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Oceanography | Vol. 38, No. 3
60
ROGER REVELLE COMMEMORATIVE LECTURE
OCEANOGRAPHY IN
THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT ROBOTS
AND A CHANGING CLIMATE
By Chris Scholin
The Roger Revelle Commemorative Lecture Series was created by the Ocean Studies Board of the
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in honor of Roger Revelle to highlight the
important links between ocean sciences and public policy. Dr. Chris Scholin, the twenty-sixth annual
lecturer, spoke on May 1, 2025, at the National Academy of Sciences.
Credit: MBARI
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INTRODUCTION
In his opening remarks at the inaugural meeting of The Ocean
ography Society, David Packard spoke about an opportunity to
accelerate progress in ocean science through technology develop
ment (Packard, 1989). The ocean, as he saw it, was the last fron
tier on Earth, and it did not garner the attention it deserved. Yet,
it held untold mysteries and unseen landscapes, and many techni
cal, scientific, and societally relevant discoveries awaited. Two years
earlier, that insight had led to the founding of the Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI; Barber, 1988; Chavez et al.,
2017a). A combination and integration of three foundational tech
nologies were projected to transform oceanography: remotely oper
ated vehicles (ROVs), new types of sensors, and advanced comput
ing and data systems. Starting with those building blocks, Packard’s
charge when founding MBARI was to “go deep and stay long” to
improve our understanding of the ocean (Barber, 1988) and to
“return data, not samples.” This article draws from that legacy.
Packard was right. The advent of robotic and advanced sens
ing and computing technologies has indeed transformed ocean
exploration. New tools and techniques have allowed us to over
come many, but by no means all, of the challenges posed by the
sea’s depth, vastness, and inaccessibility. Packard, like many
others, understood that a sustained investment in basic research
and engineering would pay future dividends in ways that could
not be foreseen. Today, nearly 40 years after MBARI’s founding,
hybrid human-machine and fully autonomous systems are reveal
ing an unprecedented perspective on the interplay between marine
chemistry, physics, biology, and geology. Robots enable coordi
nated observations of the water column and seafloor in ways that
humans cannot match and allow extended missions in extreme
environments. Collection of long-term monitoring data from far-
flung corners of the globe, automated in situ analyses, real-time
communications and data sharing, and active multimedia public
engagement across continents are now a part of everyday oceanog
raphy. A new window into our ocean world is opening—one that
was long imagined by visionary scientists, engineers, and science
fiction writers alike.
This paper examines a number of technological innovations that
are revealing surprising insights into the inner workings of our
ocean and its inhabitants against the backdrop of a rapidly chang
ing climate. The examples given are by no means a comprehensive
review of the role that technology is playing in ocean exploration.
Many individuals from organizations around the world have made
lasting contributions that have brought us to this juncture. Here,
several case studies are chosen to illustrate that ongoing process
and to pay homage to some of the scientists and engineers who
set us on this course. We still have much to learn about the sea, its
inhabitants, and the vital role it plays in sustaining the health of
our planet and the well-being of society. Decades-long interdisci
plinary science and engineering pursuits have ushered in a new era
of discovery driven by bold ideas, serendipitous discoveries, and
the allure of the largest and least explored habitat on Earth.
TAKING THE PULSE OF THE PLANET
In 1957, Roger Revelle and Hans Suess captured the scientific com
munity’s imagination with their groundbreaking paper on CO2
exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean (Revelle and
Suess, 1957). They argued that CO2 released from the burning of
fossil fuels was accumulating in the atmosphere and that a signif
icant fraction of the emissions had dissolved into the sea. Perhaps
most importantly, they went on to say,
…human beings are now carrying out a large scale geophysical
experiment of a kind that could not have happened in the past or
be reproduced in the future… This experiment, if adequately doc
umented, may yield a far-reaching insight into the processes deter
mining weather and climate.
Their findings were provocative, scientifically tantalizing, and
urgently driven by increasing global industrialization, and sug
gested that increased atmospheric CO2 could lead to changes in
ocean chemistry and a warmer climate with potentially compound
ing amplifications due to a number of processes that were known
but not well characterized at the time. The insight was brilliant, but
ABSTRACT. The advent of robotic and artificial intelligence technologies has transformed ocean exploration, overcoming many, but
not all, of the challenges posed by the sea’s depth, vastness, and inaccessibility. From data collection and long-term monitoring to real-
time communications, data sharing, and public engagement, hybrid human-machine and fully autonomous systems are revealing an
unprecedented perspective on the interplay between marine chemistry, physics, geology, and biology in ways that humans cannot match.
