Laboratory: Off-campus laboratory facilities will be provided by a research vessel of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian colleagues have already submitted a "holding request" to charter a 4630 Class of vessel built by Finnish shipyards, the R/V ACADEMIC OPARIN or R/V ACADEMIC M. A. LAVRENTIEV, length 75.5 m, breadth 14.7 m, depth 7.3 m, speed 15 knots, capable of remaining at sea for 60 days, equipped with five scientific laboratories and quarters for 43 crew and 36 scientists.

Computer: Two DOS-based lap-top computers, Texas Instruments, TI 4000E, 4 MB, active color matrix, with 4 MB upgrade. In addition, a UNIX computer work station will be provided by the University of Washington, College of Arts & Sciences: Spark 5, S5FX1-70-16-P44, 16 MB, with 17" TGX color screen, 8 GB disk drive, and 16 MB additional memory.

Other: Additonal facilities will include the Hakodate campus of Hokkaido University and the Usujiri Biological Station of Hokkaido University. The Hakodate campus, just five minutes by car from the Port of Hakodate, will be used as a pre-expedition staging area, serving as a central point to which all equipment and supplies will be shipped and a meeting place for all project personnel. Located at the mouth of Volcano Bay, Hokkaido, approximately 42 km from Hakodate City, the Ujusiri Biological Station is well equipped with microscopes and other essential gear, and provides more than enough laboratory space for our needs. A dormitory on the premises, with room for 54 persons, will be available for our exclusive use.

Major equipment.--In addition to the computers listed above, and all the major ship-board items provided by the Russian research vessel (e.g., navigation and communication systems, generators, boats, tools and other items available in machine and carpenter shops, etc), the following major equipment items, housed here at the University of Washington, are available for this project: hand-held global positioning system (GPS) receivers (4); ship-to-shore radio communication systems (2); walkie-talkies(4); Wild M-5 stereomicroscopes (2).

Other resources.--Other significant resources available to us are the extensive botanical and zoological collections housed at the UW Burke Museum and UW Herbarium, the various institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the campuses of Hokkaido University, Hakodate and Sapporo, Japan.