The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. However, it is under great threat.
A recent study[1] by the ARC Centre of Excellence Coral Reef Studies revealed that the Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral in the past three decades to mass bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures.
Reef corals have an annual reproduction event every November and December that has the potential to see healthy coral spread their larvae, with the help of the ocean's current, to parts of the reef that have been affected by bleaching.
The challenges faced by researchers are figuring out how to identify and map these healthy reefs, how to evaluate the way reefs can be protected, and how to monitor the dangers faced by corals. Due to the large geographical range of the Great Barrier Reef -- roughly the same size of Italy -- researchers have only collected data regularly from approximately 5-10% of the reef.
In a bid to ramp up data collection, conservation organisation Citizens of the Greater Barrier Reef has launched the Great Reef Census project.
The project aims to bring together stakeholders across tourism, including visitors and divers, science, research, and business to assist and scale data collection from across the reef by capturing images of the reef.
Must read: How AI and drones are trying to save the Great Barrier Reef[2] (TechRepublic)
The organisation has partnered with Dell Technologies to ensure the data collected by these stakeholders can be uploaded and transferred in real time to the marine research team at the University of Queensland.
According to Dell, it has built an embedded, ruggedised device