Now it's possible to 'surf' to depths of the ocean

Sea Technology, Jul 1999

Students and teachers, parents and children can now surf the virtual seas to depths of 2,000 feet to study diverse and fascinating marine life. The "trips" are made possible with the launching of two new websites on the new Sustainable Seas Expeditions that explore ocean resources at America's 12 national marine sanctuaries. The websites are www.sustainableseas.noaa.gov and www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov.

Sustainable Seas Expeditions is being conducted by the National Geographic Society and NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program. "The Sustainable Seas Expeditions website and its companion, the National Marine Sanctuaries website, together provide the American public with pages of rich and varied content about the exploration and conservation of the ocean," said Tom Lapointe, project director for the new websites.

Throughout the coming year, the expeditions' trained aquanauts will pilot DeepWorker 2000, a one-person submersible capable of going to depths of 2,000 feet to photo-document the natural history of each sanctuary's plants and animals. What they discover, and record in daily mission logs, will help sanctuary managers to build the first permanent marine monitoring network in the marine sanctuaries and to educate the public on the many wonders within these protected areas. The aquanauts' findings will be posted on the websites.

Along with daily mission logs, this Sustainable Seas Expeditions website offers a calendar of scheduled web chats and student summits, facts about the research investigations and the scientists who carry them out, a closer look at the innovative technology used, detailed maps, and a photo gallery of the habitats and the inhabitants unique to each site. Sustainable Seas Expeditions education pages will feature the results from some of the major educational initiatives of the expeditions and offer opportunities for students and educators to share in its discoveries.

Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a fiveyear project of ocean exploration and conservation in the sanctuaries, is headed by Dr. Sylvia Earle, worldrenowned ocean scientist and National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence (1998), and former NOAA marine sanctuary program director Francesca Cava. The expeditions, made possible by an initial $5 million grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, join in partnership the National Geographic Society and NOAA.