Researchers are trying several distinctive methods to save endangered coral reefs from dying off due to ocean pollution, climate change, and numerous factors.
Researchers have been using sophisticated instruments and supercomputers to look under the surface of the ocean to explore at-risk ecosystems for quite some time. Still, there is only so much it can do on its own.
Now, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is everyone for help. And that includes you. NASA created a new mobile video game to map coral reefs worldwide as a way to save them.
If not anything else, NASA just made fun and productive way to kill time while stuck at home. Race you to the bottom of the sea?
How to race at the bottom of the sea?
Gamers will virtually "dive" at the Nautilus research vessel in different parts of the ocean. They would be identifying the reefs, watch educational motion pictures, and earn badges while helping NASA know specific species of coral.
"Neural Multi-Modal Observation and Training Network (NeMO-Net) leverages the most powerful force on this planet: not a fancy camera or a supercomputer, but people," said principal investigator Ved Chirayath in a statement.
Chirayath said everyone - even a first-grader - can play this game and sort through data to help NASA map one of the most beautiful forms in the world.
The game uses "fluid-lensing" cameras, which have been located on drones or aircraft over the past numerous years in expeditions to various parts of the world to acquire 3-D photos of the seafloor.
NASA said the more people who play NeMO-NET, the better the supercomputer's mapping abilities become. With that map, the space agency said scientists will better understand what is happening to corals and find ways to preserve them.
"Once it has been able to classify corals from data included in the game accurately, the [system would] map out the world's corals at an unprecedented resolution," NASA explained.
The app is available on Apple's App Store, available for iOS and Mac devices. An Android version will come soon, the government organization added. Interested players can also access the NeMo-Net website here.
Global Warming & Coral Reefs
Coral reefs located under the oceans are domestic to numerous fascinating underwater sea creatures. However, with climate change and worldwide warming over the years, these coral reefs have started to degenerate. Corals are dying, and the machine is dynamically changing as temperatures keep growing and greenhouse gases preserve accumulating within the atmosphere.
Just recently, Queensland's Great Barrier Reef went through its third bleaching event in the last five years. Warm ocean temperature is the leading motive of coral bleaching. When this happens, corals flip white as a strain response to water that is too warm. This happens because they're expelling the algae that grow inside of them, which is their primary electricity source and gives them their color.
According to experts, bleaching doesn't kill the coral immediately. However, if temperatures remain high for prolonged periods, in the end, the coral will die. This will result to harm to the natural habitat for more species of marine life.
