Marine biologists are teaming up with Google to photograph detailed 360-degree panoramas of coral reefs around the globe. Using technology similar to Google’s Street View feature, users will be able to survey coral reefs much like they might scope out a city block.
The project, Google Street View Oceans, has already surveyed a 150-kilometer stretch of the Great Barrier Reef and is now working on reefs in the Caribbean. “Only 1 percent of humanity has ever dived on a coral reef, and by making the experience easily accessible the survey will help alert millions of people around the world to the plight of coral reefs,” said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a marine biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia who is leading the survey.
Image recognition software will log the distribution and abundance of marine organisms, and the researchers hope “citizen scientists” viewing the reefs will help assess other key measures of reef health, including coral bleaching caused by high ocean temperatures.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
