Citclops @ Ocean Sampling Day, a Global Event for Sequencing the Oceans
Citclops is an EU funded project in which citizens can actively participate in environmental stewardship. We developed a smart phone app for water quality measurements, and since the start of the project we have collected already a lot of data around the world. This year, we would like to join efforts with another initiative, the Ocean Sampling Day (OSD). On June 21 2014 a worldwide sampling campaign of microbial life within marine surface water was successfully performed within the framework of Micro B3’s OSD. It encompassed more than 180 marine research locations worldwide. A Citclops team was part of this global network of biodiversity samples, and will also joint this year.
The combination of such sophisticated techniques with simple measurements substantially broadens our scope of knowledge.
The idea: On 21 June is summer solstice, which means the most hours of daylight, and the highest light availability in the ocean. Light is life, and we expect a high biodiversity at this time. Water colour is related to light availability and biomass in water, and hence has a topical relation to the OSD.
The vision: Join OSD and Citclops efforts in this year and collect as many data on one day at as many places of the world as possibleon June 21st 2015! Thus, we ask you for images of water colour, at any place of the ocean. In particular, if you are taking a biodiversity sample for the OSD please take a Citclops water colour measurement at your OSD sampling site.
The mission: Go out on 21 June 2015 and take pictures of the water colour with our app! Note: The App is in development and a new version will be available only after the OSD (new name: EyeOnWater). The current version is working on many, but not on all phone types. We recommend a prior check if images are correctly uploaded to the map on our webpage www.citclops.eu). If you can not use the app, please just take an image with your smart phone, or regular camera, take notes on your position and time (and upload the image on our website).
There is also an OSD App, in which you can note water temperature, salinity and nutrients. Thanks to the support of the OSD team, the app can be also used to upload images of water colour for Citclops on 21 June 2015, http://www.microb3.eu/myosd/osd-citizen-app
In this year, a Citclops team from the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment in Wilhelmshaven is functioning as OSD hub. That means, that we provide biodiversity sampling kits for the general public in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Cordial thanks to the OSD & MyOSD team for the support and for providing the opportunity to have Citclops @ OSD!
Thank you for participating in Citclops@OSD2015 and have a happy OSD!
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