coral reef hotspot forecasting

Inspiration

Finding a way to alert and protect fragile coral reefs from bleaching and parasitic growths that can kill this fragile ecosystem.

How it works

Research demonstrates that a coral reef becomes a hotspot when temperatures raise above 1 degree of avg temp for region. Two data sets are analyzed to determine the probability of a temp raising, and the amount of time the temp will continue to create a hotspot, alerting ecologists and other specialists to the region.

Challenges I ran into

Determining the algorithm for the hotspot criteria. One data set has already defined the hotspots, but not the temps, the other data set defines the rems daily, then I calculated amount % over the average, created another alert. Then I tested the two data sets, they are very close in their ability to detect the risk threshold, and signal the alert. Next the Nupic algorithm will be applied for predicting the probalistic anamoly in the data.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Establishing the alert tag into the dashboard design for the app. This additional risk alert is a very promising criteria for many types of environmental protection.

What I learned

Spotting and understanding species and ecosystem risk and evaluation and how to create a warning system with certain data.

What's next for coral reef hotspot forecasting

More elaborate studies, as to prevention mechanism, experiments with stopping the bleaching processes, and ways to maintain a lower temperature, and other options for coral survival rates, such as elimination of toxic bacteria during an increase in heat.

Built With

• cloudent
• esri
• github
• google-analytics
• google-docs
• nupic