The ocean is in a dire crisis that puts the entirety of humanity at risk. The gravity of its issues range from climate change to plastics pollution to overfishing, all of which are overwhelming issues to tackle individually, and seemingly insurmountable when looked at together.
Scientists have noted that even if we were to halt all of our fossil fuel activity today, we are still on track to lose 90% of the ocean’s corals by 2050. Coral is the ocean’s life system and without it, we will soon also have an ocean without life. In spite of the terrible news, there are some glimmers of light and hope spots that we can point to, especially in the areas of AI for the benefit of the ocean. This will be the first in a series of articles that puts a spotlight on the top innovators and innovations that are using the power of technology, and specifically AI to restore and regenerate our precious oceans.
Ultimately, AI is about leveraging data in the most efficient and unique ways to uncover new insights, innovations, and ways to work. When it comes to ocean data, the information is often overwhelming, unavailable and almost always fragmented. Making sense of data is the key to creating solutions for our oceans and acting on them.
Many of the issues facing our ocean today originate with us not knowing that much about it, in spite of it making up over three-quarters of our planet. It’s interesting to note that we know much more about the topography of Mars and the Moon than our own ocean. Because life underwater isn’t always visible, it has largely stayed out of sight and out of our cultural mindshare. Only very recently has public awareness bubbled up about the precarious state of our oceans. It’s also recent that the acceleration of its degradation has become so visible that it is impossible to ignore. But what can be done about the precarious state of our oceans?
Several AI startups are doing their part to enable solutions for the oceans. Aggregating ocean data and applying machine learning to empower positive ocean action, Data 360 is using data to map the ocean floor in order to expand our knowledge of ocean topography.
There are many initiatives to gather data about the oceans, however, certain datasets are difficult to gain access to, and the sheer volume of information is massive. Making sense of this data requires access to computational resources and expertise in the fields of oceanography, and physics; when you add machine learning to the equation, it adds up to a rare combination of skill sets in not necessarily available in today’s corporate maritime landscape.
Lead researchers are looking to bridge the gap in maritime expertise and data. Their platform aggregates data from over 6,000 sources ranging from IoT sensor data that measure water quality, wave and weather data, shipping vessel locations, and ocean acoustic. They then apply machine learning algorithms to correlate information for real-time decision making, insight into operational efficiencies, and reductions in cost as well as environmental harm. These companies are applying their technology to a variety of use cases, one example is “acoustic pollution”, an area that hardly receives any attention today. We don’t think about it, but additional noise in the form of higher sound pressure levels has a huge impact on underwater ecosystems; underwater, sound can travel hundreds of miles at speeds five times faster than in air. The additional sound energy introduced in the ocean during new port construction, additional vessels in shipping lanes, and open water construction such as offshore wind farms can harm marine life. Cetaceans (dolphins, whales) are sensitive to high sound pressure levels and therefore are at risk for injury, which sometimes takes the form of large scale beaching events. Additional noise in the form of acoustic pollution disrupts all types of fish, as well as their larvae, risking the entire ocean ecosystem.
The scientists can take data from various buoys deployed in an area of interest and apply machine learning techniques to detect marine mammal proximity in real-time, enabling decisions regarding construction projects, shipping routes or port expansion to be made with wildlife protection as a priority.
Ocean Health, a leading scientific journal for the oceans shows the disconnection between what people who are knowledgeable about ocean health (i.e. the researchers) are writing about and what the general public wants to read. In a recent analysis of topics, Data 360, a leading big data and analytics company found that researchers have focused narrowly on a small number of topics vs the expanded interests that general public advocates are addressing.
Big data and AI and machine learning can for the first time connect people to the issues and solution focused areas that are happening near them. AI can also help content creators identify influencers by city, by topic or interest level, understand how to model public cognition around issues, identify barriers to solutions with the public and develop an in-depth analysis of public sentiment, as well as predictive modeling for how to solve the public engagement problem. Data 360 is bridging the gap between the knowledge that is shared online and what consumers are actually craving in terms of information.
The full potential of AI to be realized for the benefit of the ocean starts with data because you can’t change or act upon what you can’t measure. For the ocean, it can serve as a baseline that helps scientists measure pH changes, identify species, search for patterns and more. Data is helping ports understand water quality and enable real-time decision making for outlier incidents. It’s helping shipping companies create more efficient shipping routes, consume less fossil fuels and avoid collisions with whales and other marine life.
This is just the beginning, just as satellites orbiting our atmosphere enabled new technologies that are commonplace today such as GPS, and real-time traffic and routing, data that maps the entire ocean surface and floor can provide insights into weather patterns, quantity of fish stocks, water temperature, salinity and more. Data is a baseline but AI is being applied in many ways to help save our oceans
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