Sea Change 2015-2025 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences (2015) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Path Forward: Maintaining Ocean Science in a Constrained Budget Environment
4 The Path Forward: Maintaining Ocean Science in a Constrained Budget Environment
Pages 57-70
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From page 57... ...
Taking $173,000 as a typical cuts becoming necessary in FY2018 if OCE fails to reduce funding level for a single principal investigator proposal,1 infrastructure O&M costs. This reduction will not be easy, the infrastructure increase is roughly equivalent to reducing is unlikely to be done quickly, and will cause disruptions for funding for OCE core science programs by over 50 propos parts of the ocean science community.
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From page 58... ...
are based on the Figure S-1B and 4-1B following assumptions provided by OCE -- total future budgets are flat with no inflationary increases and operations and maintenance costs for the academic research fleet, IODP, and OOI are held constant. OCE defines "infrastructure" as the academic research fleet, OOI, IODP, field stations and marine laboratories, the accelerator mass spectrometer facility, and miscellaneous smaller facilities.
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From page 59... ...
Maintaining a fixed A10-year budget planning outlook can take into account ratio would prevent the infrastructure costs from taking both inflation and anticipated increased costs of doing busipriority, but it would require active management of O&M ness, while accounting for risks associated with unpredictcosts by implementing efficiencies and making targeted cuts able cost fluctuations. When budgets are increasing, strategic if expenses exceed budgets.
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From page 60... ...
2014 inflation-adjusted dollars. The Biological Oceanography budget includes funding for Long-Term Ecological Research.
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From page 61... ...
Recommendation 1: In order to sustain a robust ocean science community, holistic fiscal planning is necessary to The Bad: A Level 10-Year Budget for NSF, maintain a balance of investments between core research Just Keeping Up with Inflation programs and infrastructure. To maintain a resolute Because programs would see no change focus on sustaining core research programs during flat in their budgets over the decade, the strator declining budgets, infrastructure expenses should not egy would be to maintain a fixed ratio of core be allowed to escalate at the expense of core research science to infrastructure costs.
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From page 62... ...
the decadal science priorities, with the ultimate goal of achieving a rebalancing of major infrastructure costs to The committee's decisions are based on (1) informacore science funding within the next 5 years.
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From page 63... ...
Terminating NSF support for IODP To apply the strategy of weighted cost reductions, the would also damage the international collaborative efforts and committee returned to the alignment of science priorities leveraging that have been hallmarks of the program. with the major infrastructure (Chapter 3)
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From page 64... ...
infrastructure that is shared across the broad ocean sciences community (other agencies and other parts of NSF share in 2. Reduce the costs of the coastal and cabled comthe cost)
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From page 65... ...
It is possible that a lower NSF contribution would reduce the number Additional cost reductions to cut another 10% of the of berths available to U.S. scientists, implying a loss IODP budget will likely follow the same options as the im of cost efficiency for the NSF-supported part of the mediate cuts: raising revenues from international partners, program, but this might be mitigated by enhanced finding new funding streams from other agencies or the pri shore-based participation due to more flexibility in vate sector, or by further reducing the number of expeditions.
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From page 66... ...
Commer cial seismic ships could be chartered as an alternative, Right-Sizing the Fleet which would require an analysis of charter rates and In Chapter 3, Global class ships were among the in mission requirements. frastructure that was aligned most strongly to the decadal science priorities.
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From page 67... ...
This group of experts could also assist izing management and having components report in ensuring that initial cost estimates for new infrastructure directly to NSF; or those for refits or expansions of existing facilities are real • Assessing the effectiveness of existing oversight istic with projected requirements in order to keep operational committees; costs in check over a project's lifetime. • Evaluating which components align most strongly This idea echoes the need for coordinated strategic plan with the interests of the science community; ning set forth in Critical Infrastructure for Ocean Research • Assessing early scientific results that seem particu and Societal Needs in 2030 (NRC, 2011)
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From page 68... ...
Finally, there is the opportunity provided by Future OOI, IODP, the fleet, and NDSF, but rather to provide broad Earth, described in Box 2-1. OCE might consider how it can oversight of the full portfolio of major infrastructure with a best contribute to programs like Future Earth, which will particular focus on the costs of construction, maintenance, need coordination across NSF Directorates, including its and operations in relation to the science priorities.
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From page 69... ...
are disciplines has led to some of the most significant emerging prepared to strategically meet these challenges and emerge questions in ocean sciences today. Technological innova- with an even more innovative and compelling future for the tions have transformed the ocean sciences, revealing the ocean sciences.
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