The VARS Knowledgebase and MBARI Deep-Sea Guide are currently undergoing major redevelopments. Updated information will be posted as soon as these projects are completed. Meanwhile, for questions or assistance with acquiring VARS data, please contact our team.

A screenshot of the VARS Knowledgebase page for a deep-sea cephalopod.
The new web-based VARS Knowledgebase provides Video Lab staff and VARS users the ability to update concept names that are used across all of our VARS applications. This database also stores descriptive, visual, and anecdotal knowledge gained by our expert annotation team over the past four decades.
A screen-shot of the MBARI Deep-Sea Guide page for a pelagic midwater octopus.
Our MBARI Deep-Sea Guide, the DSG, utilizes the structured, hierarchical information stored within our Knowledgebase as described above. We envision the DSG as a guide to the organisms and habitats that MBARI has surveyed and discovered. Through the DSG, we can access photos and descriptive information used to identify species, equipment, and geologic features seen on MBARI platforms. In addition, plots of ancillary data are available for each concept. We are currently rebuilding our DSG application and offer a sneak peak above.