Members of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) program will participate in the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting this month with a variety of sessions, videos and information sharing opportunities.
The AGU Fall Meeting is the largest worldwide conference in the geophysical sciences, attracting nearly 20,000 Earth and space scientists, educators, students and policy makers. AGU will take place from Dec. 9-13 in San Francisco. For more information visit the AGU Fall 2013 website.
Presentations will be offered at AGU by the University of Washington’s Regional Scales Nodes (RSN) team on some of their recent OOI work. In addition to the various RSN presentations listed below, the team’s work will be highlighted in their video, “Down To The Volcano,” featured in the AGU Cinema. “Down To The Volcano” explores an underwater volcano with UW OOI scientists as they use the ROPOS ROV deployed from the Research Vessel Thompson to venture down to the bottom of the ocean during the Visions ’11 expedition. The video also displays high definition footage of fresh lava flows from the April 2011 eruption of Axial Seamount. Click here to read more about that video.
Also at AGU, Scripps Institution of Oceanography will provide opportunities for viewing and playing its D.E.E.P. video game at the Scripps exhibit area. The D.E.E.P. educational video game allows players to experience the deep ocean and do things such as using sonar to detect animals, fish and ocean bottom features. A recent beta version of the game allowed players to navigate ocean observatory nodes. For further details and a status update of the game, check out their presentation (details below).
A Consortium for Ocean Leadership booth (booth #111) will also be located in the main exhibit hall.
Additional OOI related Activities and presentations are as follows:
TITLE: Down to the Volcano
DATE/TIME: Screenings throughout the meeting, with other science films.
LOCATION: Unknown at this time
SESSION: AGU Cinema: Short Films on Science
Synopsis: Down to the Volcano, a co-production of the University of Washington’s School of Oceanography and UWTV, will be among the short films on science screened as part of the AGU Cinema at the AGU 2013 Fall Meeting. Down to the Volcano tells the story of Ocean Observatories Initiative engineers and scientists from the University of Washington as they plan and construct the OOI regional cabled network at Axial Volcano, one of the program’s main study sites in the northeast Pacific Ocean.
TITLE: Seawater bicarbonate removal during hydrothermal circulation
DATE/TIME/LOCATION: Monday, December 9, 10:35 – 10:50 AM; 2000 Moscone West
SESSION TYPE: Presentation
SESSION TITLE: B12B. Carbon Transformations in Hydrothermal Systems I
AUTHORS: Giora K Proskurowski1, Jeffrey Seewald2, Sean P Sylva2, Eoghan Reeves3, Marvin D Lilley1
INSTITUTIONS: 1. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States. 2. Marine Chemsitry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States. 3. MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
ABSTRACT: High temperature fluids sampled at hydrothermal vents represent a complex alteration product of water-rock reactions on a multi-component mixture of source fluids. Sources to high-temperature hydrothermal samples include the “original” seawater present in the recharge limb of circulation, magmatically influenced fluids added at depth as well as any seawater entrained during sampling. High-temperature hydrothermal fluids are typically enriched in magmatic volatiles, with CO2 the dominant species, characterized by concentrations of 10’s-100’s of mmol/kg (1, 2). Typically, the high concentration of CO2 relative to background seawater bicarbonate concentrations (~2.3 mmol/kg) obscures a full analysis of the fate of seawater bicarbonate during high-temperature hydrothermal circulation. Here we present data from a suite of samples collected over the past 15 years from high-temperature hydrothermal vents at 9N, Endeavour, Lau Basin, and the MAR that have endmember CO2 concentrations less than 10 mmol/kg. Using stable and radiocarbon isotope measurements these samples provide a unique opportunity to examine the balance between “original” seawater bicarbonate and CO2 added from magmatic sources. Multiple lines of evidence from multiple hydrothermal settings consistently points to the removal of ~80% of the “original” 2.3 mmol/kg seawater bicarbonate. Assuming that this removal occurs in the low-temperature, “recharge” limb of hydrothermal circulation, this removal process is widely occurring and has important contributions to the global carbon cycle over geologic time.
TITLE: Educational Videogames: Concept, Design And Evaluation
DATE/TIME/LOCATION: Monday, December 9, 1:40 – 3:40 PM; 300 Moscone South
SESSION TYPE: Presentation
SESSION TITLE: ED13H. Games, Interactive Simulations, and Virtual Labs for Science Teaching and Learning I [SWIRL_CM]
AUTHORS: Daniel Rohrlick; Alan Yang; Deborah L. Kilb; Logan Ma; Roxanne Ruzic; Cheryl L. Peach; Charina C. Layman
INSTITUTIONS: 1. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, CA, United States. 2. Ruzic Consulting, Inc., San Diego, CA, United States. 3. Birch Aquarium at Scripps, La Jolla, CA, United States.
ABSTRACT: Videogames have historically gained popularity thanks to their entertainment rather than their educational value. This may be due, in part, to the fact that many educational videogames present academic concepts in dry, quiz-like ways, without the visual experiences, interactivity, and excitement of non-educational games. The increasing availability of tools that allow designers to easily create rich experiences for players now makes it simpler than ever for educational game designers to generate the visual experiences, interactivity, and excitement that gamers have grown to expect. Based on data from our work, when designed effectively, educational games can engage players, teach concepts, and tear down the stereotype of the stuffy, boring educational game.
Our team has been experimenting with different ways to present scientific and mathematical concepts to middle and high school students through engaging, interactive games. When designing a gameplay concept, we focus on what we want the player to learn and experience as well as how to maintain a learning environment that is fun and engaging. Techniques that we have found successful include the use of a series of fast-paced “minigames,” and the use of a “simulator” learning method that allows a player to learn by completing objectives similar to those completed by today’s scientists.