This paper examines a number of exemplary decades-long interdisciplinary science and engineering pursuits that have fueled that prog
ress. More recent advancements in microelectronics, biopharma, aerospace, manufacturing, materials and computer sciences, and social
media—foundations of multibillion dollar industries that generally have nothing to do with marine science—are accelerating our abil
ity to explore the ocean and share our findings with a global audience. Every time we return to the sea with open minds, a willingness to
attempt something that has never been done before, and new technologies in hand, we learn something new, more often than not seren
dipitously. The ocean is undergoing increasingly rapid change due to human activities, and we are in a race to learn more about its inner
workings, reveal its incredible diversity of life, and visualize its submerged landscapes. A sustained commitment to technology develop
ment is integral to competing in that race. No doubt, there is still much to learn about the largest and least explored habitat on Earth and
the vital role it plays in sustaining the health of our planet and the well-being of society.
Oceanography | Early Online Release
the capabilities for testing this theory globally were in their infancy.
The consequences of fossil fuel consumption were of tremendous
importance societally, but at the time of Revelle and Suess’s procla
mation, that was not a part of public discussion and politics as it
is today. Decades of research followed as investigators sought the
means to conduct ocean-basin-scale measurements needed to
assess predicted trends. In 1999, Peter Brewer elegantly recounted
that history during the first annual Revelle Lecture (Brewer, 2000).
Capturing time-space variations in the ocean’s interior, at basin
scales, accurately, is no small challenge. For many years, the only
practical way to tackle this problem was by using crewed ships to
conduct hydrographic surveys. Despite the analytical and logisti
cal challenges, a picture of the exchange of CO2 between the atmo
sphere and ocean slowly emerged (Brewer, 2013). Decades of
work were required to establish the connection between the burn
ing of fossil fuels and the reality of human-driven climate change
and ocean acidification. Ironically, nearly 70 years after Revelle
and Suess issued their “geophysical experiment” proposition, we
now find ourselves scrambling to assess the promise and pitfalls
of artificially stimulating the ocean to absorb more CO2 to mit
igate a climate crisis of our own making (e.g., Coale et al., 1996;
Brewer, 2013; Bach and Boyd, 2021; NASEM, 2022; Levin et al.,
2023; S.M. Smith et al., 2024; Findlay et al., 2025, in this issue).
ENTER THE ROBOTS
As ocean sensor systems matured, so too did the platforms on
which they could be deployed. In addition to measurements
acquired manually, scientists and engineers developed the means to
automate air-sea CO2 flux measurements aboard ships, moorings,
and autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs; Friederich et al., 1995;
Chavez et al., 2017b, 2018). It was apparent that seasonality and
geographical location played an important role in when and where
there was a net flux of CO2 into or out of the sea (e.g., Takahashi
et al., 2009). Other sensor systems for autonomously acquiring bio
geochemical measurements, such as pH (Johnson et al., 2016) and
nitrate (Sakamoto et al., 2017), also evolved along with improve
ments for in situ quantification of oxygen and optical parameters,
all of which were deployable on autonomous underwater vehicles
(AUVs) and ROVs. Development and use of these biogeochemi
cal sensor suites were greatly aided by the availability of mooring
technology and well-established time-series studies that included
routine ship-based hydrographic surveys (e.g., Karl, 2010, 2014;
Chavez et al., 2017b). Now, after years of observations, the unmis
takable trend of rising CO2 in the atmosphere with concurrent
changes in ocean pH and temperature has emerged (Figure 1;
e.g., Thorne et al., 2024) along with complex biological and eco
system manifestations (e.g., Doney et al., 2020; Alter et al., 2024).
Thanks to a remarkable confluence of technologies and dogged
determination on the part of scores of visionary scientists and
engineers, it is now possible to observe ocean basin-scale car
bon cycling using a distributed fleet of profiling floats—robots—
that offer much more information at a far lower cost compared
to ship-based surveys (Figure 2a,b; e.g., Johnson and Claustre,
2016; Claustre et al., 2020; Schofield et al., 2022; Sarmiento et al.,
2023). A global fleet of floats now returns sensor measurement
data from remote regions of the globe in real time, and the infor
mation acquired is freely accessible to anyone nearly instantly via
the Internet (GO-BGC). This remarkable achievement has given
ocean scientists the equivalent of a medical doctor’s tool kit for
rapidly assessing a patient’s vital signs. As a result, we now know
that the Southern Ocean—one of the most inaccessible and diffi
cult places to work—plays a major role in ocean-atmosphere car
bon cycling and global climate modulation (Liniger et al., 2025).
FIGURE 1. Plots show time series from 1900 to the present of (a) atmospheric
carbon dioxide (CO2) measured from ice cores (black) and the Mauna Loa
Observatory (red) on the Big Island of Hawai‘i (Keeling et al., 2001; MacFarling
Meure et al., 2006). The trend in the partial pressure of surface ocean pCO2
(a measure of CO2 entering or exiting the sea) in Monterey Bay, California,
from the early 1990s is also shown (blue; updated from Chavez et al., 2017b).
