#MarineScience - The team behind one of the world's biggest studies of ocean plankton have renewed their drive to encourage participation by all manner of seafarers.
As reported earlier this year on Afloat.ie, the Secchi Disk project involves the use of an special apparatus, a 30cm-wide flat white disk attached to a tape measure or rope and weighted by a small weight that's dropped off the side of a vessel.
Mariners then observe the disk as it drops, and when it disappears from view that level is known as the Secci Depth, a measure of the turbidity of the water - which in turn is influenced by the amount of microscopic marine wildlife present.
Seafarers in British and Irish waters - sailors, fishermen and yachtsmen alike - can then contribute their measurements via the Secchi App for smartphones to help researchers build a more complete picture of phytoplankton activity in our oceans and measure their changes over time.
Full details of the project and how to take part are available via the Plymouth University website HERE.