Real time ocean research education: Methods and technologies for outreach during a ship-based research cruise

We present the technologies and human resource infrastructure of an educational outreach website and CD-ROM that allows instructors and teachers to follow the day-by-day progress of an ocean research expedition, aboard the RN Thomas G Thompson. Classes can follow the daily activities and research of an interdisciplinary science party as it studies underwater mud volcanism in the Mariana forearc. The website and CD-ROM use html, video, and Quick Time Virtual Reality, to monitor research and daily life events aboard the ship. The students are exposed to a number of instruments including the VMOI Jason2/Medea Remotely Operated Vehicle, multi-beam and side scan sonar systems, as well as gravity and piston coring. Students are given background information about the project, daily updates of events and data collected, as well as lessons that address the various aspects of the cruise. Using a Marisat satellite link, students are able to ask the researchers questions about their work. This paper will outline our program's technical and personnel infrastructure.