NARRAGANSETT – The University of Rhode Island announced the launch of a joint project with the Ocean Exploration Trust and the Sea Research Foundation that will offer live Internet coverage of research explorations in oceans around the world.
Exploration Now allows anyone on the Internet to view streaming video and audio from three research vessels, which transmit satellite signals to URI that are then connected to the website, www.explorationnow.org.
Each day, Exploration Now also creates a short news video with updates on the research teams’ most recent progress and interviews with those on board. These are broadcast at the bottom of the hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Exploration Now also uses the live video connection for educational purposes at aquariums, museums and science centers around the country, from Mystic, Conn., to San Francisco.
“Anyone can see and hear as discoveries are being made,” Dwight Coleman, director of the Inner Space Center at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, said in a statement. “It’s a portal for scientists, explorers, armchair travelers and anyone else curious enough to want to watch as science happens.”
The vessels currently streaming on the site are E/V Nautilus, Okeanos Explorer and R/V Atlantis, with occasional images as well from R/V Falkor and R/V Thompson. The project may expand in the future to include other ships or scientific studies on land as well.
