• Eye On Water
  • Citclops is supported by the EC-FP7 Programme, grant agreement nº 308469

Home

Citizens’ Observatory for Coast and Ocean Optical Monitoring

Instructions how to use

The quality of natural waters can be estimated via their colour and transparency, since these optical properties are affected by the substances that are either suspended or dissolved in it. A new App was developed by the Citclops consortium to estimate the colour of water bodies by citizens, based on the comparison of the colour of the water to a 21 colour-scale displayed on the screen of the smartphone. The user takes a picture of the observed water surface, with the sun on his/her back if it’s a clear day, then cuts the part of the image that resembles most to the real colour of the water. The scale is then displayed on the screen and the user can compare the colours on the scale to the colour of the water, either by looking at the picture just taken or by looking at the water surface directly. Then, a questionnaire on the weather conditions needs to be filled in.

If the user has a Secchi disk, then he/she is asked to introduce the secchi depth, an indicator of water transparency, and to compare the colours of the scale to the colour of the water observed on top of the Secchi disk (at ½ the Secchi disk depth).

This App is called ‘Citclops’ and can be downloaded for Android on the Google Play Store and for iPhone on the Apple app store.

Citclops APP newsletter