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New Facilities

Facilities at the Smithsonian Marine Station

General
Scientific Equipment
Reference Resources
Boats and Collecting Gear
Vehicles
Housing

General

From 1981 to early 1999 the Smithsonian Marine Station was situated on a floating Laboratory/Barge of World War II vintage, converted into a two-story, well-equipped laboratory facility and docked at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (now a part of Florida Atlantic University). The Marine Station relocated in May 1999 to an 8-acre campus (see Site Plan) on Seaway Drive, South Causeway Island, Fort Pierce, and the facilities of the Barge were replaced by a newly constructed research laboratory building (see Phase I Laboratory). The 8,000 square foot building provides offices and individual laboratories for visiting scientists, resident staff and postdoctoral fellows and, in addition, general-use laboratories for chemistry, histology, electron and confocal microscopy, and a wet laboratory supplied by a recirculating seawater system. Other features are a conference room, workshop, and computer room.

Scientific Equipment

Equipment at the Station includes:

dissecting and compound microscopes
photomicroscope
fluorescence microscopes (dissecting and compound)
Zeiss LSM510 confocal microscope
3 temperature-controlled incubators
centrifuges, including a refrigerated centrifuge and a Speed Vac
analytical balances
an ultra-cold freezer
electrophoresis equipment
thermocycler for DNA analysis
fluorimeter
UV-visual spectrophotometer
integrating quantum radiometer/photometer with submersible PAR light probe
personal computers (and 1 Macintosh)
computer imaging stations including a film scanner, flatbed scanner and film recorder
photomacrographic setup
photographic copystand
slide duplicator
digital cameras
16mm movie camera
super-VHS video cameras for photomicrography and photomacrography
super-VHS editing system
digital video camera
freeze drier
rotary evaporators
gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer with autosampler
binary HPLC with dual wavelength detector
quatrinary HPLC with diode array detector and 100 vial autosampler
biological safety cabinet
tissue processor
rotary microtome
2 ultramicrotomes
critical point dryer
sputter coating unit
JEOL 6400 Visions scanning electron microscope
JEOL 100CX transmission electron microscope

Reference Resources

Staff and visitors to the Smithsonian Marine Station enjoy user privileges at the 22,000 volume library of Harbor Branch at FAU and access to the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Museum which contains a reference collection of over 50,000 lots of marine specimens from the Indian River Lagoon area. The Marine Station contributes to both of these reference resources.

Boats and Collecting Gear

15-foot canoe and two 11-foot sea kayaks for work in shallow waters of limited accessibility
17-foot Boston Whaler for work in the Indian River Lagoon
21-foot Triumph center console boat for diving and near-shore work
21-foot center console Carolina Skiff for work in the Indian River Lagoon
39-foot converted lobster boat, the R/V Sunburst, for use in off-shore waters

RV Sunburst

The R/V Sunburst is outfitted with radar, a GPS navigation/positioning system, a video depth recorder, a side-scan sonar device, a 5.5 kilowatt AC generator, and a level-wind hydrographic winch with a drum capacity of over 1000' of 1/4" stainless steel cable for handling collecting equipment, including:

Phleger corer
Higgins anchor dredge
epi-benthic sled dredge
10" diameter pipe dredge
J & O box corer
Van Veen grab
mud snapper
4 single otter trawls (mesh sizes 1.25-1.5")
3/4m and 1m diameter plankton nets (100um, 210um, 500um and 1000um mesh sizes)
mid-water trawl

Vehicles

The Station has 6 vehicles for local transportation and field work including

a 6-passenger station wagon
a 6-passenger SUV
a 3-passenger pickup truck
two 5-passenger vans
a 15-passenger extended van

Housing

Visitors to the Marine Station are housed in the Tyson House on the SMS campus. Overflow visitors rent rooms at local motels in Fort Pierce and Vero Beach, FL, or dormitory or apartment space on the Harbor Branch campus.

New Facilities

Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce
701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949
Phone 772-462-6220, Fax 772-461-8154