(b) Surface ocean pH data from the early 1990s to the present are shown
here from the Hawai‘i Ocean Time-series (HOT) program (red; Karl and
Lukas, 1996) and Monterey Bay California (blue; updated from Chavez et al.,
2017b). Note that the pH scale is logarithmic. (c) The figure shows sea sur
face temperature anomalies (seasonal cycle removed) from the California
Current along the US West Coast (Huang et al., 2017). Clear trends are evi
dent for all of the measurements.
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As the profiling float network grows and is sustained, we increas
ingly gain a perspective on how other oceanic regions are respond
ing. These programs have also proven to have phenomenal educa
tion and outreach appeal (Figure 2c,d). Groups can adopt floats,
name them (even personalize their housings), and follow them
over time in conjunction with classroom lesson plans (Adopt-A-
Float program; EARTH Lesson Plans; Matsumoto et al., in press).
To date, people from all 50 US states, Puerto Rico, Samoa, and over
15 countries have adopted floats.
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Advances in biogeochemical measurements have only recently
given us the means to observe the basic vital signs of the global
ocean. Understanding pelagic ecosystem dynamics and the role
that animals play in the marine carbon cycle poses an entirely dif
ferent and arguably far greater challenge. Since the time of the
Challenger Expedition (Thomson, 1887), trawl nets have been
used to search for life in the deep sea with success, but that method
returns no context about the three-dimensional environment in
which animals live, and it destroys fragile animals, thus obscuring
their presence. Diving into the depths to observe life in its natu
ral habitat, up close and in-person, offered an entirely new under
standing compared to what nets yielded.
William Beebe (1934), in his book Half Mile Down, recounted
his personal experiences of being lowered into the sea in a bathy
sphere. He described an abundance of strange deep-sea animals
that frequently glowed in bedazzling ways that defied his expla
nation. One of his team members, Else Bostelmann, a talented
artist, created original works for National Geographic magazine
that reflected Bebee’s accounts and brought deep-sea biology to
the public’s attention (Widder, 2016). Decades later, more sophis
ticated expeditions using self-propelled crewed submersibles,
including single-person vehicles (e.g., Robison 1983; Alldredge
et al., 1984; Widder et al., 1989), opened a new chapter of deep-
water research and exploration.
With MBARI’s founding in the late 1980s, David Packard gave
scientists and engineers a new platform for accessing the deep
sea. His charge was to adapt an ROV dubbed Ventana, originally
designed for use in the offshore oil and gas industry, for use as a
multi-purpose research platform (Figure 3a,b). Prior to that time,
no one had attempted to use an ROV for such purposes. Robison
et al. (2017) offered a unique perspective on the history of initiat
ing and developing a midwater research program using ROVs as
did Haddock et al. (2017). At the time of its introduction to the
ocean science community, Ventana, and its support vessel Point
Lobos, seemed unremarkable compared to storied crewed sub
mersibles such as Alvin and Johnson Sea Link and their much larger
mother ships. But it was soon apparent that ROVs offered tremen
dous capabilities and were highly adaptable. They quickly became
integral to the discovery of new species and revelations of pelagic
ecosystem structure and function, in particular, the prevalence
and importance of gelatinous animals (Haddock, 2004; Robison,
2004). ROV time-series studies also made possible the first-ever
comprehensive description of a deep pelagic food web (Choy et al.,
2017). All of these advancements were fundamentally enabled
by telepresence—underwater video recordings—combined with
FIGURE 2. Biogeochemical sensing data and equipment. (a) Comparison
of ship-based profiles for oxygen, chlorophyll, nitrate, and pH. (b) A global
map shows the distribution of profiling floats provided by the Global Ocean
Biogeochemistry Array (GO-BGC), the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate
Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project, and US partners. (c) School
children learn about profiling float technology by examining a mockup with
transparent housing. (d) MBARI marine educator Jennifer Magnusson is
shown ready to launch a float named Trieste from R/V Thomas G. Thompson
in 2024. The National Academies’ Ocean Studies Board (OSB), overseer for
the annual Revelle Lecture, named and adopted the Trieste float in mem
ory of former OSB member Don Walsh who, with Jacques Piccard, made
the first historic dive to the depths of Challenger Deep in the bathyscaphe
Trieste. Images for (c) and (d) provided by G. Matsumoto and J. Magnusson,
respectively, 2025
Oceanography | Early Online Release
to reproduce midwater transect capabilities that had long been
refined using ROVs. The platform is able to travel faster than an
ROV and is quieter (Reisenbichler et al., 2016; Robison et al.,
2017). Other AUVs along these lines are rapidly becoming more
common and trending smaller in size for both water column and
seafloor observations. Just as robots have improved our capacity
for biogeochemical sensing, ROVs and AUVs now offer another
suite of platforms and tools for probing the “large scale geophysi
cal experiment” that Revelle and Suess foretold.
