This article was originally posted on August 21, 2013 but we thought this project provided a great way to celebrate World Oceans Day even if you can't make it to the beach!
Calling all citizen scientists! It doesn’t matter where you are. You can still be an ‘honorary’ diver to help with this project. The idea is simply to look at seafloor photos on your computer and catalogue what you find. Explore the Sea Floor is part of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) using their state-of-the-art Automated Underwater Vehicle (AUV), which has several incorporated cameras. “The goal is to produce seafloor images of Australia's coastal shelf so that we can quantify biodiversity at a continental scale and determine the effects of climate change,” says Dr. Ezequiel Marzinelli, from the Centre of Marine Bio-innovation at University of New South Wales and one of the several scientists involved in the project. ...
