Planning the Maiden Voyage of Discovery for NOAA’s Dedicated Ocean Exploration

Vessel, Okeanos Explorer

May 9-11, 2007National Geographic Society

Washington, D.C..

James A. Austin, Jr.OEAWG

Goals and Objectives

• Raise community awareness about Ocean Exploration Program opportunities, including the “telepresence” operational paradigm and (evolving) technical capabilities of the Okeanos Explorer.

• Enable the OEAWG to make recommendations to NOAA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) for high-priority survey areas/targets during the (2008) maiden voyage of Okeanos Explorer to the Pacific Ocean basin.

What is the Ocean Exploration Advisory Working Group (OEAWG)?

• Primary purpose: provide NOAA, through the SAB, with timely and expert guidance and oversight pertaining to, (1) general priorities for ocean exploration, including geographic areas of interest as well as subject matter topics (the May 2007 workshop), and (2) advice concerning emerging ocean exploration-relevant technologies (this workshop). • Organize and conduct periodic reviews of: the quality of the program's exploration and research; the relevance of program activities and goals to NOAA’s Ecosystem Mission Goal and the Program Planning, Budget, and Execution System; and the performance of the program in meeting its research objectives and long-term goals described in its Annual Operating Plan and other relevant NOAA plans and policies.

Who attended the workshop?

• Participants (total of 24) from the interested community, in response to a call by the NOAA OE program for short (1-page) white papers, identifying regions worthy of Okeanos Explorer attention during its maiden voyage to the Pacific. Participants were chosen to represent themes, regions and the broader community, not themselves.

• Members of the OEAWG and NOAA OE staff.

• Members of the Institute for Exploration (IFE) at URI; funding for the workshop came through a grant to IFE from the Lounsbery Foundation. That grant is also supporting this workshop.

Where did theparticipants want to work?

Breakout sessions on Day 1 looked at and discussed the white papers in broad regions of the Pacific (North, Central, South), to identify common themes/important targets:

• Themes: tectonically active, isolated, anomalous, isolating long-term effects of human impact

• Targets: seamounts, deep reefs, major convergence zones, trenches, unexplained spatial/temporal congregations of organisms (e.g., the “white shark café”)

Participants also discussed the ways in which Okeanos Explorer could work:

• Boxes – target regions of high interest (“low hanging fruit”/ ”sure bets”) for concentrated exploration (but not for full-blown research). When to leave?

• Sticks – transits through unknown/ poorly studied regions of suspected interest where reconnaissance mapping (i.e., multibeam, AUV?, subbottom profiling?) could occur at “underway” speeds, leading to unpredictable discoveries. When/how often to slow down or stop? Make what measurements during those times?

Participants agreed that identifying standard (consistent?) suites of data products and deliverables for exploring both “boxes” and “sticks” would help (telepresence-based) decision-making for Okeanos Explorer operations.

• Use anticipated shakedown cruises to develop prototype data products.

• Learn from results of completed telepresence expeditions (e.g., Black Sea, 2007) to refine decision-making (by “doctors on duty” in Exploration Command Centers ashore) associated with the “boxes” and “sticks” approach to OE ship operations.

Rights to data were also discussed, and successful models noted (scientific ocean drilling, OOI, NASA)

• Develop protocols for collecting, processing, curating,and providing access to samples (e.g., work with theSmithsonian Institution for curation of shipboard biological samples?).

• Make sure that OE data dissemination is broad and fair.

ConclusionsOkeanos Explorer presents the oceanographic community with a wonderful new asset, but many questions remain:

• Will the “doctors on duty” ashore be able to make consistent real-time decisions?

• Will the “boxes” and “sticks” concept be successful? Operationally efficient?

• How will NOAA manage OE data optimally for the maximum benefit of the broadest possible community of users?

• Can NOAA voyages of discovery take their place next to UNOLS cruises funded by NSF, ONR,… as both desirable and accepted academic endeavors?

Questions?