On the Potential of Surfers to Monitor Environmental Indicators in the Coastal Zone
On the Potential of Surfers to Monitor Environmental Indicators in the Coastal Zone
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0127706
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发表时间：
2015-07-08
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Shutler, Jamie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brewin, Robert J. W.;de Mora, Lee;Shutler, Jamie
沿海地区的社会和经济效益使其成为我们星球上最宝贵的环境之一。然而，它很容易受到日益增加的人为压力和气候变化的影响。沿海管理的目的是减轻这些压力，同时增加沿海地区必须提供的社会经济效益。然而，沿海管理面临着关键环境指标抽样不足的挑战，部分原因是与数据收集费用有关的问题。在这里，我们调查使用的休闲冲浪平台，以提高采样覆盖率的沿海地区的环境指标。我们为英国西南部的一名休闲冲浪者配备了温度传感器和全球定位系统（GPS）设备，他们在冲浪时使用了一年（85次冲浪）。温度传感器用于估算海表面温度（SST），这是一个重要的环境指标，全球定位系统装置用于提供样本位置和提取冲浪者表现的信息。将冲浪者获得的SST数据与英国西南部海洋站的数据和卫星观测数据进行了比较。我们的结果表明：（i）冲浪者可以使用低成本传感器获得高质量的SST数据;（ii）全球定位系统数据可以提供关于冲浪表现的信息，这可能有助于鼓励冲浪者收集数据。使用最近的估计，英国冲浪人口，冲浪者参与的频率，我们推测，每年约有4000万的测量环境指标可以在英国海岸线冲浪者。这些数据的数量可能会加强沿海监测和帮助英国沿海管理。考虑到冲浪是一项世界性的运动，我们的研究结果具有全球性的影响，该方法可以扩展到其他流行的海洋娱乐活动，用于沿海环境指标的监测。
The social and economic benefits of the coastal zone make it one of the most treasured environments on our planet. Yet it is vulnerable to increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate change. Coastal management aims to mitigate these pressures while augmenting the socio-economic benefits the coastal region has to offer. However, coastal management is challenged by inadequate sampling of key environmental indicators, partly due to issues relating to cost of data collection. Here, we investigate the use of recreational surfers as platforms to improve sampling coverage of environmental indicators in the coastal zone. We equipped a recreational surfer, based in the south west United Kingdom (UK), with a temperature sensor and Global Positioning System (GPS) device that they used when surfing for a period of one year (85 surfing sessions). The temperature sensor was used to derive estimates of sea-surface temperature (SST), an important environmental indicator, and the GPS device used to provide sample location and to extract information on surfer performance. SST data acquired by the surfer were compared with data from an oceanographic station in the south west UK and with satellite observations. Our results demonstrate: (i) high-quality SST data can be acquired by surfers using low cost sensors; and (ii) GPS data can provide information on surfing performance that may help motivate data collection by surfers. Using recent estimates of the UK surfing population, and frequency of surfer participation, we speculate around 40 million measurements on environmental indicators per year could be acquired at the UK coastline by surfers. This quantity of data is likely to enhance coastal monitoring and aid UK coastal management. Considering surfing is a world-wide sport, our results have global implications and the approach could be expanded to other popular marine recreational activities for coastal monitoring of environmental indicators.