Virtual Reality Exploration of Earth's Cryosphere

Abstract:

In previous field seasons, scientists from the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (Byrd Center) would take rugged, low-cost 360-degree cameras with them on expeditions to remote alpine and polar locations around the world. The video footage collected would document research activities along with breathtaking, and oftentimes dangerous, landscapes. The Center’s Education and Outreach (E&O) staff would utilize this footage to create virtual field experiences, accessible by anyone with an internet connection via a desktop, mobile device, or virtual reality (VR) headset. A Byrd Center team deployed to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica during the 2019-2020 field season was the first to visit their field site with a deliberate plan to create a virtual field experience. This fostered a collaboration between E&O staff and the researchers that resulted in an experience that captures the surrounding landscape, scientific research, and researchers as people. Using an iterative design process, the team co-created an experience with deliberate narrative elements to inspire and educate the public. Our field experiences have been used to support both synchronous and asynchronous virtual outreach events in 2020, and inspired creation of live virtual tours of various research centers at The Ohio State University to maintain and expand public engagement during the pandemic. To meet increasing requests for information from both educators and researchers, a new how-to website was developed to explain the virtual field experience creation process and describe successful practices implemented by E&O staff. Visit the links provided to stand on the Kennicott Glacier in Alaska, see the summit of the Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru, sit stream-side with researchers in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, or even take a tour of the Byrd Center.