THE DATA DELUGE
Obtaining high-resolution underwater video observations and
conducting in situ experiments have proven to be effective means
for documenting ecosystem changes that are occurring over
time. For example, in Monterey Bay, changes in oxygen in the
water column are linked to observed changes in animal behavior,
which in turn has significant implications for food web dynamics
(e.g., Figure 5; Robison et al., 2017). A key enabling technology
that has made this observation possible is the Video Annotation
and Reference System (VARS; Schlining and Stout, 2006; VARS
Overview). VARS provides the means to expertly identify what is
seen in underwater imagery—a process known as annotation—
and merge it with concurrent measurements of relevant physi
cal and chemical parameters. The result is a searchable database
that contains geolocated quantitative sightings of particular ani
mals cross referenced with the environmental conditions under
which they were observed. VARS is an open-source application
that has been adopted by a number groups, including Australia’s
Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization
(CSIRO), Oregon State University, the University of Hawai‘i School
of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). At
MBARI, to date, VARS has grown to include nearly 29,000 hours
of underwater imagery from which almost 11 million observations
of over 4,400 unique “concepts” (e.g., animals, debris, geologic for
mations) have been cataloged. Nearly 600 peer-reviewed publica
tions and over 300 new species have been described drawing from
that archive. The Deep-Sea Guide offers a publicly accessible por
tal for accessing a portion of VARS content.
With the ever-growing collection of imagery from a multitude
FIGURE 3. Evolution of platforms used for midwater research and time series studies at MBARI. (a) ROV Ventana’s first launch in 1988 from R/V Point Lobos
© 1988 MBARI (b) Modern-day incarnation of Ventana being deployed from R/V Rachel Carson. Kim Fulton-Bennet © 2014 MBARI (c) The i2MAP AUV is
designed for conducting midwater surveys. Kim Reisenbichler © 2022 MBARI
concurrent measurements of temperature, oxygen, salinity, and
other ocean variables. The addition of robotic sensors and sam
plers to ROVs also made it possible to collect specimens and con
duct unique in situ experiments. A recent example of the utility of
what ROVs can enable scientifically is particularly well illustrated
in the detailed description of a deep-sea animal new to science that
for years was known only as the “mystery mollusc” (Robison and
Haddock, 2024; Figure 4). Similarly, ROVs have also proven to be
valuable tools for evaluating the impacts of rising levels of CO2 on
ocean biology and chemistry both in the water column and on the
seafloor (e.g., Barry et al., 2017; Brewer et al., 2017; Robison et al.,
2017). In today’s world, ROVs are integral to ocean exploration
and are proliferating. The technology continues to evolve rapidly,
making the platforms more capable, accessible, and affordable.
Operating ROVs is less costly and logistically less complex than
crewed submersibles, but it still requires a surface support ship
and skilled crew. In a step toward reducing the dependency on
crewed ships, AUVs are being modified to conduct similar sur
veys. For example, the i2MAP vehicle built at MBARI (Figure 3c)
carries imaging and acoustic systems along with other sensors
FIGURE 4. This animal was long known as “the mystery mollusc.” Years of
observations, experimentation, and specimen collections using remotely
operated vehicles (ROVs) ultimately led to its formal description as
Bathydevius caudactylus, an entirely new bathypelagic nudibranch genus
and species (Robison and Haddock, 2024). © 2002 MBARI
Early Online Release | Oceanography
of platforms, humans can no longer keep pace with the demand
for video annotation and the ancillary data that come with it.
Machine learning is now playing a central role in processing that
information. At the time of this writing, the VARS annotation
pipeline has been improved by using computer models trained
on approximately 900,000 localizations of over 1,600 expertly
curated concepts to assist with image annotation and identifica
tion (Figure 6; VARS-ML). In an effort to federate and coordi
nate this line of research, FathomNet offers a publicly accessible
platform for sharing images and accessing artificial intelligence
and machine learning tools to accelerate the analysis of ocean
visual data (Katija et al., 2022; Crosby et al., 2023). A compan
ion program, FathomVerse, a free mobile game, offers an inter
active science community experience where players engage
with real ocean images collected by researchers and robots from
around the world. Participants who play the game contribute
to improving computer algorithms used to chronicle ocean life
while learning about the animals they see, which is proving to be a
technologically novel way to expand participation in ocean explo
ration and discovery.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence can also be used
aboard remotely operated and autonomous platforms to process
visual and other sensory data in real time. Without any human
intervention, vehicles can adapt to dynamic environmental con
ditions by leveraging physical, chemical, and biological cues that
enable them to track marine life over extended periods (e.g., Zhang
et al., 2021a, 2021b) and navigate complex terrain in the absence of
detailed maps (e.g., Troni et al., in press a, in press b). The power
and potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence is only
beginning to alter our ability to observe the ocean holistically.
