[2] The ship is named after Roger Randall Dougan Revelle, who was essential to the incorporation of Scripps into the University of California San Diego.

Shipboard computer systems consists of a cluster of Linux (CentOS) servers capable of up to 20 Terabytes of available and expandable cruise data storage in RAID6 configuration.

Internet is provided using a combination of UNOLS-designed proprietary satellite system (C-Band), shore cellular network (3G, 4G/LTE), and/or Inmarsat FleetBroadband (L-Band).

[3] Roger Revelle and her sister ships are required for maintenance on the OOI Regional Cabled Array off the west coast of the United States.

[17][18] In December 2006, Roger Revelle departed from SIO's Nimitz Marine Facility in Point Loma and embarked on a six-year journey around the globe, stringing together 86 distinct missions.

In 2018, the Roger Revelle and Sally Ride were used to research zooplankton responses to phytoplankton blooms (and associated impacts on the biological pump), particularly in relation to Salps and climate change.