RP FLIP

Key takeaways

RP FLIP belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect RP FLIP to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of RP FLIP from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

R/P FLIP (floating instrument platform) is a semi-submersible open ocean research platform that was owned by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The platform is 108 meters (355 ft) long and is designed to partially flood and pitch backward 90°, resulting in only the front 17 meters (55 ft) of the platform pointing up out of the water, with bulkheads becoming decks. When flipped, most of the buoyancy for the platform is provided by water at depths below the influence of surface waves, hence FLIP is stable and mostly immune to wave action, similar to a spar buoy. At the end of a mission, compressed air is pumped into the ballast tanks in the flooded section and the platform, which has no propulsion, returned to its horizontal position so it can be towed to a new location. The platform is frequently mistaken for a capsized ocean transport ship. FLIP's last research cruise was in late 2017, with ONR ending its support of the vessel in 2020. It was berthed at the Nimitz Marine Facility pier (Scripps) in Point Loma until being towed away to be scrapped on August 4, 2023. However, FLIP was purchased in 2024 by the DEEP organization with plans to overhaul and modernize the platform for ocean research.

History

The Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) of Scripps Institution of Oceanography created FLIP with funding from the Office of Naval Research and the assistance of the commercial naval architecture firm The Glosten Associates. FLIP was originally built to support research into the fine-scale phase and amplitude fluctuations in undersea sound waves caused by thermal gradients and sloping ocean bottoms. This acoustic research was conducted as a portion of the Navy's SUBROC program. Development started in January 1960 after a conversation between MPL researcher Frederick H. Fisher and MPL Director Fred N. Spiess regarding stability problems that Fisher was encountering when using the submarine USS Baya (SS-318) as a research platform. Spiess recalled a suggestion from Allyn Vine that upending a ship might make it more stable, based on Vine's observation of a Navy mop floating in waves. Fisher was subsequently assigned to work on the feasibility and later development of such a vessel. The Gunderson Brothers Engineering Company in Portland, Oregon, launched FLIP on 22 June 1962.

Capabilities FLIP was designed to study wave height, acoustic signals, water temperature and density, and for the collection of meteorological data. Because of the potential interference with the acoustic instruments, FLIP had no means of propulsion. It required towing to open water, where it drifted freely or was anchored. FLIP displaced 700 tons. It carried a crew of five, plus up to eleven scientists. It was capable of operating independently during month-long missions without resupply. It could be operated around the world, although it normally operated off the west coast of the United States from a home base at Scripps' Nimitz Marine Facility in San Diego, California. The ship had specially designed interiors: some fixtures, such as the toilet seats, could flip 90°, and the shower heads were curved 90°. There were overhead lights on the surfaces that were the ceilings in both the towing (horizontal) and flipped orientations.

Research FLIP was used on a number of research expeditions at Scripps, often towed off shore of California, with the last cruise being September–October 2017. Research conducted on FLIP has included studies of:

the relation of temperature variations in the ocean to fluctuations in intensity and direction of sound waves; waves generated from storms in the South Pacific, for which FLIP was stationed between Hawaii and Alaska; turbulence and thermal structure of the ocean; amplitude and directionality of internal waves; energy transfer between the ocean and atmosphere in which wind velocity, humidity, and temperature profiles immediately above the ocean surface were measured; ambient noise intensity and direction using vertical hydrophone arrays suspended from FLIP and horizontal arrays (DIMUS) at the bottom of FLIP; long-range sound propagation; variation in properties of the earth's crust, for which FLIP was used as a listening platform for explosive sound signals launched from four ships going away from FLIP in four different directions; simultaneous visual and acoustic observations of whales and dolphins; effects of pressure on sound attenuation; scattering of sound from the sea surface and reverberation.

Decommissioning Following the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced funding, the decision was taken to scrap the platform. In August 2023, Rob Sparrock, the program officer overseeing ONR's research vessel program noted that it “... would cost about $8 million to make FLIP useable for another five or 10 years, but that funding could be better used elsewhere.” On August 3, 2023, the storied vessel departed for a scrap yard in Mexico, apart from an instrument boom which will be installed on a pier at Scripps. At the decommissioning, Scripps’ Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) Director Eric Terrill lauded the system and the spirit that inspired it, saying “FLIP set the stage for thinking big about what could be done with technology to enable new scientific discoveries ... It was built in an era of risk-taking; a spirit that we try to embrace to this day and encourage in the next generation of seagoing scientists.”

Purchase and refit On 23 October 2024, DEEP, an organization working to expand access for ocean exploration, announced the purchase of FLIP and their plans to overhaul and modernize the platform for ocean research. It will also support the deployment of DEEP's Sentinel habitats, enhancing their extended research network. FLIP was transported from Mexico to La Ciotat, France where it will undergo a 12-to-18 month refit.

Gallery

References

External links

R/P FLIP homepage "FLIP - Research Vessel" on Ship-Technology.com "The Boat Designed to Capsize" Archived 11 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine on Damn Interesting "FLIP: Floating Instrument Platform - DEEP". www.deep.com. Retrieved 23 October 2024. Media "FLIP 50th" on YouTube "355-foot 700 Ton Ship Flips" on YouTube

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with RP FLIP

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what RP FLIP claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to RP FLIP before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about RP FLIP ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of RP FLIP

In research: RP FLIP appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses RP FLIP in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: RP FLIP is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 ships, Research vessels of the United States, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for RP FLIP outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study RP FLIP in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what RP FLIP means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain RP FLIP out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is RP FLIP in simple terms?

R/P FLIP (floating instrument platform) is a semi-submersible open ocean research platform that was owned by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Why does RP FLIP matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study RP FLIP?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on RP FLIP.