National Ocean Exploration Forum, October 20 - 21, 2017

October 17, 2017

On the weekend of October 21-22, 2017, experts in ocean exploration and data science will come together for the annual National Ocean Exploration Forum at the University of California San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute. The goal of the Forum, titled Ocean Exploration in a Sea of Data, is to move the way we experience ocean exploration data into the future.

Partners from University of California San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, NOAA, and others will give presentations, provide demonstrations on priority areas, and hold discussion groups. Asking participants to think of “ocean exploration” in broad terms, the Forum will consider how relevant data – whether from satellites, ocean sensors, hydrophones, or deep-ocean cores – can be integrated, analyzed, and visualized to understand the ocean in new ways.

Since 2013, Forums have been held to assemble ocean exploration leaders and experts to discuss the priorities and goals of a national ocean exploration program. Past Forums have examined the future of ocean exploration through the lens of a coordinated NOAA-led, multi-agency federal collaboration with the private sector. The 2017 Forum will yield a formal report of community recommendations for how data scientists and ocean explorers can expand traditional concepts of ocean exploration while driving toward new discoveries, greater access to contemporary and historical data, and improved public engagement.