Participatory science to understand the ecological status of surface marine waters

Luigi Ceccaroni (Citclops) Laia Subirats (BDigital) Marcel Wernand (NIOZ) Stéfani Novoa (NIOZ) Jaume Piera (ICM-CSIC) Roger Farrés (Kinetical) Ivan Price (Noveltis) and the Citclops consortium Barcelona November 18th 2014

2nd International Ocean Research conference (IORC)

Theme Session T2.TS5 Operationalizing Ecosystem-

based Management: the challenges of translating scientific knowledge into decision tools for integrated management

1.- The Citclops project

2.- Scientific importance of color and transparency

3.- What gives color to seas, lakes and rivers?

4.- How are color and transparency determined?

5.- Citizens and science

6.- Citclops and the Barcelona World Race 2014–15

INDEX

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

1. The Citclops project

• Extending historic water-quality data sets, using :

• old-fashioned techniques

• citizen science

• smartphones

• Water-quality descriptor used:

• Color

• Transparency

• Fluorescence

• New policies concerning environmental resources

should have citizens’ support from the beginning.

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

2. Scientific importance of color and transparency

• Relation to plankton and food chain.

• Besides water temperature and salinity the color

and transparency of water belong to the oldest

observed descriptors of lakes, seas and oceans.

• The color of water is an essential climate variable

defined by the World Meteorological Organization.

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

2. Scientific importance of color and transparency

• Forel-Ule color: observations between 1890 and

2000

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

2. Scientific importance of color and transparency

• Color change of the North-Atlantic Ocean

• Plankton is increasing in this ocean

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

3. What gives color to seas, lakes and rivers?

• Phytoplankton

(chlorophyll): small

algal cells growing in

fresh and saline waters

• Suspended particles:

sand, clay, organic

material

• Yellow substance or

humic acid: yellow

CDOM by rivers

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

4. How are color and transparency determined?

Besides hyper- and multi-spectral radiometers:

• the Forel-Ule scale (historical method, 1890)

• the Secchi disk (historical method, 1865)

• the new KdUINO buoy

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

5. Citizens and science

• Citizens can help science by using the

smartphone app.

• Pictures and metadata are sent to the

Citclops database for further analysis.

• Historical data can be complemented

with new data collected by the citizens.

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

5. Citizens and science: information management

• Acquisition

• Interpretation

• Delivery

• Recommendation and decision support

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

5. Citizens and science: context awareness

• time

• environmental conditions

• user profile

• status and availability of connected devices

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

5. Citizens and science

• School-boat Far Barcelona data collection during the

2013 Mediterranean Tall Ships Race

• Data collection by a captain of a commercial vessel

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

6. Citclops and the Barcelona World Race 2014-15

Collaboration with the Barcelona

Foundation for Ocean Sailing (FNOB):

• Citclops app and Citclops tools

Index

1. Item 1

2. Item 2

3. Item 3

4. Item 4

Conclusions

• Citizen science has the potential to increase the

monitoring of aquatic ecosystems through the use

of local people with no specific scientific training to

collect and analyze the data.

• Various categories of citizens can be involved: High-

schools, Artisanal fishers, Fish farmers, Sea

kayakers, Diving clubs, Volunteers (e.g., Coastwatch

Europe).

• Much of the growth in citizen-science initiatives

results from integration of the Internet and mobile

technologies into everyday life.

Participatory science to understand the ecological status of surface marine waters

Luigi Ceccaroni (Citclops) Laia Subirats (BDigital) Marcel Wernand (NIOZ) Stéfani Novoa (NIOZ) Jaume Piera (ICM-CSIC) Roger Farrés (Kinetical) Ivan Price (Noveltis) and the Citclops consortium

2nd International Ocean Research conference (IORC)

Theme Session T2.TS5 Operationalizing Ecosystem-

based Management: the challenges of translating scientific knowledge into decision tools for integrated management

Thank you!