In the years ahead, this area of rapid innovation will undoubt
edly transform data acquisition, analysis, and dissemination both
ashore and at sea. This technology is also an effective means for
engaging the next generation of ocean enthusiasts. Robots super
charged with artificial intelligence offer something for everyone.
Whether it is the science they enable, the imagery they produce,
the computational capability that makes them “smart,” the mis
sions they undertake, or just the impressiveness of the machines
themselves, people are simply fascinated by robots.
THE BIOLOGICAL CARBON PUMP
AND VERTICAL MIGRATION
World Wars I and II sparked a revolution in ocean engineering.
Submarines were proving to be very effective at sinking combatants
and ships carrying supplies to aid the war effort, and a technological
advance was needed to detect and intercept them. Sonar (SOund
Navigation And Ranging) offered an answer while also providing
a way to gauge the depth of the seafloor. As the technology was
refined, a reflective layer was sometimes detected in the water col
umn that could be so dense it gave a false sense of the actual depth
of the seafloor, even to the extent that ships traveling in uncharted
waters reported the presence of phantom shoals. Stranger still, that
feature was usually observed to move in rhythm with the time of
day, rising at night and descending during the day. The deep scat
tering layer (DSL), as it came be known, was later associated with
dense aggregates of animals (e.g., Ritche, 1953; Dietz, 1962).
The advent of sonar had revealed something amazing: diel verti
cal migration. Animals who spent daylight hours in the twilight of
the deep rose at night to feed, and drew organic carbon with them
when descending back to the depths during the day. This behavior
accelerates the transport of carbon from surface to deep waters—a
phenomenon known as the biological pump—contributing to the
ocean’s role in modulating climate while also providing food for
animals and microbes throughout the water column and on the
FIGURE 5. Time-series obser
vations document the displace
ment of several midwater animals
toward the surface in response
to a shoaling oxygen minimum
zone (after Robison et al., 2017).
Hake and Chiroteuthis images ©
2025 MBARI; Tomopterid image
Rob Sherlock © 2007 MBARI
Oceanography | Early Online Release
seafloor (e.g., Robison et al., 2005; Brierley, 2014; Honjo et al.,
2014; K.L. Smith et al., 2017; Archibald et al., 2019). The same
processes can also transport microplastics, which has led to the
suggestion that a large, previously unknown reservoir of marine
microplastics may be contained within animal communities living
in the deep sea. (Choy et al., 2019).
Comprehensively investigating the players and processes that
transform and transport organic matter from the sea surface to
the seafloor over decades is not easy (e.g., Messié et al., 2023).
The distribution and behavior of the participants and the mate
rial they transform and produce varies tremendously in time and
space, challenging our ability to model biologically driven carbon
flux and resultant climate influence. Persistent observations of the
ocean using a variety of tools is a necessary step toward meeting
that grand challenge (e.g., Karl, 2014; Chavez et al., 2021a).
LISTENING AND DECODING WHAT ANIMALS
LEAVE IN THEIR WAKE
It is truly amazing what you can learn by listening. The history
of ocean soundscape analysis is a great example. In the mid-
4th century BCE, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in his
landmark work History of Animals noted that sea creatures pro
duced sounds (see Thompson, 1910). Ancient mariners also mar
veled at the mysterious noises that occasionally resonated through
the hulls of their ships. Over millennia, these astute observations
gave way to curiosity-driven research and wartime pursuits that
exploited ocean sound. Following World War II, revelations about
the lives and vocalizations of charismatic megafauna piqued the
public’s interest, popularizing the idea of an ocean soundscape and
highlighting the mysteries of marine mammal communication
(e.g., Schevill and Lawrence, 1949; Payne and McVay, 1971). In an
FIGURE 6. Videos are processed
using an integration of MBARI’s
Video Annotation and Reference
System (VARS) with advanced
machine learning tools (VARS-ML)
to identify and track animals
(a) on the seafloor and (b) in the
water column. The VARS-ML ini
tiative combines the expertise of
marine scientists, engineers, and
data scientists. Source: Lonny
Lundsten and Nancy Jacobsen
Stout. Images © 2025 MBARI
Early Online Release | Oceanography
all too familiar fashion, it did not take long to learn that human
activities are a source of ocean soundscape pollution that can be
injurious to marine wildlife (e.g., Hildebrand, 2009). Although
the notion of an ocean soundscape is ancient, and its use in ocean
studies has long been the subject of intensive research and devel
opment, we continue to make remarkable discoveries by simply
listening with increasingly sophisticated means for doing so.
Today, detailed observations of the comings and goings of
marine animals is greatly enhanced by soundscape analysis
(e.g., Oestreich et al., 2022, 2024; Ryan et al., 2022, 2025). The com
bination of passive and active acoustic observations has proven
useful in investigating predator foraging behaviors and the ecology
of fear (e.g., Benoit-Bird et al., 2019; Urmy and Benoit-Bird, 2021).
