Virtual Living Ocean

 

A bold initiative led by GMGI that sets out to understand life in the ocean and to share that knowledge with all who seek it.

Despite the ocean’s enormous potential as a resource for food, technology, medicinals, and recreation, we know little about the biological communities that comprise it and how they interact to create a sustainable ecosystem. Imagine if science stepped in. Imagine if we harnessed the power of eDNA, marine genomics, and computation using AI, would we come closer to illuminating the unknowns? Experts here at GMGI believe the answers are within our reach.

Introducing the Virtual Living Ocean, a platform that will significantly augment the global understanding of the ocean and its countless communities of organisms.

The Virtual Living Ocean is a multi-scale, interactive computational platform that uses data to help us understand, manage and predict trends and relationships among organisms in the ocean. A dynamic, user-friendly, and layered atlas that will unlock enormous value across science, industry, recreation, and environmental protection, the platform will display organisms and illustrate and eventually predict how communities change over time in response to weather, human activities, invasive species, and other perturbations.

The platform will use vast amounts of eDNA generated data on numbers and locations of living ocean organisms collected by GMGI, our partners, and other parallel efforts. Data will be housed in a spatial-temporal database known as the Living Ocean Atlas and will include physical and chemical properties of the ocean itself including temperature, pH, and satellite imagery.

In making global ocean data as accessible as Google Maps is for land, the Virtual Living Ocean will:

  • accelerate climate solutions and conservation efforts
  • better inform fisheries management
  • understand individual ecosystems and their interactions
  • democratize access to marine knowledge
  • engage and educate lay communities on ocean life.

Google Maps for the Ocean: Game-Changing Impact

Scientific + Environmental Impacts

Marine Research Acceleration
Creating a centralized, high-resolution living ocean map would help scientists track biodiversity and deep-sea ecosystems.

Climate Monitoring
Watching temperature changes and sea-level shifts to study impacts of climate change on ocean life.

Conservation Planning
Monitoring trends in habitats like coral reefs, seagrass beds, and whale breeding grounds for protection and restoration.

Economic + Industrial Applications

Sustainable Fisheries
Measuring and monitoring stock zones and migratory corridors to better inform fisheries management.

Marine Energy
Assessing impacts of tidal, wave, or offshore wind energy installations on ocean life.

Subsea Infrastructure
Monitoring the impact of seabed cables, pipelines, and mining areas on ocean organisms.

Educational + Cultural Value

Public Engagement
Just as Google Maps sparked curiosity about terrestrial geography, an ocean version would invite education opportunities, from K-12 to adult, to explore life in the “blue frontier.”

Citizen Science
Divers, sailors, and coastal communities could collect water samples for eDNA analysis, and utilize/analyze our data to expand collective knowledge.

Augmented Reality
Imagine wearing AR goggles to dive and learn all about ocean life!

Technological Synergy

Integration with Satellites & Drones
Combining satellite data with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and sonar scans.

From Satellite Images to Biodiversity
Expand satellite capabilities by correlating satellite with eDNA data to see patterns in our data.

Open Data Collaboration
In collaboration with governments, NGOs, and industries, we could contribute to, and benefit from vast amounts of data in a single accessible system.

Harnessing eDNA, marine genomics, and computation using AI

Matt Harke samples eDNA in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

eDNA

For 8 years, GMGI has sampled ocean water containing environmental DNA (eDNA) to extract insights from the ocean to inform our partners in fisheries and conservation management. We are positioned as a leader in eDNA marine sample collection, lab methods, data analysis, and use cases.

eDNA researchers

Genomics

Genomic science (the study of DNA) helps us understand characteristics of any living organism. For 10 years, GMGI has applied genomics to marine science to find new insights into biological processes and evolution, reveal hidden biodiversity and uncover mechanisms that help species adapt to different environments or fight disease.

Computation

The data collected by GMGI and others will be used to analyze and understand relationships and predict migration trends. Data include physical and chemical properties of the ocean itself including temperature, pH, and satellite imagery.

Building the Platform

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