Please note that this blog post will continually be updated with the most relevant and up-to-date information and we appreciate your patience as the project evolves.
The AGU Thriving Earth Exchange (TEX) project is nearing it’s official launch of our ground-breaking community science project – the first of it’s kind! We wanted to collect data on underwater videos and imagery to add to our database of knowledge on habitat health (e.g., kelp forests, urchin barrens, sandy-bottom habitats) in the subtidal (underwater/submerged) environment both in and outside of California’s MPAs. Our Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are one of the safest, most cost effective ways to do this! Each of the 14 collaboratives already has their own ROV (some have two) and any collaborative member can be trained to use them. More on our ROV Program here.
Through Zooniverse and CitSci, we have some landing pages for video uploads. Once one submits an observation on the CitSci app (can be done from your phone, anywhere with cell service) to collect metadata (location, time, date, and more), one receives a link to upload the video(s) using a unique observation ID. We modeled our project after the iNaturalist app, especially Snapshot Cal Coast, which has a summer bioblitz event annually to collect community and citizen science data on biodiversity in the intertidal zone. Our project aims to complement these data – just underwater!
Explore Beyond the Shore utilizes computer science, machine learning, and people power to explore the underwater world! One main impetus for this project was to better understand kelp forest ecosystem health in the face of climate change and sea star wasting syndrome.
Check out our soon-to-be-shared User Manual here!
A huge thank you to Wildlife.ai, TEX Community Science Fellowships, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for making this project a reality! For questions, please reach out to claire(at)mpacollaborative.org!
Disclaimer language for ROV video uploads related to this project:
The CitSci and Zooniverse Explore Beyond the Shore webpages shall henceforth be known as Platform. The MPA Collaborative Network and its Explore Beyond the Shore affiliates disclaim any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Platform, any mislabeling by Platform visitors of observations, or from any downloading by those visitors of content posted to the Platform.