Formative evaluations of our games over the past year have revealed both design strengths and weaknesses. Based on findings from a systematic evaluation of game play with diverse groups, with data collected through in-person observations of game play, knowledge assessments, focus groups, interviews with players, and computer tracking of students’ game play behavior, we have found that players are uniformly enthusiastic about the educational tools. At the same time, we find there is more work to be done to make our tools fully intuitive, and to effectively present complex mathematical and scientific concepts to learners from a wide range of backgrounds. Overall we find that designing educational games is a constant balancing act to ensure the player is engaged and has fun while at the same time learning important concepts.
TITLE: The Cabled Component of NSF’s Ocean Observatories Initiative: A Distributed, Multi-Sensor, Interactive Telepresence Within Ever-Shifting Marine Ecosystems
DATE/TIME/LOCATION: Wednesday, December 11, 1:40 – 6:00 PM; Hall A-C Moscone South
SESSION TYPE: Poster
SESSION TITLE: OS33B. Ocean Sciences General Contributions
POSTER #: OS33B-1779
AUTHORS: John R Delaney1, Deborah S Kelley1, Giora K Proskurowski1, Orest E Kawka1, Allison Fundis2, Michael Mulvihill1, Gary Harkins3, Michael Harrington3, Chuck McGuire3, Dana Manalang3, Russell Light3, Andy Stewart3, Ben Brand3
INSTITUTIONS: 1. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States. 2. Ocean Exploration Trust, Old Lyme, CT, United States. 3. Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
ABSTRACT: Since mid-year 2011, NSF’s Ocean Observatories Initiative has made considerable progress in installing its cabled seafloor and water-column component off the Washington-Oregon Coast. The Primary Infrastructure is nearly operational and includes ~900 km of high-power (10 kV) and bandwidth (10 Gbs) submarine electro-optical cable and 7 seafloor power- and communications switching stations (nodes) in a two-cable network spanning tectonically active zones across the Juan de Fuca Plate, with access to the overlying ocean. The system is connected to a shore-landing in Pacific City, Oregon, with a dual-path terrestrial backhaul to Portland where connections to major continent-wide, high-speed networks link via the Internet to the undersea system. During summer 2013 the VISIONS’13 expedition, using the R/V Thompson and the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) ROPOS, placed a number of secondary infrastructure elements on the seafloor, ready to be connected to the Primary Nodes when the system is fully tested and accepted by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Secondary infrastructure installed using the ROV ROPOS includes over 23,000 meters of extension cables, which comprise twelve electro-optical and electrical cables that provide links from the Primary Nodes to experimental sites and instrument clusters. Smaller nodes (junction boxes) were also deployed, with three installed on the seafloor. All cables and junction boxes were fully tested, which included powering up and communicating through the nodes and sensors using the ROV ROPOS as a power-communication source, and live data transmission of the resultant engineering and science data to the ship located 3000-1500m above the seafloor. Locations include sites near the base of the continental slope and on Axial Seamount, the most magmatically active volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Real-time data streamed from instruments connected to extension cables at Axial Volcano via ROPOS revealed a significant local earthquake on the volcano, and a minor signal showing direct tidal measurements from 300 miles offshore. Sensors to be installed and connected in 2014 will provide seismic information, current velocities, inflation and deflation measurements of the volcanic caldera, high-definition video on demand, digital-still imagery, chemical data from methane seeps and vent sites using mass spectrometers, and an array of thermistors in a low-temperature vent field. Six instrumented full water-column moorings with two different types of profilers will be installed and connected to the cable in 2014.
http://interactiveoceans.washington.edu/story/VISIONS+13
TITLE: Virtual Investigations of an Active Deep Sea Volcano
DATE/TIME/LOCATION: Thursday, December 12, 9:15 – 9:30 AM; 104 Moscone South
SESSION TYPE: Presentation
SESSION TITLE: PA41A. Scientists Must Film! Using Video to Enhance and Expand Science, and Science Communication I (Virtual Option)
AUTHORS: Leslie Sautter1, M. Montgomery Taylor1, Allison Fundis3, Deborah S Kelley2, Mitchell Elend2
INSTITUTIONS: 1. Geology and Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, United States. 2. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States. 3. Ocean Exploration Trust, Narragansett, RI, United States.
ABSTRACT: Axial Seamount, located on the Juan de Fuca spreading ridge 300 miles off the Oregon coast, is an active volcano whose summit caldera lies 1500 m beneath the sea surface. Ongoing construction of the Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) cabled observatory by the University of Washington (funded by the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative) has allowed for exploration of recent lava flows and active hydrothermal vents using HD video mounted on the ROVs, ROPOS and JASON II. College level oceanography/marine geology online laboratory exercises referred to as Online Concept Modules (OCMs) have been created using video and video frame-captured mosaics to promote skill development for characterizing and quantifying deep sea environments. Students proceed at their own pace through a sequence of short movies with which they (a) gain background knowledge, (b) learn skills to identify and classify features or biota within a targeted environment, (c) practice these skills, and (d) use their knowledge and skills to make interpretations regarding the environment. Part (d) serves as the necessary assessment component of the laboratory exercise. Two Axial Seamount-focused OCMs will be presented: 1) Lava Flow Characterization: Identifying a Suitable Cable Route, and 2) Assessing Hydrothermal Vent Communities: Comparisons Among Multiple Sulfide Chimneys.