Live Chat from the Ship

June 2nd @ 11:40am – We’ve just begun steaming for our next node: ODP 889. ‘ODP’ stands for the Ocean Drilling Program and the 889 designation is a specific borehole that was drilled through the bottom sediments and into the oceanic crust. The NEPTUNE Network has taken advantage of some of these holes we’ve punched into the seafloor by capping them and instrumenting them with temperature, pressure, and other sensor suites. More on this later.

Yesterday afternoon, with much help from Dwight and Allison on board the ship, Maia and Natasha back at the University of Victoria, and Murray in the IT office at Brentwood College, we attempted to work out the bugs in our portable video conferencing system. The hope is that we will be able to talk back and forth live from the ship to students and their teachers in classrooms around BC, and theoretically, anywhere.

It was an exciting (an unplanned) moment when Murray wandered into my afternoon Grade 9 and 10 engineering class and I was able to chat with some of my students. Stay tuned for a follow up as we tweak the system in the lead up to World Oceans Day on June 8th.

Blog post and photos by Scott Doehler 
Marine Educator