Table of Links
Abstract and 1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 Methodology
4 Studying Deep Ocean Ecosystem and 4.1 Deep Ocean Research Goals
4.2 Workflow and Data
4.3 Design Challenges and User Tasks
5 The DeepSea System
- 5.1 Map View
- 5.2 Core View
5.3 Interpolation View and 5.4 Implementation
6 Usage Scenarios and 6.1 Scenario: Pre-Cruise Planning
- 6.2 Scenario: On-the-Fly Decision-Making
7 Evaluation and 7.1 Cruise Deployment
7.2 Expert Interviews
7.3 Limitations
7.4 Lessons Learned
8 Conclusions and Future Work, Acknowledgments, and References
4 STUDYING DEEP OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS
As the first step in the design study methodology, we characterized the needs of deep ocean researchers when visualizing multidimensional environmental data collected during field expeditions. What makes this challenging is addressing the size and complexity of data collected in a single interface, where researchers can correlate processes at several size scales, explore spatial trends in context of the environment, and test hypotheses where samples are sparse and limited. DeepSee addresses these challenges specifically in studying deep ocean ecosystems by integrating multiple coordinated views that both present data at multiple size scales simultaneously and visualize geochemical gradients and variation in microbial taxa in the context of the environment in both 2D and 3D. This can help researchers decide on new sampling locations that maximize scientific return.
4.1 Deep Ocean Research Goals
Broadly, our collaborators seek to advance an understanding of deep ocean microbial ecosystems. The deep ocean is Earth’s largest biome and is home to a variety of habitats that host rich, complex chemosynthetic ecosystems including hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, gas hydrates, whale falls, and carbonate platforms [10]. Microorganisms represent primary drivers of these extreme ecosystems, supporting diverse animal communities [12, 25]. Importantly, these deep ocean microbial ecosystems have been observed to facilitate key environmental processes, including the transformation of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, movement of energy between trophic levels, and general cycling of elements, such as sulfur and metals, making these ecosystems critical drivers on the global ecological scale [32, 34].
Clearly defining the nature, role, and impact of microorganisms in deep ocean ecosystems is critical for connecting deep ocean processes to biogeochemical cycling and diversity globally. There is increased importance of temporal and spatial monitoring with exploitation of deep ocean resources (e.g. deep sea mining) or in response to environmental change. Characterizing these extreme environments and the microbial adaptations required to persist and carry out key ecological processes is also advantageous for applications in the industrial world, where yet-to-be discovered molecular machinery and compounds may be applied to a variety of unsolved problems in medicine, agriculture, and environmental science [8, 35, 47]. Similarly, advances in planetary exploration have also revealed similar environments to those found in Earth’s deep oceans; further exploration of Earth’s deep ocean microbial ecosystems can therefore further shape our understanding of how life can adapt to the similarly extreme conditions that may exist beyond Earth [19, 29, 30].
Authors:
(1) Adam Coscia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA ([email protected]);
(2) Haley M. Sapers, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(3) Noah Deutsch, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA ([email protected]);
(4) Malika Khurana, The New York Times Company, New York, New York, USA ([email protected]);
(5) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(6) Sergio A. Parra, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(7) Daniel R. Utter, [email protected] Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(8) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(9) David W. Caress, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA ([email protected]);
(10) Eric J. Martin Jennifer B. Paduan Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA ([email protected]);
(11) Jennifer B. Paduan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA ([email protected]);
(12) Maggie Hendrie, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(13) Santiago Lombeyda, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(14) Hillary Mushkin, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(15) Alex Endert, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA ([email protected]);
(16) Scott Davidoff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]);
(17) Victoria J. Orphan, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA ([email protected]).
