T he C olumbia P ress
November 23, 2018
Justin Smith/OSU
Officials from Oregon State University and the National Science
Foundation toured the shipyard building the campus’ new research
vessel in Houma, La.
OSU’s new ship will conduct
research off Oregon coast
b y s ean n ealon
Oregon State University
Construction of a new re-
search ship for Oregon State
University began this month
in Louisiana.
The 199-foot vessel is ex-
pected to help the school’s
researchers and students ad-
vance the science of coastal
environments and support
research on topics such as
ocean acidification, hypoxia
and sea level rise.
A student and a teacher
from Warrenton High School
joined OSU scientists in Sep-
tember aboard another of the
campus’ research vessels, the
Oceanus.
The ship that’s under con-
struction will be the first in
a class of Regional Class Re-
search Vessels funded by the
National Science Foundation.
The ship will be christened
“Taani,” a word used by the
Siletz people meaning “off-
shore.” It’s scheduled for deliv-
ery to OSU in spring 2021 and
will be fully operational after a
year of outfitting and testing.
Research utilizing Taani
will focus on the West Coast.
“This new class of modern
vessels will support future re-
search focused on the physi-
cal, chemical, biological and
geologic processes in coastal
waters,” said Roberta Mari-
nelli, dean of Oregon State’s
College of Earth, Ocean and
Atmospheric Sciences.
“This research is critical
to informing strategies for
coastal resilience, food secu-
rity, and hazard mitigation
not only in the Pacific North-
west but around the world.”
The ships will be equipped
to conduct detailed sea-floor
mapping to reveal geologic
structures important to un-
derstanding processes such
as subduction zone earth-
quakes that may trigger tsu-
namis.
Taani will have berths for
16 scientists and 13 crew
members. The ship will be
able to stay out at sea for
about 21 days before return-
ing to port, and will routinely
send streams of sensor data
to shore via satellite.
In 2017, the National Sci-
ence Foundation awarded
OSU a grant of $122 million
for the research vessels, rep-
resenting the largest grant in
the university’s history.
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