Note: This page will be updated as the project develops. More scientific collaborations are being secured. Stay tuned!
With a PhD on Ocean Colour Remote Sensing, I could not help but looking for scientific projects that need in-situ data for development and validation of satellite products. Well, I was not really hoping to find something in this specific area, but sometimes the universe agrees with your dreams and helps out.
Thanks to a series of coincidences, I’ve learnt about the PlanktoSpace, a program that invites recreational sailors to collect plankton samples around the world’s oceans.
Their main objective is to correlate the plankton composition of surface waters with the colour of the ocean as seen from above, measured by satellite. If this approach succeeds, it will make it possible to monitor plankton biodiversity from space, paving the way for a true global system for tracking the health of the oceans.
Guess what? that is precisely my field of research. Even better, Sara has been selected as one of the twenty boats worldwide that will collect samples during satellite overpasses. I couldn’t imagine a better beginning of the Becoming R/V project, the perfect intersection between my two worlds.
Sampling is entirely volunteer-based, which is why your support can genuinely make a difference for me and Sara!
We’ll be equipped with a Plankto-Kit, essentially a tiny floating laboratory (see picture below). It includes everything needed to gather and process the samples: a plankton net to collect the samples, a filtration unit to prepare the material for later genetic analysis in the laboratory, and a super cool Curiosity microscope, which will let me observe plankton diversity directly on board and take real-time images!
The full protocol takes about three hours, which becomes quite an endurance test when sailing solo. But for science, for the ocean, and for a project this close to my scientific interests, I’m ready to give all!
For now, I need to stay focused on finishing my PhD thesis, but stay tuned! More details about the science onboard are coming soon.
If you are interested in further scientific collaborations or outreaching activities, please get in touch!
Please enjoy some of the ocean’s own artwork as seen from satellites (images below).
Searching for satellite images is easier than you might think. If you’d like to explore them yourself, just ask and I’ll show you how! But be careful: looking at satellite images of ocean’s views is very addictive and lead to spectacular levels of procrastination. Proceed at your own risk.
