[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 2, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7883-7884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02170]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Permit Applications Received Under the Antarctic 
Conservation Act of 1978

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of permit applications received.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish a 
notice of permit applications received to conduct activities regulated 
under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. NSF has published 
regulations under the Antarctic Conservation Act in the Code of Federal 
Regulations. This is the required notice of permit applications 
received.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit written data, comments, 
or views with respect to this permit application by March 4, 2021. This 
application may be inspected by interested parties at the Permit 
Office, address below.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Permit Office, Office of 
Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 
Alexandria, Virginia 22314.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nature McGinn, ACA Permit Officer, at 
the above address, 703-292-8030, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Science Foundation, as directed 
by the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-541, 45 CFR 
671), as amended by the Antarctic Science, Tourism and Conservation Act 
of 1996, has developed regulations for the establishment of a permit 
system for various activities in Antarctica and designation of certain 
animals and certain geographic areas a requiring special protection. 
The regulations establish such a permit system to designate Antarctic 
Specially Protected Areas.

Application Details

Permit Application: 2021-007

    1. Applicant: Lynne Talley, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 
UCSD, La Jolla, CA 92093-0230.

Activity for Which Permit is Requested

    Type, description of activity.

Location

    Waste Management. The applicant is seeking a waste management 
permit for waste management activities associated with the deployment 
of floating oceanographic profiling instruments (Argo floats) in 
Southern Ocean waters. The Argo floats would autonomously collect 
temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH, nitrate, fluorescence, backscatter, 
and irradiance from 0 to 2000 m, every 10 days. The floats would freely 
drift and would likely leave and enter the

[[Page 7884]]

region over the course of their operational lifetimes. The applicant 
proposes to release a maximum of 150 Argo floats south of 60[deg]S 
during the permit period. Float dimensions are 75 inches tall by 9 
inches diameter, weighing approximately 65 lbs. Each float includes 
19DD lithium cells, with approximately 0.198 gm of lithium. The floats 
would drift at 1000 m depth and come to the surface every 10 days. 
Their lifetime is approximately 5 years, after which the batteries 
would be depleted and the floats would no longer surface, but would 
remain in the ocean and sink to the ocean floor. The Agro floats 
deployed in the Southern Ocean would be part of a global array. The 
Argo array provides operational and research data that inform nowcast 
and forecast services, contributing to saving lives, avoiding property 
damage, and informing the public and government responses to 
environmental variability and change.

Dates of Permitted Activities

    February 1, 2021-October 31, 2025.

Erika N. Davis,
Program Specialist, Office of Polar Programs.
[FR Doc. 2021-02170 Filed 2-1-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P