We’re very excited to be installing Oceanic Scales at the Randall Children’s museum in San Francisco this Summer for a 6-month show of the newest evolution of the project in conjunction with the grand re-opening of the museum after an extensive renovation. This newest variation of the project includes a new set of wall and[…]
We had the opportunity last month to beta test our new Oceanic Scales puzzle game and app system with the 4th grade class of the Weatherbee Elementary School in Hampden, Maine. Chynna Avery Felice, the creator of the Oceanic Scales lesson plans invited her partner Gene A. Felice II, co-creator of the Oceanic Scales puzzle game[…]
Oceanic Scales has recently received a generous grant from the Maine Sea Grant to fund the final production of our App system. With this grant we’ve hired on two new student developer / animators to assist with the final development of the initial app system. New Media student Aidan Bauer and Computer Engineering student Jack Britton have[…]
Alliance Data & EPSILON awarded a generous Community Outreach Grant to Oceanic Scales, funding the completion of an educational app version of the project that also serves as an augmented reality system to help reveal hidden layers of the Oceanic Scales interactive puzzle. They also donated an array of designers and app developers to design the app and gaming[…]
In an effort to understand and collaborate with Phytoplankton I’ve started a Bioluminescent phytoplankton garden / lab as a spur project of Oceanic Scales. I am currently growing three varieties of Phytoplankton which were purchased from a local culture lab Empco in an attempt to learn more about this amazing organism and to discover new ways[…]
Here are a couple of great resources for research going on at UCSC in the realm of phytoplankton other microorganisms: http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/oceandatacenter.html http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/spotlight%20home.html http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/spotlight_microscopy.html http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/research.html And some weekly phytoplankton sampling in the Monterey Bay: http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoBlog/
Little did I know that the bio-luminescent phytoplankton known as Dinoflaggellates are actually predators and eat other phytoplankton. While the rest are busy sequestering carbon and producing oxygen, these ones are hunting their own. http://www.mnh.si.edu/highlight/sem/dinoflagellates.html http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoGallery/Dinoflagellates/lingulodinium.html
Here are a few resources on red tides and the “first flush” phenomenon. Both the result of an over-abundance of phytoplankton, often caused by man-made fertilizers and waste. http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/organism/redtide.html http://deepseanews.com/2011/09/the-san-diego-red-tide-faq-from-scripps-professor-dr-peter-franks/ http://www.csgc.ucsd.edu/NEWSROOM/NEWSRELEASES/2010/PredictAlgalBlooms.html http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/firstflush.html http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoGallery/HABS_redtides.html http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/09/red-tide-off-california-coast-creates-blue-glow/
http://www.whoi.edu/home/about/annualreport03/research/highlights_picoplankton.html
A great image of scale when it comes to the wide variety of phytoplankton: http://www.jochemnet.de/fiu/bot4404/BOT4404_8.html
A great article on the key role that phytoplankton plays at the bottom of the oceanic food chain: http://discovermagazine.com/2004/aug/plankton-planet#.UWuhTIKTG3x Another great article on the adaptability of phytoplankton: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130308133057.htm A massive archive of phytoplankton videos not to be missed: http://www.planktonchronicles.org/en
Another amazing resource at UCSC for research on the microorganisms and their key role in maintaining the planets “Nitrogen Cycle”: http://pmc.ucsc.edu/~wwwzehr/research/activities/ http://pmc.ucsc.edu/~wwwzehr/research/
Ernst Haeckel is a true and constant source of inspiration, in everything and anything relating to the sea, microorganisms, 19th century naturalism or wonderfully blurred lines between science and art. Proteus: a very unique looking documentary on Ernst Haeckel More images & Info: http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/01/art-forms-of-nature-ernst-haeckel.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel http://abilliontastesandtunes.blogspot.com/2011/05/ernst-haeckel-part-1-of-2.html
Here are a couple of great resources for obtaining live water quality data in the San Francisco Bay area. http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/wqdata/ http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/wqdata/query/index.html https://data.sfgov.org/ http://www.sfbayjv.org/resources.php In Santa Cruz / Monterey: http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoBlog/ And in the Monterey Bay / Elkhorn Slew: http://www.mbari.org/lobo/loboviz.htm http://www.mbari.org/lobo/getLOBOdata.htm http://cimt.ucsc.edu/rtd.htm And a an interesting data site monitoring ocean color around the world: http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Jellywatch.org is a page for recording sightings of jellyfish and other marine organisms: http://www.jellywatch.org/
