JASON V Home Page
With state-of-the-art interactive technology, the Jason Project opens a window on the actual experience of being a scientist on a field expedition. At the heart of Jason is the transmission of live video coverage of scientific research, as it is happening, to satellite "downlink sites" in the United States, Great Britain and the Caribbean. Participating students at the downlink sites may ask questions of the scientists in the field and carry out investigations of their own by operating remote-controlled cameras and transport vehicles. This method of intensive, communication-based participation is known as "telepresence".
Now in its fifth year, Jason has previously mounted expeditions to explore deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Sea of Cortez, ancient shipwrecks in Lake Ontario and the Mediterranean Sea, and ecology in the Galapagos Islands.
Jason V - Expedition to Planet Earth marks Jason's most ambitious project - a team of four world-renowned scientists led by Dr. Ballard will conduct scientific research at two principle sites in the rainforest and the barrier reef of Belize, Central America. Mile for mile, Belize may possess the world's most diverse and pristine tropical environment. This unique country is a microcosm of Planet Earth. As expedition scientists reveal the process of scientific investigation through their activities, students will gain new respect for the challenges of serious study and a profound understanding of the importance of preservation and conservation - both at home and in other lands.
The broadcast will feature Jason students and scientists at work in seven locations in Belize. At Blue Creek, the Jason Project is sponsoring the creation of a canopy walkway, an ecologically benign and unobtrusive means for ecologists to gain access to the upper branches of the rainforest, where some 80% of the life of the rainforest is found. Many of the organisms found in the canopy are never seen on the ground, but with the aid of observation platforms and bridges 65 - 80 feet high in the air, future research may yield information about previously unknown species. The construction of the walkway places Belize at the forefront of the emerging field of rainforest ecology.
The principle investigator for the rainforest is Dr. Meg Lowman , an internationally respected authority on tropical ecology. Dr. Lowman will oversee research into insect- plant relationships during the two weeks of the Jason Project, primarily observing and measuring insect damage to leaves, and will compare the findings with data she has gathered in other rainforests around the world.
Cameras will follow Dr. Lowman as she supervises student argonauts' research, consults with other scientists about the insect and animal life of Blue Creek, conducts counts of biodiversity in the canopy, and discusses her finding with Dr. Ballard and students in Bermuda, Belize, the US and the UK.
A miniature camera mounted on a microscope reveals dramatic views of the rainforest's tiniest creatures. The naturalist's perspective will be represented on the ground below the canopy by Jeff Corwin, whose extensive knowledge of rainforest wildlife has been gained through years of observation in Belize, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Also at Blue Creek will be Dr. Tom Miller , a hydrologist and well-known cave expert who has conducted research in many parts of Belize and has mapped portions of the Blue Creek cave networks over the past twenty years. Through research on the geomorphology and water composition of the cave, Dr. Miller's work links the cave complex to the larger rainforest ecosystem. The Jason Project has created computer software for cave mapping which Dr. Miller will test and refine; it is anticipated that this software will become the standard tools of cave research around the world.
An award-winning camera crew of cavers and rock climbers will accompany Dr. Miller as he explores the deeper reaches of the cave to gather precise measurements and confirm previous survey information. The team plans scuba exploration of large underground lakes deep inside the 30-mile long cave system.
Dr. Richard Leventhal , Director of the Institute of Archaeology at UCLA and head of the archaeological excavation of the ancient Maya city of Xunantunich in western Belize, will join the team at Blue Creek to provide insight into mankind's history in Belize and into the interrelations of society and ecology there over the last 1000 years. Prior to the expedition, a documentary crew will videotape details of the work currently under way at Xunantunich. Other illustrations will be generated by an advanced Silicon Graphics computer program for mapping and analyzing data from the excavation. Dr. Leventhal will use both resources to explain his work and answer students' questions during the live broadcasts.
Dr. Gene Feldman of NASA is providing on-site computer imaging for both Dr. Miller and Dr. Leventhal. Using state-of-the-art methods, Dr. Feldman works with scientists to render visible the otherwise abstract data they are gathering. The use of sophisticated visual tools allows a scientist to make sense of their findings as they go, thus minimizing any effects they may have on the site. A camera crew will follow Dr. Feldman and Dr. Leventhal working together and give each of them a chance to speak with students watching the broadcast. ..
