Celebrate World Oceans Day and join the Inner Space Center as it connects LIVE with three ocean science and exploration vessels: the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, E/V Nautilus, and RV Falkor. Tune in through Facebook Live and/or YouTube on June 8, 2018, at 3:00 pm ET, and hear from scientists, engineers, and other crew as they discuss the important (and exciting!) work they are conducting to understand our changing ocean. Be part of the conversation and explore with us!
Tag Archives: okeanos
Titanic Returns for its 20th Anniversary
In honor of its 20th anniversary, the 1997 film, Titanic, is being brought back to the big screen, for one week only, in select AMC Theatres.
Most of the film is based on real events. In 1985, the eventual founder of URI’s Inner Space Center, Graduate School of Oceanography professor, Dr. Robert Ballard, discovered the wreck in its resting place at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2017 Expedition
Welcome to the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2017 expedition! The team will be exploring the Gulf of Mexico from November 29 – December 21, 2017, using multibeam sonar and the remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Deep Discoverer, to explore the seafloor. The 23-day expedition will focus on acquiring data on priority exploration areas identified by ocean management and scientific communities. Tune in to the live streams and explore with us!
Watch the Okeanos Explorer live streams:
Camera 1 (video feed from ROV Deep Discoverer):
Camera 2 (video feed from the camera sled ROV, Seirios):
Camera 3 (quad-view showing multiple camera feeds and other features):
Creature Comparison: Corals and Sponges
Despite being frequently encountered by scientists aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, E/V Nautilus, and other exploration vessels, much is left to learn about corals and sponges. Both are sessile (non-moving) organisms, serve as vital resources for other marine life, and can indicate the health of oceanic ecosystems. Learn more about these fascinating animals below!
Corals
Corals exhibit some plant-like characteristics, but are actually animal relatives of jellyfish and anemones. They are all within the phylum Cnidaria. All corals are classified as either “hard corals” or “soft corals”. Hard corals have a limestone skeleton, and make up the foundation of a coral reef. They can take a rounded, branching, or flat appearance. Soft corals bind together on a softer structure, and can take the shapes of whips, spirals, and trees. Hard corals can grow as much as ten centimeters per year, the same rate of growth as human hair, but most only grow up to three centimeters each year. Soft corals grow at a rate of two to four centimeters per year. When a coral reef is damaged by a storm, pollution, or by other factors, it may take a significant amount of time before it is able to recover and grow to its former size.
Discovering the Deep: Exploring Remote Pacific MPAs
On March 25th, the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer wrapped up an exciting cruise to explore the depths of remote Pacific Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). As scientists collected data and made discoveries over the course of the expedition’s 19 dives, the remotely operated vehicles collected amazing images of life in the deep ocean. Continue reading Discovering the Deep: Exploring Remote Pacific MPAs
March 2017 Newsletter
Hello Ocean Explorers:
We are pleased to announce the launch of our Northwest Passage Project’s website, www.northwestpassageproject.org. The Northwest Passage Project (NPP), an innovative science and education initiative that includes an expedition into the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. This National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project will engage intergenerational cohorts of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in hands-on research exploring the changing Arctic and collecting data.
Weekend Discoveries
The NOAA Okeanos Explorer visited two seamounts in American Samoa over the weekend. During these dives, the team on board found some great biology:
Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Exploration and Research
2016 – A Year in Review
It’s been another eventful year here at the Inner Space Center (ISC)! We outfitted two research vessels and a merchant vessel with telepresence technologies, and supported over 100 days of telepresence on the E/V Nautilus, and on the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. Our services facilitated the investigation the El Faro shipwreck, supported a 5-year study of submerged tribal cultural sites in Rhode Island Sound, and enabled the first ever telepresence broadcast from a manned submarine! During the summer, we hosted the next generation of deep-sea scientists at ISC Mission Control as they participated in a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) dive-planning boot-camp. Meanwhile, the Nautilus and Okeanos Explorer continued their ground-breaking deep sea explorations of offshore California, and the Marianas region.
Continue reading 2016 – A Year in Review
Creature Spotlight: Dancing, Flailing Sea Cucumbers
Among the most sighted organisms during the field season’s remotely operated vehicle dives are sea cucumbers, also known as holothurians. A class containing over 250 species, sea cucumbers are highly diverse, and may appear spiky and brightly colored, or smooth and translucent.
The Nautilus Live video below , and this video by the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer team showcase the extraordinary diversity of sea cucumbers encountered in Windward Passage, and the Marianas, respectfully.
more info…
Featured image: Sea cucumber off the coast of Puerto Rico, 15 October, 2013. Image courtesy of the Ocean Exploration Trust.
Okeanos Explorer Dives on Pearl Harbor Mini Subs
On December 7th, 2016, the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer dove on two Japanese mini-subs that sank 75 years earlier, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Ward fired the first shot of the Pacific War, sinking this submarine 90 minutes before the air raid on Pearl Harbor. This attack marked the introduction of the United States into World War 2. Highlights from the dives on these submarines can be viewed below:
More photos and illustrations of the mini-subs and the USS Ward are available on the National Marine Sanctuaries website.
Be sure to check for updates on the upcoming field season on the Okeanos Explorer Home Page, the Nautilus Live Homepage, the Inner Space Center website, and on our Facebook and Twitter pages!
Cool highlights from the 2016 field season (like this ghost catshark) are available on our YouTube channel!
Featured image: Conning tower of Pearl Harbor Mini Sub. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Exploration and Research, 2017 Shakedown Cruise.