Illustrating Science at Sea

Illustrating Science at Sea

By: Madeleine C. Lucas 

Marine Geologist & Science Communicator

During my recent trip to Japan, I encountered numerous mascots representing different businesses, organizations, museums, events, sports teams, etc. All these mascots could only be described as kawaii, the Japanese word for cute. 

Kyoto Railway Museum Mascot and Deputy Mascot

Inspired by Japan's mascot culture, I decided to create our very own official mascot for the Near-Trench Community Geodetic Experiment and the AT50-27 expedition. And so... Pondy, the seafloor GNSS-A transponder, was born. Seafloor transponders have an iconic shape and orange color, perfect for a mascot! 

But I just couldn't stop there. With so many cool instruments and vehicles aboard the R/V Atlantis, I had to keep the mascot momentum going. And so...the Jason mascot was born. ROV Jason was a key player during the AT50-27 expedition as he enabled us to deploy our Pondy's on seafloor benchmarks with his robotic arms. 

But someone was still missing... During the expedition we also serviced recoverable electronic modules, or REMy's, using ROV Jason. The REMy's are being used to power and record data from seafloor fiber optic cables that measure strain caused by slow-moving earthquakes. So, last but not least, FrankenREMy was brought into existence, joining our team of mascots for the experiment as the official deputy mascot! We call him FrankenREMy because he is made up of parts from a few different REMy's that we brought with us to sea.  

Together, Pondy, Jason, and FrankenREMy worked as a team alongside the scientists and crew of the R/V Atlantis to make this experiment a success! Through the process of designing science mascots, I found that sometimes complicated and highly technical scientific techniques and instruments can be made more approachable and fun through kawaii illustration. Thank you for reading and keep an eye out for potential merch in the future... :) 

Scientific illustrations by Madeleine C. Lucas

©Madeleine C. Lucas (mlucas12@uw.edu)

Looking for an artist and science communicator to join your next expedition? 

I would love to join you! :)