“Listening with light” by way of using fiber-optic cables as vibra
tion sensors—a technique known as distributed acoustic sens
ing (DAS)—is the latest evolution in the ongoing push to broaden
access to and analysis of the ocean soundscape (Saw et al., 2025).
By combining fleets of ASVs and AUVs equipped with acoustic,
imaging, and water sampling payloads, a new perspective on the
movements of animals traversing the environment in response to
ever changing ocean conditions is emerging, including by tracking
the traces of “genetic soup” shed in their wakes (e.g., Zhang et al.,
2021b; Figure 7).
The use of organisms’ DNA and RNA (and other methods) to
reveal what species are present and how they are responding to
their environments has advanced in concert with the develop
ment and application of ocean imaging and acoustics. The tools
and techniques employed have storied pasts and spring from the
creativity and insights of many investigators over decades. What
has come to be known as “ecogenomics” is deeply rooted in sub
cellular biological studies and molecular analytical methods for
detecting and decoding the very essence of life itself. Just as under
water imaging and soundscape analysis grew from industrial uses
and for purposes unrelated to ocean ecology, molecular biology,
nucleic acid sequencing, bioinformatics, and other methods unre
lated to marine science were adopted for ocean applications, for
ever altering the course of modern marine biology. Microbial ecol
ogists arguably led the way (e.g., Pace, 1985; Karl, 2014).
In a surprising twist, Ficetola et al. (2008) discovered that DNA
shed by frogs could be detected in the environment in which
they lived even when you could not see the animals themselves,
sparking an environmental DNA (eDNA) forensics revolution
(e.g., Kelly et al., 2014; Stoeckle et al., 2024). The analysis of eDNA
offers a noninvasive method for assessing biodiversity and track
ing animal movements by collecting samples of water and sequenc
ing the recovered material, enabling simultaneous detection of
marine organisms across multiple trophic levels (e.g., Chavez et al.,
2021b). As eDNA analysis has evolved, our eyes have been opened
to the notion of “genetic dark matter” that is recoverable from the
environment but has no described source or, in some cases, no
well-characterized function (e.g., Venter et al., 2004; Roux et al.,
2015; Delmont et al., 2022). Analysis of the sea’s genetic soup tells
us that there is a great deal of marine life and genetic capacity that
has not yet been characterized.
Just as machine learning and artificial intelligence have played
a huge role in analyzing and reacting to ocean imagery and sound,
they are likewise fueling the analysis of eDNA to synthesize an
integrated picture of a complex web of life. Although the detec
tion and real-time analysis of imagery, sound, and other bulk water
properties are now commonly employed to guide autonomous
platforms during targeted field observations, devices that enable
in situ, “hands off,” real-time analysis of eDNA and other cellu
lar metabolites are still very much in their infancy (e.g., Scholin
et al., 2017). With a few notable examples (e.g., Truelove et al.,
2019; Peter Thielen et al., Johns Hopkins University, pers. comm.,
2025), marine eDNA surveys rest largely on the acquisition, pres
ervation, and return of samples for shoreside analysis (Yamahara
et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2021a; Truelove et al., 2022; Preston
et al., 2023). Despite the progress, scaling up the use of robots
that enable integrated optical, acoustic, and “omic” characteriza
tion of the sea presents a very significant technological challenge
when compared to using profiling floats to conduct global scale
biogeochemical observations.
TO THE SEAFLOOR
Descending to the seafloor, whether using a crewed submers
ible or an ROV, has been likened to being dropped into a pitch-
black room and using only a flashlight to see what lies ahead.
Remarkable discoveries have been made by picking dive sites that
are known to offer different types of terrain that might lead to find
ing something novel. The discovery of the “octopus garden” near
the base of Davidson Seamount offers an excellent, recent exam
ple of using ship-acquired bathymetry to guide an exploratory
ROV dive that serendipitously uncovered something remark
able (King and Brown, 2019). No doubt that method works, but
the area that can be covered is limited, and for the most part, you
have no detailed map to lead the way. AUVs are changing that
FIGURE 7. A fleet of long-range autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs;
Hobson et al., 2012) fitted with different imaging, water sampling, and eDNA
collection payloads are lined up alongside a Liquid Robotics Wave Glider, all
readied for deployment in Monterey Bay. The fleet of vehicles allows coor
dinated observations for extended periods to provide a multifaceted view of
dynamic ecosystem processes. After Zhang et al. (2021a,b). Susan von Thun
© 2017 MBARI
Oceanography | Early Online Release
calculus. Low-resolution, surface-vessel-based maps can now be
used to guide higher-resolution AUV-based surveys. AUVs can
run in close proximity to the ground compared to a vessel at the
sea surface, thus providing much more detail on what lies below.
