Student Application: Please Join Us On the VISIONS 2020 Seagoing Expedition

We are looking for students interested in the UW Sea-Going Research and Discovery course (OCEAN 411). This at-sea course will provide you direct participation on a global-class research ship using a state-of the-art underwater robotic vehicle (ROV). The expedition will take place July to August aboard the 274-foot R/V Thomas J. Thompson and will utilize the deep diving ROV Jason. We will be working at depths of up to 9500 ft beneath the ocean’s surface and at >300 miles offshore. The worksites include methane seeps off the Oregon margin; Axial Seamount (the largest and most active submarine volcano off our coast); active hydrothermal vents hosting novel animal and microbial communities, and along highly productive coastal environments off Newport, Oregon.

Jason about to begin its descent into the NE Pacific. Credit. M. Elend, University of Washington, V19.

You will conduct your own research and/or outreach projects using data and stunning imagery collected with some of these advanced technologies. The course will emphasize the importance of science communication during your time at sea. During Fall quarter, you will have the opportunity to finish your individual and/or team projects and present your results in a symposium at the end of the quarter. Longer term projects are available as well, which may turn into publications in national journals and allow you to give presentations at national meetings.

University of Washington undergraduate students, Katie Gonzales and Eve Hudson process hydrothermal vent fluids taken from more than a mile beneath the oceans surface at the summit of Axial Seamount. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington. V19.

As a member of this oceanographic expedition and class, you will be taking part in maintenance of the US’s high-power and high-bandwidth underwater ocean observatory that is directly connected to the Internet – the Regional Cabled Array funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative. Here, over 150 instruments are streaming data and imagery live to shore 24/7/365 that are available for you to explore and make your own discoveries. You will be participating in a truly groundbreaking effort that continues to transform ocean sciences and exploration.

Submit the application provided on this web site via email by March 17, 2020 to Dr. Deb Kelley (dskelley@uw.edu; 206-685-9556) or drop off at Room 261, Ocean Teaching Building.

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