Dr. Robert Ballard will host the broadcast from a canopy walkway laboratory, where documentary crews will observe his interactions with his colleagues and student viewers connected through telepresence. Dr. Ballard will also be seen in views from remote-controlled cameras which will move unmanned through the delicate foliage of the canopy, highlighting the dramatic beauty of the rainforest.
Several remote-operated cameras will glide on slender rails through the canopy. One of the cameras will be controlled by students thousands of miles away. A remote- operated camera will also be used to gather biodiversity data which students will be able to analyze. One camera will be mounted vertically, so that it will track up and down a tree more than 100 feet above the forest floor. Another camera will move horizontally through the upper branches of the forest. Use of these remote-operated cameras is one of many ways the Jason Project seeks to minimize the ecological impact of its presence.
About 100 miles northeast from Blue Creek at the site at South Water Caye, Dr. Jerry Wellington, a popular veteran of several Jason expeditions and a foremost researcher in the field of coral reef ecology, will be conducting an experiment into the causes of coral bleaching, a phenomenon which increasingly threatens reefs throughout the world. The expedition follows the work of Smithsonian researchers at nearby Carrie Bow Caye, especially mangrove ecologist Dr. Candy Feller. For full coverage of the many activities at South Water Caye, Jason will assign a crew with four cameras to show work on shore, on the dive boat, and to capture various scenes under water. One camera will be mounted on a remote-operated vehicle that will be under the control of students in the US and the UK. Another camera will show Dr. Wellington, who will be able to speak to his Jason colleagues while underwater thanks to specialized technology. One of the people he will speak with is Dr. Bob Trench, a Belizean oceanographer who will be in California during the broadcast.
Each hour of the broadcast will visit all seven sites to look in on each of the principle scientists at work. In addition, students will operate remote-controlled cameras in one of these two locations to conduct their own self-guided exploration of the rainforest canopy or coral reef. Students will also practice the essential scientific skill of observation, studying live video images to identify species' diversity and comparing that data with similar observations made in their own communities.
In another exciting application of new technology, students will participate in Jason through a computer network. This network will allow students to ask questions and get answers from the scientists, to see data as it is developed - including data that the students themselves generate - and to communicate with each other from school to school.
Jason will erect satellite uplink dishes at South Water Caye and Blue Creek. A cabin at Blue Creek will house a compact but fully-functioning television control room. The signals from both locations will be sent from Blue Creek via satellite to the United States, and then relayed again to various downlink sites throughout the Caribbean, North America and Britain. The broadcast team consists of 35 people.
All the equipment - except for the canopy walkway, which is a permanent facility for long-term use by Belizean and international scientists - will be removed at the close of the 60 broadcasts with minimal disruption to the natural life of Blue Creek and South Water Caye.
When the two-week expedition is over, all traces of the broadcast will be gone and the sites will resume serving scientists and the eco-tourism industry. The only enduring effects will be on the consciousness of the students who participate in the broadcasts, and in the knowledge gathered by the scientists during the expedition and by those future researchers who will use the canopy walkway to advance mankind's knowledge of rainforest ecology.
WHO WILL SEE THE PROGRAMS?
Programs of Jason V - Expedition to Planet Earth will be sent by satellite to audiences across Belize, the US, the Caribbean, and Britain. Approximately one million school-aged children and their teachers will participate in the Project. They will travel to downlink sites where they have reserved space during one of the hour-long Jason transmissions. There are five transmissions per day, six days a week, for two weeks. Some classes will stay for more than one program, but each transmission is designed to stand on its own.
Students prepare for participation in Jason by following an extensive curriculum guide produced by the National Science Teachers Association and Jason. A 400-page book is distributed to each teacher bringing classes to Jason, and many teachers use this curriculum to structure exercises for several weeks prior to the Jason broadcast.
Other viewers will see excerpts of the expedition on regular news coverage and on program summaries on the cable program of Mind Extension University. "Good Morning America" on ABC-TV will feature the project on February 28. This broadcast will reach another 5 million viewers, for whom this may be their first exposure to Belize.
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Gene Carl
Feldman
(gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov)
(301) 286-9428
Todd Carlo Viola,
JASON Foundation for Education
(todd@jason.org)