The combination of nested surface vessel-AUV-ROV surveys has
greatly aided our understanding of underwater landscapes and
how they evolve, and this approach now informs choices on what
locations to observe more closely and repeatedly to improve the
odds of making new discoveries (e.g., Caress et al., 2008, 2012;
Paull et al., 2010; Paduan et al., 2018, Figure 8).
Even highly detailed bathymetric surveys fail to reveal much
about the animals that inhabit the seafloor. With relatively few
exceptions, most life on the seabed is sub-meter scaled and often
transparent to acoustic energy. By combining high-resolution laser
and optical imagery with acoustic mapping, a truly astounding
view of the seafloor emerges (Figure 9). The systems for acquir
ing that information can be deployed on ROVs (e.g., Caress et al.,
2025) and are extendable to AUVs, greatly expanding the area that
can be surveyed in detail. Processing the imagery collected using
machine learning techniques also holds promise for significantly
speeding up quantitative assessments of specific animals or other
features of interest even while the vehicle is underway. Further
study of the famed octopus garden provides a stunning example of
what is possible when combining different modes of seafloor visu
alizations to inform targeted studies that not long ago would have
seemed a pipe dream (Barry et al., 2023; Figure 9). Similar studies
of deep-sea coral and sponge communities found serendipitously
at Sur Ridge and elsewhere paint a similar picture (Girard et al.,
2024; Figure 10). These discoveries highlight what is made pos
sible by using a combination of hybrid human-machine and fully
autonomous systems for visualizing the seafloor.
Despite that progress, the vast majority of the seabed has never
been mapped at scales needed to reveal underwater landscapes
in detail. Satellite altimetry-derived maps provide ~5 km grid
resolution estimates of seafloor depth for the entire ocean bottom
using gravity anomalies (W.H.F. Smith and Sandwell, 1997), but
those maps provide only a coarse perspective on what lies below,
much like a person viewing a large terrestrial mountain range, deep
valley, or vast plain from a great distance. High-resolution maps
of the seafloor acquired using surface vessel-mounted multibeam
sonar varies linearly with water column depth, typically on the order
of 2 m at 100 m depth to 100 m at 5,000 m depth (Mayer, 2006), but
even those maps currently cover only ~26% of the ocean bottom.
Visualizing deep-sea biological communities requires much higher
resolution, ideally centimeter or even millimeter scale, as shown in
Figure 9. In other words, much of what lies below has never been
seen by human eyes. Although the technology for doing so is avail
able, actually accomplishing that goal globally is an enormous task
and not likely to come to fruition anytime soon. Once again, robots
offer a path forward for tackling that challenge because they can
work when and where people cannot, dare not, or just prefer to
avoid for many practical and logistical reasons.
A combination of crewed and uncrewed surface and subsurface
vessels are now actively engaged in mapping the entirety of the sea
floor as a contribution to the Seabed 2030 initiative. Seabed 2030 is
a collaborative project sponsored by the Nippon Foundation and
the General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean (GEBCO) that aims to
assemble all available bathymetric data into a single, freely accessi
ble map for the benefit of all. Like the global fleet of profiling floats
returning data on the vital signs of the world’s ocean, Seabed 2030
is a great example of what can be accomplished through public-
private partnerships, international cooperation, and data sharing to
grow our understanding of seafloor bathymetry. Given the task at
hand and its relevance to society, it speaks to the age-old adage that
“necessity is the mother of invention.” Developing new means for
comprehensively mapping the seafloor is ripe for innovation, fol
lowing in the footsteps of developing and deploying platforms and
sensors for assessing ocean biogeochemistry on a global scale.
FIGURE 8. Animation demon
strates the combined use of ship,
AUV, and ROV-based surveys to
obtain
high-resolution
seafloor
bathymetry and imagery at Sur
Ridge within the Monterey Bay
National Marine Sanctuary (Seeing
Sur Ridge). © 2023 MBARI
Early Online Release | Oceanography
FIGURE 9. The use of nested resolution seafloor mapping to reveal the Octopus Garden. (a) Seafloor bathymetry collected using ship-based multibeam
sonar yielded 5–50 m resolution, depending on water depth. The red box indicates the location of the Octopus Garden pearl octopus (Muusoctopus
robustus) brooding site, southeast of Davidson Seamount. (b) MBARI’s seafloor mapping AUV (inset) provides 1 m resolution bathymetry that is shown here
overlain on the base map acquired from ships. The red box indicates the location of Octopus Garden Ridge. (c) Octopus Garden Ridge at 1 m-scale is overlain
here with ROV survey track lines. (d) The ROV-mounted Low Altitude Survey System (LASS; inset) is used to provide 1 cm resolution bathymetry and 2 mm
resolution seafloor photography using a combination of multibeam sonar, lidar, and color still cameras. (d) and (e) The 1 cm LASS lidar bathymetry is shown
at two map scales. (f), (g), (h), and (i) These panels show the 2 mm-scale color photomosaics at four map scales, zooming in to individual animals. Source:
David Caress and James Barry. Images © 2025 MBARI
CONCLUSIONS
The history of technology development in the quest to explore and
observe the ocean offers many enduring lessons. At least five take
aways are apparent:
• There is much to gain by working as an interdisciplinary team
to tackle daunting challenges, even when those problems may
require years or decades to overcome.
