the US continental shelf, providing transects through a complex highly variable current system including the Loop Current and an eddy-rich region. At present the ship is equipped with a Teledyne RDI Instruments 75 kHz Ocean Surveyor ADCP and a Vaisala WXT-536 weather station.

Key Words: Ocean observations, Meteorological observations, Ocean velocity profiles, Sea level, Gulf of Mexico, Loop Current, Commercial vessel observation, Ship observation team, Voluntary observing ship, SOT, MET, ADCP, VOS

Authors: https://sciencerocs.org/people/

Reference: Macdonald A. M., L. Hiron, L. McRaven, L. Stolp, K. Strom, R. Hudak, S. Smith, J. Hummon, and M. Andres (2024) A Framework for Multidisciplinary Science Observations from Commercial Ships, ICES Journal of Marine Science, doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsae011, in press.

Acknowledgement: We would like to acknowledge personnel at Pangaea Logistic Solutions Ltd. and SEAMAR LLC and the crew of MV Bulk Xaymaca for their enthusiasm, assistance & support in making the Xaymaca our first Science RoCS vessel, as well as ONR and an internal WHOI Access to the Sea grant which supported the purchase and installation of Science RoCS instrumentation.

Data collected from installed instrumentation is time stamped by the science Network Time Server (NTP). The instrumentation can include:

• MET - Barometric, Rain, True and Relative Wind Speed, True and Relative Wind Direction, Humidity
• ADCP - Collected using UHDAS DOI 10.5281/zenodo.8371260
• GPS - Ship speed, Heading, Latitude, Longitude
• Hydrins - Heading, Pitch, Roll, Heave

• MV Bulk Xaymaca

• 2022
• 2023
• 2024