NARRAGANSETT, R.I. – July 16, 2013 — The University of Rhode Island and the Ocean Exploration Trust, in partnership with the Sea Research Foundation, have launched Exploration Now, an interactive project providing live coverage of explorations in the world’s oceans accessible to the general public at http://www.explorationnow.org.
“Exploration Now provides live streaming video and audio from research ships around the globe, transmitted via satellite to the Inner Space Center here at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, and then delivered live to the website so anyone can see and hear as discoveries are being made,” said Dwight Coleman, director of the Inner Space Center. “It’s a portal for scientists, explorers, armchair travelers and anyone else curious enough to want to watch as science happens.”
The site currently offers live images from three research vessels — E/V Nautilus (operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust), NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and R/V Atlantis (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) – while occasionally also featuring the live activities from R/V Falkor (Schmidt Ocean Institute) and R/V Thompson (University of Washington). Additional ships may come online in the future, along with land-based scientific explorations as well.
Every morning, the Exploration Now team produces a short news program that highlights updates from the research and exploration vessels, along with interviews with scientists, engineers and educators on board the ships. This program streams live every day at the bottom of the hour from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Eastern time.
“Exploration Now is the only place where visitors can watch every expedition and discovery, right along side the explorers aboard the ships,” said Stephen Burke, associate producer of the Exploration Now news broadcasts. “And if you missed it live, you can always watch our news broadcasts for all the highlights.”
Exploration Now also delivers live interactive educational programming to a diverse audience of aquariums, science centers, and museums, including Mystic Aquarium, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Texas State Aquarium, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and the Titanic Belfast Museum. These programs involve live ship-to-shore interactions between explorers at sea and audiences on shore.