• Fostering an enduring peer relationship among scientists, engi
neers, and marine operations specialists in concert with the
public fuels discovery.
• Being open-minded to what is possible even though it may seem
improbable or counter to current thought begets innovation.
Oceanography | Early Online Release
FIGURE 10. High-resolution mapping and imaging of the
Octopus Garden (Figure 9) provided the basis for conduct
ing targeted studies of the animals utilizing that habitat
(Barry et al., 2023). In one instance, a time lapse camera was
deployed from a ship on an ROV and then deposited precisely
among benthic fauna where it operated autonomously (a).
Still images from that vantage point were taken every 20 min
utes from March 3, 2022, to August 29, 2022, revealing ani
mals arriving, nesting, or dying post-breeding (b). The time
lapse imagery provided a unique perspective on the dynam
ics of the community from scientific as well as educational
and outreach purposes (Secrets of the Octopus Garden).
Images © 2022 MBARI
• “Failures” are inevitable if one attempts to do something that
has not been done before; failures are stepping stones toward
transformative engineering development and scientific advance
ments.
• Never underestimate the potential of serendipity, and be open-
minded to changing course when an opportunity or new tech
nology presents itself.
The foregoing consideration of how ocean technology has
evolved in recent years and how it has impacted ocean science is
a powerful endorsement of those lessons and a tribute to all who
have walked that path.
Much of the technological revolution that has been brought to
bear on ocean exploration and observation was primarily driven
by a variety of achievements in industrial settings that often had
nothing to do with marine science. Advancements in micro
electronics, biopharma, aerospace, manufacturing, material and
computer science, and other disciplines, as well as social media,
have dramatically transformed our ability to access the sea, reveal
its mysteries, and share the findings with a global audience. This
cycle is accelerating. Every time we return to the ocean with new
technologies in hand, we learn something new (e.g., Chisholm
et al., 1988) and grow to appreciate the connection between
societal well-being and the health of the sea.
Throughout history, we have approached ocean exploration
and observation through a decidedly human sensory perspective.
There is still much to learn. Ocean-dwelling animals perceive their
environments in many ways we humans have not yet learned to
interpret or fully comprehend; examples include their responses to
electromagnetic fields and their use of chemosensory capabilities.
Looking forward, it is likely that just as the use of biogeochemical,
optical, acoustic, and omic sensing has revealed surprising insights
about the interplay between marine chemistry, physics, biology,
and geology, so too will new sensor systems give us a better appre
ciation of the lives of ocean animals. As Bruce Robison (MBARI,
pers. comm., 2025) aptly put it:
Early Online Release | Oceanography
To the inhabitants of the deep sea, their world must seem very
different than it seems to us, because they are comprehending it
with vastly different sensors than we have. The more we can per
ceive their world the way they do, the better we’ll understand it.
Our inherent biases limit us.
Revelle and Suess’s “large scale geophysical experiment” is
ongoing. We are in a race to learn more about the ocean and the
seafloor, and the incredible diversity of life therein, as it under
goes increasingly rapid change due to human activities. A sus
tained commitment to technology development is integral to
competing in that race. President J.F. Kennedy, who was a strong
advocate for ocean exploration, marine conservation, and weather
research, summed it up well at his 1961 commencement address at
the US Naval Academy:
Knowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity. Our
very survival may hinge upon it.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
with funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The author acknowl
edges many contributions and informative discussions with his MBARI colleagues
who helped to shape this article, in particular Kelly Benoit-Bird, Peter Brewer,
James Barry, James Birch, Dave Caress, Francisco Chavez, Nancy Jacobsen-Stout,
Ken Johnson, Eve and Lonny Lundsten, Raúl Nava, Bruce Robison, John Ryan,
Rob Sherlock, Yui Takeshita, Susan von Thun, Giancarlo Troni, and Yanwu Zhang. With
great appreciation, the author also thanks the Ocean Studies Board for extending the
invitation to present this overview at the 26th Annual Roger Revelle Lecture and to the
National Academies for hosting the event. Stacee Karras and Claudia Benitez-Nelson
graciously and patiently provided invaluable assistance with preparing and improving
this presentation and made significant contributions to developing the concepts on
which it is based. The author also thanks Oceanography editor Ellen Kappel for her
work to improve the final version of this manuscript ahead of its publication.
AUTHOR
Chris Scholin (scholin@mbari.org), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute,
Moss Landing, CA, USA.
ARTICLE CITATION
Scholin, C. 2025. Oceanography in the age of intelligent robots and a changing
climate. Oceanography 38(3), https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025.e310.
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