Secchi App - Citizen Science for Sailors

[Odontella]

Well, I'm new to the forum - hello - and I'm here to promote a Citizen Science project about the marine plankton that wants to involve seafarers.

It's conducted by a free smartphone app called Secchi in conjunction with a simple to make Secchi Disk, and its home website is Secchi Disk

This is the first sailing forum I have joined to promote the project - please tell me if it is inappropriate to reach seafarers this way.

By way of background.

Two years ago a paper in the science magazine Nature reported that the global phytoplankton population had declined by 40% since the 1950s.

Phytoplankton primary production governs marine productivity at all levels above in the marine food chain. The phytoplankton also create 50% of the oxygen in the air we breathe, and, by drawing down carbon dioxide, they influence the climate. Chemicals released by some phytoplankton when they die also help create the clouds in the sky and the smell of the sea. Changes in phytoplankton abundance therefore influence the global ecology.

The report of a global decline in phytoplankton abundance provoked controversy among marine scientists, some of whom thought abundance had actually increased. Part of the controversy stems from poor data coverage of the oceans - there aren't that many scientists collecting data - and while we now have satellite imagery such as SeaWifs - in-situ data is invaluable.

In contrast to a few scientists, there are a lot of seafarers and hence the Citizen Science project.

Please take a look at the website. I'd be interested to hear your views.

So far the response from sailors who have seen the media coverage has been very positive. Within two days of the project's launch on the 21st February we received data from New Zealand and the Mediterranean.

There is a media report here BBC News - Seafarer science: Sailors asked to help measure plankton

I am posting on this forum to raise awareness of the project and encourage participation.

If communicating with the sailing community in this way is appropriate I'll post to other sailing fora; so please let me know.

Fingers crossed.

[Odontella]

Mods. Thanks for posting this to your forum, greatly appreciated. If the project takes off it will create something great.

Sailors. Please spread the word.

Tweet the project @secchiapp, use the #secchidisk or join the Secchi App Facebook group.

The Secchi App is designed to work at sea without a network connection. It just relies upon receiving a GPS signal to enable you to use it. The data is stored within the app and you are prompted to upload the data when you nest get a mobile signal. You can decline at this point - in case you have joined a roaming network - to wait until you are on your own carrier.

www.secchidisk.org

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Odontella.

What a cool idea. Hope you get a huge response.

[Odontella]

Thanks

Everyone has been positive so far. Momentum is everything - getting sailors to take part and watch the database grow, and then to see it used and contribute to our undrstanding of the Oceans biology.

Data from anywhere is welcome. Repeat measurements from your local waters, perhaps choose a sampling site, or take ad hoc measurements as you travel.

www.facebook.com/secchidisk

[David M]

Excellent idea. I left a word of encouragement on the Facebook page.

[Odontella]

Thanks for the encouragement

just need to get the word out.

All the best

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Odontella

- getting sailors to take part and watch the database grow, and then to see it used and contribute to our undrstanding of the Oceans biology.

www.facebook.com/secchidisk

Awesome, just plain awesome.

there are other organizations too, see SSCA, womenandcruising

Thank you,
Ocean Girl

[Odontella]

Thank you for the suggestion - acted upon !

Best Wishes

[Odontella]

Hi to everyone,

I'm returning to a thread that was started 3 years ago. Because, with the arrival of February 2016, the Secchi Disk project Secchi Disk Study enters its 4th Year, so Happy Birthday is in order! Already, due to sailors' participation around the globe, the Secchi Disk project has become the World's largest marine citizen science study. I have provided the map of Secchi Depth data as it appeared in January 2016. If you go to the project website and click on the map on the front age, and zoom in, you will see the true extent of the data collected so far, and if you click on a marker on the map you can see the data.

An essential element to the Secchi Disk project's growth is awareness of the study among seafarers, so we are always grateful to anyone who is willing to help by displaying a project poster at their yacht club or on your local marina notice board. If you would like to do so, project posters in A4 and US letter sizes can be downloaded from the Press Pack section of the Secchi Disk project website given above.

You can find out much more about the project's progress in the monthly updates that are posted on the project Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/secchidisk

To every single sailor taking part, thank you. To anyone thinking about helping to understand the biology of the sea you sail upon, why not take part ?

With Best Wishes,

Richard

Dr Richard Kirby

[windwizard4]

Hi Odontella, cam across your posting on Cruisers Forum. Found it very interesting as in April I plan to sail from Greece to South Africa via the Red Sea once I have assembled a team to join me.
My daughter who is a scientist at the Ocean Research Institute in Durban
specialises in Corals and coral reefs so all matters marine are of great interest
to us and your project sound just that.
Please email further information to the email address below and tell me how we can be of help on our Ocean safari.

PF.
oceansafari4@gmail.com

[Odontella]

It's been a while since i last posted news from the Secchi Disk study.

But the Secchi Disk study is still going strongly thanks to sailors' data collection.

Today, the study published its second paper in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

You can read the article HERE or by using this link https://rdcu.be/cqKH0. (Please share this publication.)

The article is Open Access and so it is free to read, download and print.

The title of the study is: Citizens and scientists collect comparable oceanographic data: measurements of ocean transparency from the Secchi Disk study and science programmes.

Along with the first publication (available here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186092) this new study demonstrates that the data collected by sailors for the Secchi Disk study is reliable and so it can be scientifically useful, i.e. it can be used to address scientific questions, and as such these two papers together, were important milestones for the study.

We would like to thank the Whirlwind Charitable Trust for funding the costs of Open Access publication.

And of course, huge thanks to all the participants in this ongoing study of the oceans' phytoplankton. Without your data collected while sailing, there would be no publication.

Best Wishes to everyone.