High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! R/V Marcus Langseth is research vessel owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University as a part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet. The "Langseth" came into service in early 2008, and has replaced the R/V Maurice Ewing. Langseth is intended primarily to collect multichannel seismic data, including 3-D surveys. The ship was purchased from the geophysical survey company WesternGeco in 2004, having previously been named M/V Western Legend. The Marcus Langseth was named for Marcus G. Langseth, a Lamont scientist. In August 2009, Marcus Langseth has been named in a Canadian lawsuit seeking to halt its seismic tomography experiment. The lawsuit was dismissed, diplomatic clearance was issued and the ship sailed after a delay of a day.