Iceberg Ec...
Coupling Citizen Science and Remote Sensing Observations to Assess the Impacts of Icebergs on Coastal Arctic Ecosystems
- Project start date:
- May 2025
- Project end date:
- April 2028
- Project Contacts:
- Maria Vernet - mvernet@ucsd.edu; besimmon@fiu.edu
- Project cost:
- $825000 USD
- Funding amount:
- $825000 USD
- Project URL:
- https://www.icebergecosystems.com
- Impact Assesment progress:
- 100% complete
Project Description
Icebergs are ice towers sailing in the polar seas as part of the planetary water cycle, transporting freshwater stored in the icesheets to the ocean. As the number of icebergs and glacial melting increases owing to Arctic warming, the increasing influx of freshwater is changing the timing and location of phytoplankton productivity within fjords. Any loss of productivity negatively affects indigenous communities, fishing efforts and the regional economy. The polar tourism industry is now expanding to fjords within Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic; isolated areas historically under-sampled by scientists and for which remote sensing of physical and biological properties is essential to understand rapid climate change. In partnership with HX Expeditions Ltd., a polar tour operator, we are developing and implementing a citizen science field sampling program to characterize phytoplankton and seabird abundance and biodiversity in these fjords and how it is affected by the presence of icebergs and glacial meltwater in surface ocean layers. We expect icebergs will facilitate species enrichment and diversity.
The project supports a post-doctoral fellow. Data will be publicly available and we are collaborating with a technology company to develop web-based data visualization applications for sharing results with citizen scientists
Impact Assesment Tools
Current Project Impact
The following scores were calculated using a statistically-driven machine-learning approach, a type of AI that learns to perform a task by analysing patterns in data. This is an experimental approach to citizen-science impact assessment, and the exact reasoning behind the scores is not explainable. The scores represent a best guess of the impact the project is having in each domain. Scores are recalculated and updated when “View impact report” is clicked.
Domain Progress
Proportion of questions answered in each domain.
-
This is the beginning of a journey (some would say a "trajectory" ) along more than 200 questions. Don't worry; you don't have to answer them all at once. Do something, and come back some other day. You will find a lot of help along the way, and if you're generally happy to start, just click on "Ok, I got it!" below. If you're unsure how to answer a question, again, don't worry, answer it in the way that makes most sense to your project and you can always come back and change it later. If you still have doubts about life, the universe and everything, now or later, head to where to find help for advice and all the clarity you might look for.