National Park Service Submerged Resources Center

10/02/2026

Next up for Abby on her 2026 OWUSS internship: the Channel Islands National Park Kelp Forest Monitoring Team.

She spent the week diving through towering kelp forests, surveying urchins and ARMs, and contributing to a monitoring program that dates back to 1982.

She also saw the other side of the story—urchin barrens where once-thriving kelp forests have disappeared.

Add curious seals, sea lions, life aboard the Sea Ranger II, Painted Cave, and some unforgettable dives, and it made for one incredible week in the Channel Islands

National Park Service, Fourth Element,

I had an amazing week living aboard the boat, learning from the KFM team, collecting data at sites that have been monitored for decades, photographing seals ...

09/15/2026

Abby’s latest stop with the NPS Our-World Underwater Scholarship Society internship took her to Virgin Islands National Park and into the world of maintenance diving with the National Maintenance Dive Team.

There were miles of rope, underwater impact drills, plenty of hardware—and some spectacular “office views.” But the real mission was protecting the underwater resources of Virgin Islands National Park. By replacing worn mooring systems, the team helps boaters avoid dropping anchors on fragile coral and other sensitive habitats.

Abby got a crash course in everything from rope splicing to installing moorings underwater—and discovered that sometimes conservation looks a lot less like collecting data and a lot more like an impact drill, a few hundred feet of rope, and getting the job done.

National Park Service, Fourth Element

Before this project, when I thought about scientific diving and marine conservation, I often pictured research surveys, underwater photography, or collectin ...

09/01/2026

From sea turtle hatchlings to seahorses, sharks, and 100-minute dives — Abby’s NPS internship just keeps getting better! 🌊

Another stop on Abby’s NPS/Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society internship — St. Croix!

This week she dove the Frederiksted Pier and Cane Bay Wall, worked on sea turtle and mangrove restoration at Buck Island Reef National Monument and Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, and explored the history of Christiansted National Historic Site.

One of the best parts of this internship is watching Abby experience just how diverse the National Park Service mission is — from coral reefs and sea turtles to historic forts, and everything in between.

https://www.owuscholarship.org/current-internships/2026-national-park-service/hatchlings-saplings-and-ramblings-a-week-on-st-croix/

08/12/2026

Abby travels from South Florida to Hawaii as part of her 2026 NPS Our World Underwater Scholarship Society internship for a project beneath the waters of Pearl Harbor.

Working alongside the SRC, Pearl Harbor National Memorial, and Pacific Historic Parks - USS Arizona Memorial Abby supported an underwater photogrammetry project using the SeaArray imaging system to capture nearly 100,000 photographs of the USS Arizona WWII wreck. The images will be used to create a detailed 3D model, helping preserve the site digitally while creating new opportunities for interpretation, education, and immersive experiences.

For Abby, the project offered a rare opportunity to experience the USS Arizona firsthand and document the details of a place that few people will ever see beneath the surface—from preserved teak and artifacts to the marine life now inhabiting the wreck.

Her latest blog, Abby (incredibly) demonstrates how underwater photography, science, and emerging technology can help connect future generations with the history preserved beneath the USS Arizona.

National Park Service, Fourth Element, U.S. Department of the Interior,

https://www.owuscholarship.org/current-internships/2026-national-park-service/pearl-harbor-diving-and-documenting-history/

07/15/2026

Members of the SRC with assistance from Marine Imaging Technologies have completed the first-ever comprehensive photographic survey of USS Arizona to create a high-resolution 3D photogrammetric model of the 608-foot battleship resting in Pearl Harbor.

This historic effort was made possible through a partnership between Pacific Historic Parks - USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor National Memorial and the SRC— a collaboration focused on preserving and sharing the stories of one of America’s most significant historic sites.

The vision to fully document USS Arizona began in November 2013. At the time, creating a complete digital record of the ship seemed nearly impossible given the challenges of working in Pearl Harbor’s 6–8 foot visibility, the shallow nature of the site, and the battleships immense scale.

A decade of advances in imaging technology, the SRC’s SeaArray multi-camera photogrammetry system, and modern computing power have now made that vision a reality. The nearly 100,000 images collected by SeaArray will be used to build the most comprehensive 3D representation ever created of USS Arizona.

The completed model will support preservation, research, and interpretation through new digital experiences — including Apple Vision Pro immersive content, web-based visualizations, and other educational tools that will allow people around the world to connect with this historic site in new ways.

More than a technological achievement, this project is a commitment to honoring the 1,177 Sailors and Marines who lost their lives aboard USS Arizona on December 7, 1941, and ensuring their stories endure for future generations.

National Park Service, Fourth Element, Evan Kovacs

For more information on the SeaArray: https://www.npssubmerged.com/seaarray

07/13/2026

Abby's latest internship adventure took her beneath the waters of Biscayne National Park, where she logged more than 20 dives supporting marine conservation while documenting the work through underwater photography.

From removing invasive lionfish and marine debris to conducting reef surveys, buoy maintenance, and coral monitoring, she captured the science and stewardship that most park visitors never get to see.

A surprise highlight was an invitation to join the Habitat Restoration Program at Dry Tortugas National Park, where she helped document and relocate hard corals to protect them during repairs to Fort Jefferson's historic moat wall—another unforgettable chapter in an internship filled with conservation, exploration, and storytelling beneath the surface.

Dry Tortugas National Park, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Fourth Element,

What I loved most was that every dive had a purpose and ended with a visible result. Whether it was a zookeeper packed with lionfish, a brand-new buoy bounc ...

06/18/2026

Abby Perry’s summer as the 2026 National Park Service Our World Underwater Scholarship Society (OWUSS) Diving Research Intern is off to an incredible start. From meeting OWUSS scholars and industry leaders in New York City at the annual meeting to completing dive training, Blue Card certification, underwater photography instruction, and even her first rebreather dives in Denver, Abby has already packed a season’s worth of experiences into her first week.

Next stop: Biscayne National Park.

https://blog.owuscholarship.org/2026/06/new-york-city-denver-scuba-diving-hubs-of-the-united-states/

06/16/2026

The NPS Wounded Veterans in Parks (WVIP) program recently completed scientific dives on the WWII battleship USS Arizona in support of the National Park Service ongoing stewardship efforts. During Memorial Day week, paraplegic veterans and their dive buddies conducted visual assessments of pooled oil trapped within interior compartments and re-surveyed seven long-term GPS “superpoints” across the ship’s main deck. This monitoring effort, conducted for more than 15 years, helps track structural stability and provides valuable data to support the preservation of one of America's most significant historic sites. Pacific Historic Parks, Fourth Element