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Happy Spring! Last week, I saw the cherry blossoms blooming in Washington, D.C., as Jason and I attended the annual Cooperative Institute (CI) Director's Meeting. NOAA’s cooperative institute enterprise includes sixteen CIs across the country. Some of them are embedded within NOAA labs and others, like OECI, represent a consortium of organizations. The contribution of CIs to NOAAs mission is really important, and I’m pleased we can be a part of it. In some cases, the CIs are the innovation engine for NOAA and help keep NOAA at the cutting edge as it endeavors to fulfill its mission. Meeting with the other CIs reminds me of how fortunate we are to be able to work closely and collaboratively with NOAA Ocean Exploration and other NOAA partners to conduct new and meaningful exploration, technology developments, and education/outreach opportunities in addition to bringing the best of our collective talents to a set of shared goals.
Deepest Regards,
Adam
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Pacific Island Community Engagement
The Pacific Island Community Engagement project led by Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) continues efforts to establish partnerships in American Samoa & Palau towards co-designing and co-developing expeditions in fall 2024 to ensure that activities are culturally appropriate and locally relevant. This month, the project team organized a visit to American Samoa to meet with partners and deepen relationships. During the visit, the project team and the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS) co-hosted a workshop to convene community members, educators, and agency representatives for their input about how the science, education, and outreach capabilities of E/V Nautilus and other OECI technologies may be applied to best address priority community needs. Beyond the workshop, the OET team met with additional stakeholders, including briefing Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga on the upcoming expeditions and meeting with Fata Brian Kaio, Samoa Consul General. A highlight of the week was the participation of a delegation from Palau International Coral Reef Center, advancing collaboration of the teams within the sister sanctuaries of Palau National Marine Sanctuary and NMSAS.
The collaborative nature of the Pacific Island Community Engagement project aims to develop a framework to establish OECI-funded expeditions as a leading example of how to conduct ethical and equitable expeditions that reflect local and Indigenous community priorities and foster active involvement in expeditions.
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Sharing Remote Operations with the Broader Community | |
From October 1 – 19, 2023, the Remote Operations project participated in NA155: Multi-Vehicle Exploration onboard E/V Nautilus. Objectives included developing the CONOP for performing remote operations effectively, trialing navigational situational awareness tools capable of handling vehicles of different types, manufacturers, and software architectures, implementing network performance and monitoring tools, and testing Low Earth Orbit Satellite capabilities (Starlink). As part of the work, a video was produced from footage collected during a live demonstration of remote operations. The creation of this video was intended for sharing with the broader community and to spread the message of the impact remote operations can have on ocean exploration. Work like this would not be possible without support from NOAA OER and the OECI. | |
Since 2020, the ISC Media team has been collaborating with NOAA Ocean Education & Communication teams to meet education audiences, both teachers and students, where they are. We have accomplished this by creating materials that focus on relevant and exciting ocean science themes which have directly engaged nearly 2,000 participants in interactive, online, events and more. These materials are dialogic in nature and are intended to promote authentic and relatable communication around sometimes abstract concepts.
The Diving Deeper Dialogue project encompasses Deep-Sea Dialogues (DSD) highly produced videos, online professional learning programs, fact sheet development, and novel, immersive storytelling. The video production team creates visually engaging educational videos to provide a foundational overview of ocean exploration. Their most recent piece focused on Using Sound to Map the Seafloor and featured Ocean Exploration Trust's Derek Sowers.
Using the power of storytelling to engage broader audiences, the Deeper Dialogues team have been creating 'Living Documentaries.' These storytelling events are designed to create multi-sensory, immersive experiences by combining live storytelling, real-time audio compositions, and whole-space projections to create visceral, change-making experiences. In February, the team partnered with the University of Rhode Island's Dr. Kendal Moore to produce a 'Living Documentary' for the opening plenary for the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting.
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Announcements, Events, and Opportunities | |
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SeaPerch and RoboSub 2024 Competitions
OECI will have a presence at both the SeaPerch and RoboSub underwater robotics competitions coming up this spring and summer. The SeaPerch competition is May 31-June 1 in College Park, Maryland, and is a competition for middle and high school aged students.
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The RoboSub ROV competition is in Irvine, California, from August 5-11 and is a competition for technical high school students and undergraduate students. OECI will have an exhibit at the RoboSub ROV competition from August 8-9. If you have any opportunities, programs, or early career positions that you want to share this is an excellent opportunity to promote these opportunities.
If you are interested in participating or volunteering at either of these events, please contact Tara Hicks Johnson at tjohnson@ccom.unh.edu to find out more.
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NOAAs Ocean Exploration's 2023 Annual Report
NOAA's 2023 Annual Report has been published! Take a look to see what happened in the world of ocean exploration in 2023.
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Call for Input: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer 2024 Hawai’i, Line Islands, and Clarion Clipperton Zone Expeditions
As part of their community-driven exploration model, NOAA Ocean Exploration invites you to submit exploration recommendations for mapping and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer off of the Hawaiian Islands.
While the preferred deadline has passed, exploration recommendations will still be solicited throughout the field season. Fin more information on the Call for Input here.
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The Importance of Archiving the Seafloor
Please review this recent article published in Eos! The article highlights the importance of sea floor sediment samples in improving our understanding of our oceans.
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