Upcoming Field Expeditions
2025 Upcoming Mission: Where the Babies Roam
On September 19, 2025, The Ocean Lab will be conducting 2 live events from off the coast of Santa Barbara. Dive into the world of sharks as Dr. Chris Lowe and Dr. Gwen Goodmanlowe tag, track, and study juvenile white sharks off the coast of Santa Barbara. Learn about Great White Shark biology, ecology, and what a field day in the life looks like for a research biologist! Broadcasted directly to your classroom with a live Q&A, this online event is completley free.
10:30 am – Primary School Session – SIGN UP HERE
12:00 noon – High School Session – SIGN UP HERE
2026 Upcoming Mission: Expedition FLORIDA!
In January 2026, The Ocean Lab is taking students deep into the water to explore the river systems of wild Florida and the manatee that call them home in winter. Come explore the warm, clear springs and learn about Florida’s favorite chubby mammals. SIGN UP HERE.
2027 Upcoming Mission: The Hammerheads of Bimini
In January 2027, The Ocean Lab is taking students to Bimini in the Bahamas to get up close and personal with some of the COOLEST sharks in the sea – the Great Hammerhead! SIGN UP HERE.
Past Field Expeditions
2024 Mission: Grey Whales of San Ignacio
In February of 2024, The Ocean Lab conducted a live event from San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico. Students interacted with Dr Gwen Goodman Lowe & Dr. Chris Lowe learning all about the Grey Whale migration and birthing grounds of San Ignacio Lagoon.
2024 Mission : Studying Climate Change in Antarctica!
In March 2024, The Ocean Lab conducted a live event from Antarctica. Broadcasting live into classrooms, students were able to interact with scientists conducting experiments and sharing their expertise on climate change, the food web, and invertebrate gigantism in the Polar Seas.
At the invitation of Faith Ortins and Blue Green Expeditions, The Ocean Lab team tested a live broadcast from inside the tanks of the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Wolf eels, rockfish and sturgeon were the stars of the show.
In October, 2018, The Ocean Lab team parnered with CSULB’s Shark Lab and Dr. Chris Lowe to broadcast live to thousands of students across the country. 2 sessions covered both morphology and state-of-the-art tag technology.
In October, 2017, The Ocean Lab team returned to Isla Guadalupe for the first multi-national live stream from Isla Guadalupe. Hosted by Dr. Mauricio Hoyos of Pelagios Kakujna and Dr. Taylor Chapple of Stanford, three broadcasts (in English and Spanish) were streamed to hundreds of students in classrooms in California, Texas, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Guatemala and Mexico.
In October, 2016, after months of testing streaming bandwidth limitations, the team returned to Nautilus Belle Amie, to test several streaming platforms. Using the YouTube, Zoom.us, Skype and SafariLive framework, we completed 4 full broadcasts from the aft deck of the Belle Amie. Dr. Mikki McComb Kobza used a student created laser measuring device to collect data on the size of seven individual sharks. Ocean Lab streamed live into classrooms in Laguna Beach, California, Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado.
In October, 2015, the team motored 24 hours from Ensenada, Mexico onboard the MV Nautilus, Belle Amie, to try out the streaming capabilities of the KVH satellite communications onboard. Using the SafariLive software framework, the expedition team was able to create limited video interaction onboard. Testing was completed in 4 rounds with streaming capacity limitations identified.