The Coral Reef Sentinels: A Mars Shot for Blue Planetary Health

The Smithsonian Institution - Panama

Change humanity’s relationship with the ocean, Create a digital representation of the Ocean, Develop a sustainable and equitable ocean economy, Indian Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, Programme, Protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity, Skills, knowledge and technology for all, South Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Sustainably feed the global population, Understand and beat marine pollution

The Coral Sentinel System is a transformative program to deploy autonomous, low-cost robots to monitor the health of coral reefs around the world in near real-time.

The actionable data this program delivers will enable rapid conservation interventions to protect these reefs from harm while ensuring local ecological, economic, and cultural health. The audacious goals of this program are to develop and demonstrate a scalable monitoring, modeling and decision-support system for reef science and conservation and to adapt each set of solutions to local needs. We plan to move beyond monitoring coral reef decline to finding novel ways to save them.

Start Date: 01/09/2021
End Date: 31/12/2030

This Programme hosts the following Ocean Decade Projects:

Low cost real-time monitoring of pollutants and water quality along the coral reefs in Tanzania: Supporting effective ocean management

Coral Reef Restoration Engaging Local Stakeholders Using Novel Biomimicking IntelliReefs

Lead Contact: David Kline (klined@si.edu)

Download the Ocean Decade Action Factsheet