Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.
Nautilus completed the 2014 field season by continuing
exploration of Kick’em Jenny volcano west of Grenada and
the Barbados Cold Seep Province in Trinidad and Tobago
(pages 38–39). The 2013 exploration of Kick’em Jenny revealed
debris avalanche-induced cold seeps and their unique ecosys-
tems dominated by giant chemosynthetic mussels and associ-
ated communities. In 2014, we continued to explore this area,
resulting in the discovery of many more cold seeps, as well as
what is believed to be the largest B. boomerang mussel ever
found. Our work on the Barbados mud volcanoes was the first
ROV exploration in this area, following manned submersible
research nearly 20 years ago. Through the combined use of
the shipboard EM302 multibeam to detect bubble plumes
and ROV dives, we discovered cold seep sites that had not
been previously explored, including large areas with methane
hydrates and associated biological communities.
In addition to scientific exploration, the final expedition
included ethnographic and educational components through
a study called Transforming Remotely Conducted Research
Through Ethnography, Education & Rapidly Evolving
Technologies (TREET), funded by the Integrated NSF
Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education
(INSPIRE) program (pages 40–43). The primary goals of this
project are to use ethnography to study how telepresence
can be best used in the context of oceanographic and other
research, and to determine how to best engage groups of
undergraduates through remote but authentic research expe-
riences. The results of this study will be useful not only for
the Nautilus Exploration Program but also for the University-
National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS, the
organization that coordinates the US academic research fleet),
NOAA, and other organizations as they continue to develop
their own telepresence-enabled capabilities.
Following up on our previous archaeological work in the
Black, Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas, OET held a sym-
posium to present our findings to the public and academic
communities in October 2014. A summary of the symposium
proceedings and plans for continued research is presented
on pages 44–45.
This volume concludes with a view toward the future
of the Nautilus Exploration Program through a summary
of the Workshop on Telepresence-Enabled Exploration
of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, held in December 2014 in
San Francisco (pages 46–51). This workshop hosted nearly
70 scientists at the Exploratorium to identify key oceanogra-
phy questions about the eastern Pacific that need answers, as
well as 33 High Priority Target Areas that are poorly under-
stood or completely unexplored. The results of this workshop
will be used to plan the Nautilus 2015–2018 field seasons.
Since 2009, Nautilus has been home to 656 scientists, engi-
neers, students, filmmakers, songwriters, artists, and guests,
40% of whom are women, representing 38 countries. We have
spent 610 days at sea, mapping over 126,000 square kilome-
ters of seafloor and exploring the water column and seafloor
for 4,254 hours (177+ days). Nearly 2,000 geological, biolog-
ical, and chemical samples have been collected, more than
200 of which have been requested for follow-up research,
and more than 50 publications, theses, and dissertations have
resulted from our expeditions. We are very proud of all that
has been accomplished in six short years, and we look for-
ward to what the Pacific Ocean has in store for Nautilus and
her Corps of Exploration.