The role of participatory technologies for the ocean monitoring challenge of the Ocean Decade: the case of the Catalan coastal waters

The role of new participatory technologies for coastal monitoring is essential to understand the ocean-climate nexus and generate knowledge and solutions to mitigate, adapt and build resilience to the effects of climate change.

This approach is novel because pursue the developing of a new coastal monitoring system as a result of citizen observations, based mainly on Do It Yourself (DIY) and Low-Cost (LC) technologies linked to participatory platforms (Citizen Observatories and open Internet of Things -IoT- networks), providing the required data completeness for improved coastal management aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). 

The case of Barcelona's coastal urban waters will serve as a study site for observational monitoring of water parameters such as sea surface temperature, supported by citizen participation. This area represents an excellent site due to anthropogenic pressures (including massive discharge of pollutants) which entails a decreasing of low water quality levels in a highly engineered coastline. The development of the new instrumentation is complemented by outreach initiatives and workshops focused on the application of DIY and LC technologies. These efforts aim to foster social involvement and promote STEM awareness

The massive data obtained with the proposed disruptive technologies will allow the implementation of new data science approaches based on new algorithms of data processing, visual programming, machine learning (e.g. neural networks) and input/output schemes to enable scientific analysis from a digital transition perspective.

Within the framework of the PITACORA (ParticIpatory Technologies for sustAinable COastal monitoRing in urban Areas) project (grant TED2021-129776B-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR), it allows an ecological transition thanks to massive data collection, involving new awareness attitudes in the context of citizen science. As a fundamental point, this project focuses on changing the perception of urban areas, specifically urban beaches, considered low-quality ecological environments by most of its inhabitants.