Dive into the Great Barrier Reef from Home
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Google Street View, in collaboration with the Catlin Seaview Survey, will soon let you explore the Great Barrier Reef. The Seaview Survey is a scientific expedition which aims to carry out the first comprehensive study to document the composition and health of coral reefs on the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea across an unprecedented depth range (0-100m) – addressing a series of important questions regarding the changes associated with the rapidly warming and acidifying oceans. |
The shallow survey will use a panoramic camera to generate images of the reef, at 20 sites across the entire length of the 2,300km Great Barrier Reef. The University of Queensland will participate in the project using an image recognition software to conduct a visual census of corals, fish and other organisms. The deep water survey will use robots to study the health, composition and biodiversity in the deep-water reefs. Finally, a team led by Richard Fitzpatrick, a cinematographer and shark researcher, will track 50 animals with satellite tags that continuously monitor their geographic position, temperature and depth. The aim is studying the migratory behaviour of tiger sharks, green turtles and manta rays in response to increasing seawater temperatures.
If you are interested in Google Street View, you can also read Google Maps Goes Indoors.