Torres-Pérez, Juan: Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (Project Lead)
Project Funding:
2017 - 2018
NRA: 2016 NASA: Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program
Funded by Other US Funding: Amanda Whitehurst/Kevin Murphy, NASA
Abstract:
Globally, coral reefs are experiencing increased stress caused by climate change-related factors (e.g., rising sea level and sea water temperatures, and ocean acidification). As recurrences of extreme sea water thermal events, and the consequent potential for associated bleaching events, increase with climate change, the need for continuous monitoring of coral reefs become even more evident. Enabling properly trained members from the local communities (dive shop owners/instructors; citizen scientists hereafter) to actively participate in scientific programs/research projects, provides for such monitoring at little cost to the funding agencies once the citizens are properly trained and committed. Further, the possibility of obtaining high temporal resolution data with citizen scientists can provide for new venues to answer questions that may not be answered with traditional research approaches.
The proposed project addresses the primary goal of the NASA’s Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program by engaging members of the local communities on the assessment of coastal water quality and the current and future status of Puerto Rico’s coral reefs in an age of climate change and in particular, an increase in the frequency and magnitude of coral bleaching events. The project will complement remote sensing data with community-based field assessments strictly supervised by the PI’s. The study will focus on training citizen scientists for the collection of benthic information related to the state of coral reefs using different methodologies, monitoring of coral bleaching events, and collecting of water quality data in situ and from a boat using a smartphone ocean color application. We will further use the data collected by citizen scientists to complement the validation of Landsat-8 (OLI) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery for water quality assessment. At the same time,

researchers from the University of Puerto Rico and the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) will conduct field assessment of the bio-optical properties of waters surrounding the proposed coral reef study areas. We will concentrate the Prototype Phase of the project on the southwest coast of PR, an area where the PI’s have been collecting benthic and bio-optical data for decades. Later, during the Implementation Phase we will add study sites on the north, west and northeast coasts of PR. Training for citizen scientists from these areas will also be provided during this Implementation Phase. In total, we expect to engage personnel from a minimum of 14 dive shops in data collection and training during both Phases. As such, the proposed project will provide for technology and data transfer between the academia, researchers and local members of the community for a better assessment of environmental conditions affecting important coral reef areas in PR.
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
