Alumni Magazine - Spring 2008 - (Page 20)

Left: The remotely operated vehicle Jason II is lowered into the water. Right: Oceanography spans many interlocking disciplines, including meteorology, ocean dynamics, seismology, geology, ﬁsheries, marine biology, botany, carbon cycle, hydrothermal vents, and earth and ocean processes. “Obviously, not everybody can or should be an expert on the ocean, but taxpayers, voters, politicians, and journalists must realize that we do not live on an inexhaustible system; it is increasingly obvious that the Earth system is ﬁnite, and we are pushing its limits.” —John Delaney while adults can log on for research purposes, education, weather information, or to simply satisfy their curiosity about the mysterious sea below. “If you and your family and friends were going to go out of the solar system in a spacecraft, you would want to know everything you could about that craft—where it could fail, what its strengths were, what the energy sources were, how the pollution was handled, etc. Well, it turns out you and your friends are on a spacecraft, and it’s called Earth; the global ocean is an integral part of the life-support system—and we have limited knowledge about how this complex system actually functions,” Delaney says. For instance, if you were interested in a certain facet of oceanography, such as whale migration, you could log on to the Regional Cabled Observatory at www.ooi.washington.edu and see the whales right at that very moment, in real time. “And you will be able to do the same with weather, underwater weather, underwater geology, underwater ﬁsh stocks, etc.,” Delaney says. To demonstrate, he logs onto the web and goes to a research expedition site where an octopus—what Delaney calls “a prime predator in the hydrothermal areas” that went undiscovered for centuries— dances around the darkness of the ocean ﬂoor. He then clicks on a site where one can instantly see the changes in ocean temperature mapped out over centuries. EDUCATION A S A TOOL F OR P OL ITIC A L C HA NGE The Regional Cabled Observatory project has important political implications as well. “People are now beginning to realize that climate change is one of the big issues,” Delaney says. “So taking these ﬁrst steps to develop the capability to have routine observations and interactive human telepresence throughout any part of the ocean suddenly becomes a very crucial way of constantly assess- ing global change.” There is still debate over the extent and potential threat posed by climate change, and Delaney hopes having an unbiased suite of sensors and data that comes ashore and is available to everyone, everywhere, will contribute strongly to that dialogue. “With this kind of facility, we will be able to say, unequivocally, ‘Here are the speciﬁcs of this oceanic information day in and day out, year in and year out, decade in and decade out,” he says. “One of the most crucial things about the oceans is that as they change constantly, so change the weather patterns and the climate patterns; the drought, ﬂooding, rainfall, and growth of vegetation on the continents— they are all tied to the rhythms of the ocean.” Delaney hopes this oceanic awareness will make people realize the seriousness of our planet’s current state. “Obviously, not everybody can or should be an expert on the ocean,” he says. “But taxpayers, voters, politicians, and journalists must realize that we do not live on an inexhaustible system; it is 20 lehigh alumni bulletin http://www.ooi.washington.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Alumni Magazine - Spring 2008

Alumni Magazine - Spring 2008 Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Research Arts & Culture Sports Alumni News Cover Story: In Galileo's Wake Technically Funny The Healing Game Looking for America The Last Word

Alumni Magazine - Spring 2008

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