Deep Sea Gazing: Making Ship-Based Research Aboard RV Falkor Relevant and Accessible
Carlie Wiener1, Victor Zykov1, Allison Miller1, Leonard J Pace2, Vicki Lynn Ferrini3 and Ariell Friedman4, (1)Schmidt Ocean Institute, Palo alto, CA, United States, (2)Schmidt Ocean Institute, Washington, DC, United States, (3)Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States, (4)Greybits, Australia
Abstract:
Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) is a private, non-profit operating foundation established to advance the understanding of the world's oceans through technological advancement, intelligent observation, and open sharing of information. Our research vessel
Falkorprovides ship time to selected scientists and supports a wide range of scientific functions, including ROV operations with live streaming capabilities. Since 2013, SOI has live streamed 55 ROV dives in high definition and recorded them onto YouTube. This has totaled over 327 hours of video which received 1,450, 461 views in 2014. SOI is one of the only research programs that makes their entire dive series available online, creating a rich collection of video data sets. In doing this, we provide an opportunity for scientists to make new discoveries in the video data that may have been missed earlier. These data sets are also available to students, allowing them to engage with real data in the classroom. SOI’s video collection is also being used in a newly developed video management system, Ocean Video Lab.
Telepresence-enabled research is an important component of Falkor cruises, which is exemplified by several that were conducted in 2015. This presentation will share a few case studies including an image tagging citizen science project conducted through the Squidle interface in partnership with the Australian Center for Field Robotics. Using real-time image data collected in the Timor Sea, numerous shore-based citizens created seafloor image tags that could be used by a machine learning algorithms on Falkor’s high performance computer (HPC) to accomplish habitat characterization. With the use of the HPC system real-time robot tracking, image tagging, and other outreach connections were made possible, allowing scientists on board to engage with the public and build their knowledge base. The above mentioned examples will be used to demonstrate the benefits of remote data analysis and participatory engagement in science-based telepresence.
