The ocean presents major obstacles to human exploration: it is vast, extends to a depth of 11,000 m, is impacted by huge storms, and is highly dynamic. Humans can visit the depths for only short periods of time. Satellites can probe only the few meters of the surface, and light only travels a few hundred meters in the dark waters below.

A Human Telepresence in the Oceans

Recent technological advances, however, have brought us to the brink of a transformation in approaches to studying, interacting with, and understanding the oceans. The historical focus on expeditionary science using ships is expanding to include a permanent human telepresence in the oceans. State-of-the-art instruments cabled to high-power and high-bandwidth networks permanently installed throughout the oceans will communicate nearly instantly with scientists, educators, and the public on land and will carry out real-time user commands and complex pre-programmed instructions. In concert, these long-term observatories will provide continuous and real-time investigation of ocean phenomena that are crucial to maintaining the habitability of the planet.

The National Science Foundation's Ocean Observatories Initiative is leading U.S. efforts to construct these long-term, cutting-edge observatories oriented to research and education.

Why Are the Oceans Important?

The global ocean is the last physical frontier on Earth. It covers 70 percent of the planetary surface and 6 percent of the Earth's volcanic activity occurs beneath the ocean's surface. It is the largest, most complex biome we know of and hosts some of the moste extreme environments on earth - submarine hot springs that reach >400°C.  It is a vast, mobile reservoir of heat and chemical mass. As such, it is the "engine" that drives weather-climate systems from the ocean basins onto the continents, directly affecting food production on land and the health of our planet.

The oceans are the ultimate repository of human waste. It has absorbed nearly half of the fossil carbon released since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. The ocean basins can be a source of hazards; earthquakes, tsunamis, giant storms are episodic, powerful, often highly mobile, and commonly unpredictable. Because it is a vast, but finite, repository of living and non-living resources, we turn to the ocean basins for food, energy, and many minerals necessary to sustain a broad range of human life styles. Many scientists believe that underwater volcanoes were the crucible in which early life began on Earth, and perhaps, on other planets. The oceans connect all continents; they are owned by no one, yet they belong to us all by virtue of their mobile nature. The oceans may be viewed as the common heritage of humankind, the responsibility and life support of us all. Increased stresses induced on the planet by ever growing human populations mean that it is crucial to understand  the long- and short-term temporal variations and the complexities of ocean dynamics.