Past, Present, and Future of Ocean Explorations: Scientific History and Measurements in Oceanography

3 credits · Graduate

How do we know what we know about our oceans? Covering 70% of the surface area and being the largest volumetric biosphere on our planet, we are more ocean than earth as a planet. This vastness harbors unknown life forms, control our planets climate and hold the key to mitigating adverse global warming. And yet, it's an alien environment to most of us - most of the ocean is pitch black and dark with no photons reaching the depth of the ocean - ever. With such striking contrast, this course is an attempt to understand history of scientific explorations and development of new tools and technologies needed to measure biological (and some physical) parameters in the open ocean. We will cover the history of "biological oceanography" focusing both on the audacity of expeditions into the unknown and the human stories behind the ingenious contraptions designed. With explorations comes exploitations, and we will also cover misuse of knowledge and harm as we cover specific expeditions. This will provide a basis for developing our own ethical approach to planetary scale biological measurements. We will engage science historians in this process and build maps of what we know and what we don't know. In the final portion of the course, we will chart our own trajectory and explore what remains to be known and how do we collectively measure our oceans with urgency and purpose. The course involves a final project where you will learn to design an expedition for the "most unknown" on our planet - including technological advances and audacious expedition planning needed for preserving and understanding the largest mystery in planetary scale biology. The course is open to all majors and background as we intend to merge art, science and history in service of our oceans.