Contact:  Jeanne Kouhestani          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
          (NOAA Corps)               5/16/96   
          Dane Konop 
          (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)

NOAA SHIP DISCOVERER RETURNS FROM DATA-GATHERING CRUISE FOR GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship DISCOVERER returned to Seattle recently after completing a seven- month research cruise to help scientists determine the role of the oceans in regulating the chemistry of the atmosphere and thus the Earth's climate.

"The DISCOVERER , deployed Oct. 11, provided the platform for two of the largest experiments ever conducted to determine the effects of atmospheric pollution on global climate, and to understand the physics of climate change on Earth," said NOAA Corps Captain Steve Manzo, commanding officer. "Results from the cruise will be used to improve global climate, ocean circulation, and greenhouse gas models."

Research operations spanned the entire Pacific Ocean from south of New Zealand beyond the Antarctic Circle to north of Kodiak, Alaska, and westward from Seattle almost to the Indian Ocean. The DISCOVERER traveled nearly 40,000 nautical miles during the deployment -- enough to go around the world nearly one and a half times.

For the Aerosol Characterization Experiment, or ACE-1 -- ACE-1, more than a hundred scientists from NOAA and other research institutions in 11 nations measured -- in atmospheric environments that ranged from minimally polluted to volcanic plumes -- the varying amounts of microscopic particles, called aerosols, that can cool the Earth's surface by reflecting sunlight back into space. Seawater measurements were also taken continuously along the ship's track.

"The ACE-1 experiment was highly successful, and the data will be extremely useful in reducing uncertainties about how aerosol particles affect climate," said Timothy Bates, project chief scientist from NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. "The understanding we gained about aerosols in the background environment of the Southern Hemisphere will give us a basis on which to quantify the climatic effects of aerosols that result from human activities."

In the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, or WOCE -- WOCE , NOAA and U.S. university scientists traced the invasion of fossil-fuel-derived carbon dioxide and other human-made trace gases, including chlorofluorocarbons, into the intermediate and deep waters of the western South Pacific from the waters off Antarctica to the Equator. This final WOCE cruise in the Pacific completed a major effort begun in 1990 by scientists from more than 16 countries to survey the varying characteristics of all the oceans. A total of 67 WOCE cruises were conducted.

"We are studying how these greenhouse gases move in the oceans so we can provide a better prediction of their long-term fate," said Richard Feely, also from NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, who was chief scientist for the WOCE project. "The oceans are the largest natural sink for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere, and therefore play a major role in mitigating the long-term effects of global warming. We need to know how fast the oceans are taking up the excess CO₂ and where it is going."

The DISCOVERER, at 303 feet long, is one of the largest deep sea oceanographic research ships in the United State's research fleet. The ship is now approaching 30 years of service and this was her last major international deployment. After conducting two scheduled cruises to study seafloor hydrothermal venting processes off the Washington/Oregon coast this summer, she will be formally decommissioned and retired from service in August.

The DISCOVERER is operated by the Office of NOAA Corps Operations. The ship's commissioned officers are members of the NOAA Commissioned Corps, a uniformed seagoing service that is similar to -- but not part of -- the Navy or the Coast Guard. Civilian merchant mariners comprise the crew.

NOAA Corps officers are responsible for all aspects of the DISCOVERER's daily management and cruise operations, including driving and navigating the ship. They also manage and operate the onboard sophisticated data acquisition and processing systems and computer/communications networks, and direct all over-the-side scientific data collection operations.

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Additional information on these topics can be found on the Internet:

ACE-1 -- http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/ace1.html

WOCE -- http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/co2-home.html

DISCOVERER -- http://www.wrc.noaa.gov/pmc/discoverer/

NOAA Corps -- http://www.noaa.gov/nchome/fleet.html