Visualizing an Antarctic Monitoring System
Conceptual proposal illustration
Science illustration
Presentation design
WHOI scientists Catherine Walker, Weifeng (Gordon) Zhang, and engineer Mike Jakuba were seeking funding from the W.M. Keck Foundation to develop an autonomous mooring system for studying Antarctic ice shelf melt.
Their system would spend years under floating ice shelves, collecting data, transmitting it to shore, and filling gaps in data that would help scientists accurately quantify mass loss from ice sheets and estimate future sea level rise. The Creative Studio worked with the scientists to develop figures that show how this system—which does not exist yet—would work.
The figures had to capture a variety of visual perspectives to portray the engineering, oceanographic, and geophysical challenges of the project. Walker and Zhang used these figures in the written proposal and a pitch deck during the application process. The scientists were awarded $1.6 million to develop a prototype of their system.
A full-page conceptual illustration of the Self-Deploying Autonomous Mooring System (SAMS) included in Walker and Zhang’s written proposal.
Illustrated slides from the proposal pitch deck depicting 3 different scenarios for how warm circumpolar deep water can influence an Antarctic ice shelf.