Innovative technologies (DIY instruments and data sonification) for engaging volunteers to participate in marine environmental monitoring programs.

In recent years the promotion of marine observations based on volunteer participation, known as Citizen Science, has provided environmental data with unprecedented resolution and coverage. The Citizen Science based approach has the additional advantage to engage people by raising awareness and knowledge of marine environmental problems. The technological advances in embedded systems and sensors, enables citizens to create their own devices (known as DIY, Do-It-Yourself, technologies) for monitoring the marine environment. Within the context of the CITCLOPS project (www.citclops.eu), a DIY instrument was developed to monitor changes on water transparency as a water quality indicator. The instrument, named KdUINO, is based on quasi-digital sensors controlled by an open-hardware (Arduino) board. The sensors measure light irradiance at different depth and the instrument automatically calculates the light diffuse attenuation Kd coefficient to quantify the water transparency. The buoy construction is an ideal activity for creative STEM programming. Several workshops in high schools were done to show to the students how to construct their own buoy. Some of them used the buoy to develop their own scientific experiments. In order to engage students more motivated in artistic disciplines, the research group developed also a sonification system that allows creating music and graphics using KdUINO measurements as input data.