December 7th, 2016 — We have a lot of data about the ocean, but much of it is in obscure databases – unintegrated, unanalyzed, and largely inaccessible for the public. There is so much we could do with all that information if it was easy to visualize and interpret. At our fingertips, we could have alerts about the presence of water pollution and jellyfish at beaches. We could track seafood and make sure it is fresh, sustainable, and the supply chain is free of the human rights violations that currently proliferate. We could have an early warning system for ocean acidification, before it decimates oyster aquaculture.
Thus, the recent launch of the Big Ocean Button Challenge, which aims to “bring app developers to the trove of available ocean data in order to catalyze the growth of a potentially multi-billion-dollar industry in ocean data products.” (Disclosure: I helped develop this competition, as a consultant to XPRIZE.)
Given the US president-elect who appears to be anti-science, future federal funding for ocean research and monitoring is highly uncertain, potentially jeopardizing our ability for science-based management of the ocean resources upon which food security, livelihoods, cultures, and our very climate depend. Therefore, there is an urgent need to prove the value of diligent, long-term ocean data collection. To this end, this competition is engaging the private sector – the tech community in particular – to explore and develop ocean data products and services. The development of this sector is a huge economic opportunity, on par with the commercial weather industry.