The Potential Fields Pool Equipment (PFPE) supports both permanently installed gravimeter equipment and portable pool magnetometer equipment on vessels in the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) academic research fleet (ARF). PFPE originated over two decades ago in response to an identified need for the UNOLS community to have a centralized repository for shipboard gravimeter systems’ technical support, and to reduce the overall gravimeter operational and support costs to the federal funding agencies.

This effort was formalized in the mid-1990s through a memorandum of understanding between the US Navy Office of Naval Research, NAVOCEANO, and the NSF, that was coordinated by Dan Fornari in the Geology & Geophysics Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). In ~2004, Fornari received NSF funding to purchase used, industry BGM-3 equipment that served as the backbone of the gravimeter inventory for over a decade. PFPE now supports gravity equipment and data collection on 9 academic research vessels (R/Vs Atlantis, Armstrong, Revelle, Sally Ride, Thompson, Siquliaq, Palmer, Healy, Kilo Moana), and has one BGM-3 sensor as a resource for use on other vessels or as a spare for those installed.

Since ~2010, costs to operate PFPE have been largely funded through NSF’s ocean instrumentation award in a 5-year facility grants. PFPE actively (on a near-daily basis) supports the technicians on UNOLS ships from all the major US oceanographic institutions, providing 24/7 technical support for the gravimeters onboard UNOLS ships via email, telephone and web-based communications. In many ways, PFPE is analogous to other oceanographic “community-service” programs that WHOI operates (e.g., the winch/wire pool & NDSF).

As of 2020, PFPE supports both marine gravimeters and magnetometers for UNOLS vessels.

PFPE has developed partnerships with the following institutions/facilities:

• Edison Chouest Offshore (EOC, operates the N.B. Palmer)
• Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO, operates the Langseth)
• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO, operates the Revelle, Sally Ride)
• University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF, operates the Sikuliaq)
• University of Hawaii (UH, operates the Kilo Moana)
• University of Washington (UW, operates the Thompson)
• US Coast Guard (USCG, operates the Healy)
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, operates the Atlantis, Armstrong)