EXAMINING THE ELEMENTS OF SEA WATER
COLLECTING DATA FROM DIVE SITES TO LOOK FOR HARMFUL CHEMICAL BALANCES.
Water sampling plays an important part of understanding the health of the ocean, which is why we have implemented it water quality testing, in to our marine conservation internship program.
There are many parameters that can be measured such as salinity, pH, nitrates, temperature, phosphates and oxygen. All of which are key to the survival to life in the ocean as we know it.
Innoceana designed a low-cost measuring kit which we use to analyze water quality in a very simple way.
HOW DOES IT WORK ?
Temperature
We select a dive site for testing. Upon diving we select different depths for collection and note temperatures.
Start Collecting
During the dive, we collect different samples of water and different depths to take back to shore for further analysis.
Turbidity
Turbidity is another factor that we need to note. This means suspended particles in water preventing light from reaching marine life.
Chemicals
Further analysis of the water samples will show us levels of Salinity, Nitrates, Phosphates and Dissolved O2.
WHY DO WE CONDUCT WATER QUALITY TESTING ?
In order to understand the state of the ocean’s water we have been collecting water samples from the different areas of Koh Tao and analyzing them, as water quality is one of the fundamental factors of reef health.
We contribute to the water quality testing database managed by Innoceana and follow the methodology that they created.
This helps us identify areas of the island that are being affected by pollution and other impacts.
WATER QUALITY FACTS
PH: An increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations had led to oceans becoming more acidic.
Nutrients (Nitrates and Phosphates): Coral reefs thrive best in areas with low nutrient levels.
O2: When dissolved O2 levels are too low, underwater breather species must migrate from these areas in order to survive.
Temperature: Hard corals around Koh Tao are healthiest in temperatures of 28-30 degrees. When temperatures increase over this level, corals will struggle to survive and potentially die.
GET INVOLVED !
Innoceana water monitoring programs has been designed as a low-cost and easy to use measuring kit which can be used to analyze water quality in a very simple way.
Data collection like this is a valuable way to produce reports, possibly explain observations, identify ‘Dead Zones’, predict bleaching events and a whole lot more
You can join in for a dive and start water quality testing with a marine conservation internship.
GET MORE INFO !
If you have questions, about any of our projects, citizen science, research, volunteering, internships or training.
Please get in touch with us!