Increasing Shore-based Participation of Scientists & Students in Telepresence-enabled Nautilus Expeditions

Katherine Lynn Croff Bell1, Nicole Raineault1, Steve Carey2, Gregor Paul Eberli3, Barbara E John4, Michael J Cheadle4, Christopher R German5, Zara Mirmalek6 and Amy Pallant7, (1)Ocean Exploration Trust, Narragansett, RI, United States, (2)Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, United States, (3)University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL, United States, (4)University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States, (5)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (6)Harvard University, Kennedy School, Program on Science, Technology and Society, Cambridge, MA, United States, (7)The Concord Consortium, Concord, USA, Concord, MA, United States
Abstract:
As the US oceanographic research fleet shrinks, reducing seagoing opportunities for scientists and students, remote participation in cruises via telepresence will become increasingly vital. The Nautilus Exploration Program is improving the experience of shoreside participants through the development of new tools and methodologies for connecting them to expeditions in real time increasing accessibility to oceanographic cruises.

The Scientist Ashore Program is a network of scientists around the world who participate in Exploration Vessel Nautilus expeditions from their own labs or homes. We have developed a suite of collaboration tools to allow scientists to view video and data in real time, as well as to communicate with ship-based and other shore-based participants to enable remote participation in cruises. Post-cruise, scientists and students may access digital data and biological and geological samples from our partner shore-based repositories: the University of Rhode Island Inner Space Center, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and URI Marine Geological Samples Lab.

We present examples of successful shore-based participation by scientists and students in Nautilus expeditions. In 2013, Drs. Cheadle and John stood watch 24/7 with ten undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Wyoming, recording geologic features and samples, during a cruise to the Cayman Rise. The Straits of Florida & Great Bahama Bank cruise was co-led by Dr. Eberli at the University of Miami in 2014, greatly complementing existing data. That same year, the ISC hosted four early career scientists and their twelve undergraduate students who led dives from shore in collaboration with Dr. Carey, Lead Scientist at sea on the Kick’em Jenny Volcano & the Barbados Mud Volcanoes cruise. In 2015, 12 Scientists Ashore worked in collaboration with the ship-based team on the exploration of Galapagos National Park, and more than 20 are working with OET on post-cruise data & sample analysis.

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