Scene on the Sound: Research vessel Marcus G. Langseth

Marcus G. Langseth

Photo and research by Jan Hansen

Rain or shine, research goes on. The Marcus G. Langseth is loaded and ready for more research projects as she passes through Shoreline.

From Maritime Hawaii

She is a research vessel owned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. As a seismic research facility, the ship is able to provide 2D and 3D images of the Earth’s structure beneath the sea. She is also capable of supporting other marine geology/geophysics-related work. She was named after Dr. Marcus Gerhardt Langseth, who was a scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. 6 May 2017.

More technically described by the Columbia University
From Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Langseth is classed by the American Bureau of Shipping as A-1 Baltic Ice Class IA and Coast Guard inspected; certificated to carry a total of 55 personnel of which approximately 20 are the ship's crew.

Originally constructed as a seismic vessel the Langseth was acquired in 2004, modified, and outfitted to perform the tasks required of a general purpose research vessel. This includes hull mounted 3.5 and 12 khz transducers and a Simrad 1x1 degree deep ocean multibeam swath bottom mapping system.

Particularly unique to the academic research vessel are the Marcus Langseth's extensive geophysical capabilities which include a Syntrak 960-24 seismic recording system with four 6km solid-state hydrophone streamer cable and a 2000 psi, 40 pneumatic sound source array towed in four " strings" that can be configured either as a single, 2D source or dual, alternating 3D source arrays.