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The Academic Research Fleet includes ships, submersibles and large shipboard equipment 

 necessary to support NSF-funded research and the training of oceanographers The twenty- 

 seven ships in the US academic fleet provide the resources necessary for the research 

 community to explore new areas of science. For example, researchers aboard the research 

 vessel Melville accomplished the first major demonstration of the Iron Hypothesis, that 

 "fertilizing" the oceans with iron could influence the levels of C0 2 in the atmosphere. The 

 hypothesis is based on the theory that plant growth in large areas of the ocean is limited by 

 the availability of dissolved iron Scientists from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and 12 

 other institutions in the U S , England and Mexico fertilized an 8x8 km patch of ocean west of 

 the Galapagos Islands with 220 kg of iron and tracked it for 20 days as it drifted a distance of 

 over 1100 km The rapid growth of plankton began to reduce the concentration of carbon 

 dioxide in the surface waters and after 10 days the concentration of C0 2 had dropped 20 

 percent below the initial values The IronEx II research cruise confirmed an 

 ocean-atmosphere linkage that may drive large scale climate change 



Recent Results from Radio Astronomy. The powerful Arecibo Observatory discovered, 

 through telltale radio signals, planets (roughly the mass of the earth) around a nearby neutron 

 star These are the first known planets outside of the solar system The radiotelescopes of 

 the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) can study signals which have been traveling across 

 the universe from quasars and radiogalaxies The unparalleled angular resolution of the 

 VLBA, 100 times finer than the Hubble Space Telescope, has shown that the extraordinary 

 luminosity of these radiogalaxies is due to gaseous material falling into massive black holes. 

 Recent technical advances at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) have 

 made it possible to observe carbon monoxide (CO) and molecular oxygen (0 2 ) in the gas 

 clouds making up the youngest galaxies These first galaxies are seen to be large amorphous 

 structures that are not yet dynamically stable These observations will contribute to 

 understanding exactly how and when heavy elements such as carbon and oxygen formed in 

 the early universe 



In its first five and one-half years, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) 



has become a truly unique facility With a first-rate scientific and technical staff, including 

 Robert Schriefer, Nobel Laureate, the NHMFL has already set world records for magnetic field 

 strengths obtained in resistive magnets The NHMFL collaborates with the High Field Magnet 

 Laboratory in Grenoble, France, the National Research Institute for Metals in Tsukuba, Japan 

 and the European Community 100 Tesla Program At home, the NHMFL has established 

 active collaborations with industries such as Dow Chemical, DuPont, Intermagnetics General, 

 American Superconductors and others In addition, the NHMFL has established a masters 

 degree program in magnet technology at Florida A&M University/Florida State University 

 College of Engineering, undergraduate programs for women and minorities, and K-12 

 cooperative education programs involving regional schools The NHMFL is well on its way to 

 ensuring the scientific and technological competitiveness of the United States in high 

 magnetic field research 



Polar Facilities provide the infrastructure for research in Antarctica -- a remote, hostile 

 environment at the end of a long logistical supply chain NSF funds the operation of three 

 research stations; two research ships and about 30 field camps; a fleet of aircraft operated 

 for NSF by DOD; and an icebreaker operated by the US Coast Guard The Antarctic 

 infrastructure sustains the pursuit of unique scientific opportunities. For example, since the 

 1985 discovery of the "ozone hole" above Antarctica, NSF has supported research to 

 understand the causes and dynamics of stratospheric ozone depletion in polar regions 

 Recent observations of ozone depletion in the Arctic and the excursions of the Antarctic 

 ozone hole over Argentina have heightened the interest in ozone depletion research in high 

 latitude regions, particularly in populated areas Building on the ozone research, data from 



