NASA recruits gamers to help identify and map the world’s corals

Team Udayavani, Apr 13, 2020, 1:54 PM IST

We all are aware of the various effects of Climate change and one of the devastating ways in which climate change is affecting the planet is by killing off coral reefs around the world.

Although, there are projects underway to stop and prevent the damage done to corals, the scientists are finding it hard to know how widespread the problem is because they do not have a good map of coral systems.

NASA has been creating a system for imaging coral ecosystems from the air utilizing devices hooked up to drones or plane. These instruments have collected loads of knowledge, but the photos of corals must be recognized and categorized earlier than they can be utilized for analysis.

Hence, through the use of an online game known as NeMO-Web, NASA is opting for citizen science in order to assist with this mission by working on the classification of corals.

Ved Chirayath, Principal Investigator on the project said,“Anyone, even a first grader, can play this game and sort through these data to help us map one of the most beautiful forms of life we know of.”

The game uses a neural network to take input from players and build out a worldwide map of corals. Players dives into the ocean and learn about corals while providing classification data from a virtual research vessel.