This story is a part of the GenOcean campaign — an official Ocean Decade campaign showcasing Decade Actions, collaborating organizations and ocean leaders that focus on youth and citizen science opportunities to help anyone, anywhere be the change the ocean needs.
The western coast of Sardinia, Italy, shimmers with life and mystery in the turquoise waters that house the island of San Pietro. On this island, a determined community is helping to close one of the Mediterranean’s biggest data gaps one dive at a time.
Mediterranean Sea People’s Observatory Data, or MedSeaPOD, is a citizen science project which invites divers, fishermen, members of the community and even visitors to take part in monitoring sea temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea. These citizen scientists can aid in deploying small underwater sensors around the island to gather vital temperature data that scientists can’t easily collect on their own.
“We are plunging into the heart of one of the greatest challenges of our time — climate change,” explains Alberto Ribotti, a science advisor on the MedSeaPOD project. “And we are tackling it together.”
MedSeaPOD addresses three Ocean Decade Challenges:
3 – Sustainably nourish the global population
7 – Sustainably expand the Global Ocean Observing System
8 – Create a digital representation of the ocean
Where Passion for the Sea Meets the Need for Data
Collecting temperature data is vital in this fight against climate change. Although satellites are able to measure the sea surface temperatures, this technology is not able to collect data beneath the surface. However, it’s these areas that the satellites don’t reach that have the most active and lively ecosystems from 0 to 40 meters deep. So, how do we collect data here? Most of this zone is too deep for swimmers to venture into, yet too shallow for research vessels to effectively explore. That’s why MedSeaPOD turns to divers to reach this middle ground.
“Divers are the first to witness anthropomorphic effects in marine ecosystems,” says MedSeaPOD’s Marketing & Communications Director Alessandro Madeddu, a passionate free diver himself. “They see ecosystem decline and plastic pollution up close. Now, they are helping to collect the data that can inform decisions to mitigate these pressures.”
Divers and Ocean Advocates are Key to the Mission
From the beginning, MedSeaPOD was built on the idea that ocean science should be participatory and accessible.
“We didn’t expect to find such a wonderful community of divers with the skills and motivation to deploy devices,” Madeddu says. “At first, we weren’t aware of how niche the skillset was for this task, but divers, both SCUBA and free divers, became the core of the project. But we didn’t want to leave anyone out, so we created ways for advocates and storytellers to help push this project forward.”
For divers, MedSeaPOD provides a guide on how to deploy the devices. For those interested in communicating the importance of this project in their own communities, MedSeaPOD encourages them to get in touch on their website.
To put science in the hands of these communities, the MedSeaPOD team chose a simple, robust sensor that records water temperature over time. They train their divers to apply the sensor and send them to recover the sensors at a later time.
Here’s the process:
- Deployment – Trained citizen divers place the devices underwater at different depths around the island (from the surface to 40 meters).
- Recovery – After a set period, divers retrieve the devices and download the data.
- Sharing – The temperature records are uploaded to the MedSeaPOD database, where they become part of the Mediterranean’s first coastal thermal map.
Turning Data into Awareness
The first execution of MedSeaPOD centered on the waters surrounding San Pietro and Sant’Antioco islands, but the team hopes to expand this citizen science project across the Mediterranean and other important ocean basins, including the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The goal is to create a global community involved in citizen-led temperature monitoring.
After data is collected, it is shared, available for anyone to explore through the 3D Explorer, an immersive environment where you can rotate, zoom and click on the dots to find out the recorded temperature day by day and hour by hour, and charts, traditional datasets that can help scientists identify trends, peaks and anomalies with ease.
Every data point tells a story about the sea temperature and how the temperature changes with the seasons, winds or currents. These measurements can also provide insight on how temperatures affect marine life, making them vital in understanding ongoing climate change and the impact it has on marine biodiversity.
MedSeaPOD’s growing partnerships with Italy’s National Research Council (CNR), the Carloforte Municipality, and the Parc naturel marin du Cap Corse et de l’Agriate ensure that the data is both scientifically rigorous and locally meaningful.
But it’s not just about collecting and sharing accurate temperature data, it’s about telling stories that inspire connection to the mission of this initiative. By transforming temperature data into interactive stories, MedSeaPOD is making science tangible and empowering citizen scientists.
“We choose to create messaging for MedSeaPOD that meets people on common ground and resonates with their lives,” says Madeddu. “We talk to local fishermen who know the sea really well but may not understand why collecting temperature data matters for their fisheries. Tourists might be more educated, but they lack the connection to the place that locals have. We try to bridge those perspectives and tell one shared story.”
Together, these small actions add up to something powerful. This is ocean science in the Mediterranean created not just for scientists, but by the people who know and love the sea.
“It all started with a passion for the sea,” Madeddu reflects. “Ten years later, we are finding that same passion in the community. Tourists come here because they love the sea, and that love unites people around a common goal.”
But it’s not just about collecting and sharing accurate temperature data, it’s about telling stories that inspire connection to the mission of this initiative. By transforming temperature data into interactive stories, MedSeaPOD is making science tangible and empowering citizen scientists.
“We choose to create messaging for MedSeaPOD that meets people on common ground and resonates with their lives,” says Madeddu. “We talk to local fishermen who know the sea really well but may not understand why collecting temperature data matters for their fisheries. Tourists might be more educated, but they lack the connection to the place that locals have. We try to bridge those perspectives and tell one shared story.”
How You Can Get Involved
Whether you dive, sail, fish or simply love the sea, you can be part of MedSeaPOD’s mission – linking local action and community passion to global ocean science under the Ocean Decade. If you’re a diver who lives in or is visiting the Mediterranean, you can volunteer to deploy MedSeaPOD sensors. MedSeaPOD also offers guidance to any interested coastal community to launch their own temperature-monitoring projects using their methodology and toolkits.
If you are not a diver, but you are curious about their data, explore the interactive data maps and learn how the Mediterranean is changing. If you want to help spread the word of MedSeaPOD and inspire people close to and far away from the coast to care about the ocean and support this citizen science project, join the initiative as a storyteller and messenger.
The MedSeaPOD team also regularly holds workshops, field trips and presentations at scientific conferences to connect communities with researchers. There is a role for everyone at MedSea POD. Get in touch to find yours!
Follow MedSeaPOD’s updates on social media and learn more about how you can get involved on their website.
Read more GenOcean stories on our webpage.
