Design and implementation of a citizen science and static camera imagery processing system for coastal sargassum monitoring.

The continuous arrival of sargassum to the coasts of the Mexican Caribbean has caused significant environmental and economic damage, increasing the need for continuous and detailed coastal monitoring that is also easy and inexpensive to implement, making it more attractive for broader adoption. In this work, we present the design and implementation of a system capable of analyzing images obtained through citizen science and static cameras to gather information about the quantity and frequency of sargassum influx on the coast, providing insight into potential future impacts. The system can continuously and automatically analyze images from fixed cameras using image processing and neural networks. Subsequently, using images from the citizen science program, the system classifies sargassum in its different stages of decomposition, both near and along the coast. Since sargassum needs to be collected as fresh as possible, the information obtained from this system allows for proper evaluation to prioritize the most affected areas and implement actions to help mitigate the damage.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Jose Antonio Lopez Portillo Hurtado, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (avtovio23@gmail.com)

Authors:

Jose Antonio López Portillo Hurtado, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico  (JLopezPortilloH@iingen.unam.mx)

Christian Appendini Albrechtsen, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico  (CAppendiniA@iingen.unam.mx)

Vicky Dominguez Almela, University of Southampton  (V.Dominguez-Almela@soton.ac.uk)

Maria Eugenia Allende Arandía, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico  (MAllendeA@iingen.unam.mx)