Future of Marine Seismic Capabilities Workshop

The Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds marine seismic research, mostly through its Marine Geology and Geophysics (MGG) Program.  Following guidance from the National Academy of Sciences "Sea Change" report, a 2-day workshop in late 2015 (NSF Workshop Report, March 2016), as well as further discussions internally and within UNOLS, NSF prepared a proposal solicitation (NSF 18-061) for a new model to acquire marine seismic data.  However, as described in the most recent NSF Dear Colleague letter (NSF 18-061), all proposals submitted in that call were declined. NSF 18-061 has thus refined guidance for researchers in the short term, and stated their intention to divest of the research vessel Marcus G Langseth (RV MGL) by the end of 2020. They advise PIs to include specific plans in their research proposals about how data are to be acquired, and they seek further community input about how to acquire marine seismic data beyond 2020. 

The purpose of the Future of Marine Seismic Capabilities Workshop (04/01 to 04/03) is to address realistic options for NSF to consider, given OCE guidance about allowable cost and vessel ownership.

The workshop will be preceded by two webinars (01/30 and 03/14) both of which will be recorded for people who are unable to attend live. The first webinar will present a draft 'options' document that outlines possible mechanisms for future seismic data acquisition. Following the webinar there will be a three-week period for submitting online comments. The second webinar will provide an opportunity for the community to discuss the comments, and raise any other topics prior to the workshop.

This website will act as a central source of information, and will be updated as we move through the process. The details for the webinars can be found on by clicking on the Webinar menu, on the lefthand side of this page.