Brazil’s new oceanographic vessel

The Alpha Crucis conducted its first scientific activities, releasing equipment and collecting data at the mouth of the Amazon.

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – Brazil’s new oceanographic vessel, the Alpha Crucis, was purchased by FAPESP for the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), which will also be responsible for the maintenance and management of the vessel. The ship will replace the Professor W. Besnard, used between 1967 and 2008 until a fire occurred on board, rendering it unsuitable for research purposes.

The acquisition of the Alpha Crucis is part of a project for increasing research capacity, submitted to FAPESP by the USP Oceanographic Institute under its Multiuser Equipment Program (EMU). Alpha Crucis will be inaugurated in a ceremony on May 30, in Santos.

The ship is 64 meters long and 11 meters wide. It can carry 20 people and has a capacity of 972 tons. The total cost of the vessel, including its renovation, was US $11 million. The expectation is that it will generate a large qualitative leap in Brazilian oceanographic research.

According to the ship’s head researcher, Luiz Vianna Nonnato, the Alpha Crucis crossed the equator on Monday, April 30th. At 14:00 that same day, it conducted its first tasks as an oceanographic station, deploying research equipment and collecting data at the mouth of the Amazon, along the Brazilian coastline.

“Right now, we are 100 miles off the coast of Maranhão,” said Nonnato via the ship’s satellite telephone to Agência FAPESP.

The weather was very severe when the vessel was scheduled to leave Seattle, with 10 meter waves and strong storms that delayed departure, according to Nonnato.

“It is a stormy region and, even after waiting a few days, we left port on very rough seas during the first week. Afterward, we had exceptionally good weather throughout the whole trip. All the equipment is completely operational and the trip has gone very smoothly,” he said.

“This oceanographic station wasn’t connected to any formal research project but was used for testing equipment and training crew on the use of the ship’s infrastructure, which is very different from what we had at our disposal on the old ship,” explained Nonnato.

The crew of the Professor W. Besnard was incorporated into the Alpha Crucis crew. Several new crew members will be added. Six IO-USP researchers and 14 crew members participated in the trip to Brazil. “Four consultants working for the former ship owner also came along to share their knowledge with our crew,” said Nonnato.

The Alpha Crucis originally belonged to the University of Hawaii under the name Moana Wave. It was recently transferred to the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). After it was purchased by FAPESP, the vessel spent ten months in a Seattle shipyard for renovation and modifications.

“The ship is completely operational, and many experiments for testing equipment and training the crew will be performed as we head down the Brazilian coastline,” said Nonnato.

Nonnato says that the Alpha Crucis offers much more modern resources than its predecessor, and is therefore expected to be more in demand for research by scientists wanting to use it for their projects.

“Aside from this, after four years with no oceanographic vessel available in São Paulo, we have an immense backlog. Many research projects are already through with their laboratory studies and are just waiting for the Alpha Crucis to begin field work. Demand will be  very high, especially in the beginning,” he said.